Well if you've seen the movie, then you understand the gist of the book. Poor, unrecognized, unloved, black high school boy gets recognized and finds his place in the world. It's a great story. Well that's what about half to two thirds of this book is about. I loved reading about Michael Oher and his adopted family the Tuohys. The writing in this book is accessible and the story is anything but dry, which (I must admit) I often find non-fiction to be. For the most part, that part of the book and the movie are very similar with a few differences spotted throughout.
The other half to two thirds of the book are about football. How the game has changed the role of the players and strategies for drafting and playing. The subtitle of the book is "evolution of a game", so Michael's story is only part of the book. It just happens that he lives up to the role of the elusive right side offensive tackle (yes this book taught me some football lingo though I really didn't retain much of it), which happens to be the position that Michael Lewis places emphasis on in the book. The first chapter of the book had my head spinning. What is all this jargon? Where does which player play? There is strategy to this brute of a sport? After those ten pages or so I almost put it down, but I'm happy I continued with it. I was naive and I confess this book helped me see that there's a reason these men get paid as much as they do. There lives are often cut short due to the mass amounts of physical damage they do to their bodies during their years playing the game. These are people who were born to play the sport because of their physical make up and their athletic ability. The offensive tackle cannot just be some sumo wrestler sized man, he must also be light on his feet and fast. Those are rare qualities in so large a man.A point in the story that somewhat bothers me is the adopting of an underprivileged child for his athletic ability. The Tuohy family did not adopt Michael merely for his skills in sports, I know that, but they do discuss taking on the task again. I am all for helping people get educated and rise up to their full potential, but it seemed like the Tuohys became interested in only helping those with athletic ability. What about the others? Sure sports are great, but what about those kids who are intelligent and can make a good life for themselves, but they're stuck in the wrong circumstances? Ok maybe that is cutting off more than they can chew. At least they are trying to help those who need it instead of just overlooking the issue. There are programs out there that only want to help kids with certain grade point averages, so why not have programs that want to help student athletes. I still have some quandaries with it, but it's better than nothing.
Lewis did an eloquent job of telling an 'against all odds' story along with exploring the evolution of the game of football. I'll admit I enjoyed Michael's story more than the chapters about how strategy changed and reassessing the importance of certain positions. For the most part I thought the story read more like a novel than a non-fiction. I'm happy I stepped out of my comfort zone for this book. If you're into football, even slightly, you should consider giving this book a read. Michael Oher and the Tuohy family are lovable and Lewis does a fine job of explaining the game of football and presenting a number of view points and sources for his story. He made it accessible to the avid football fan along with the novice. Cheers to you Mr. Lewis for bringing outsiders into the world of football and going beyond just the dark horse story to create a near seamless conglomerate.
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