Hurricane Season
Neal Thompson
Reviewed by Barb Radmore
The effects of Hurricane Katrina have been reported over and over, on
TV, in newspapers, magazines and blogs. With modern technology many of
us got to watch it live, bearing down in all its terror, from the
comfort of our safe, intact homes. It would seem that we knew all there
was to know, knew the effects of the storm on people, places and
things. But none of the coverage, none of the follow up reports on the
storm and its aftermath can top the book Hurricane Season for sheer
impact, both on knowledge and emotions.
Hurricane Season is the story of one football team in the Parish of New
Orleans. The team, The Patriots, is from a private Christian school
that prides itself on its diverse student population, its core
Christian values and its football team. Coach JT Curtis has one of the
best win records in the country. His players have gone on to play for
top college teams, a few are even playing for the NFL. In 2005 he was
looking at a rebuilding year. The quarterback they expected to lead the
team has left to join a rival school, one that will allow him more
chances to gain the valuable stats that colleges seek. Coach Curtis
believes in team effort, not individual star making. His team, due to
his no cut policy, numbers over 100 each year. In a school of only 650
students, that is a very large percentage of the student population.
His players train all summer, work to stay in shape, to be physically
and mentally prepared for the fall football season. Coach believes in
practice too- not the common 2 practices a day of most schools
but three a day, a relentless, high powered training plan. But after
all the preparations the season is brought to a sudden halt by Katrina.
For football coaches' wives everywhere, the scene where the town is
evacuating and the coaches' spouses are calling, actually interrupting
their usual after practice meeting to try to convince the men to come
home and pack, will ring very true. For the coaches and players
nothing, short of Hurricane Katrina, would interfere with football.
But Katrina does interfere, sending players fleeing to other parts of
the country, taking away their homes, their parents' jobs and all
stability. John Curtis School survives with limited damage, allowing it
to become one of the first schools to reopen. The Curtis family, the
extended family of the original school founder John Curtis, works to
locate and convince as many students as possible to return to the area.
Coach Curtis struggles to locate other teams willing and able to resume
the football season. His players begin to return, exhausted, scared and
confused but anxious to try to return to a sense of normality, a sense
of hope for their futures, based on the foundation of the football team
they
love.
The book begins and ends with football. It will appeal to any football
fan, player, coach or sports fanatic. But this book
goes far beyond the field. It interweaves the story of the John Curtis
School, its history and its football, with an insider's look at
Katrina and its aftermath. Using the individual players of the team and
the storm's effects on them and their families Thompson is able to
broaden the scope of the book to include an in depth look at the
handling of the storm by individuals, agencies and the government. The
middle section of the book is a clearly written account of the plight
of those that suffered the loss of everything, the impact on families,
jobs and futures. It is a devastating chronicle of not only nature's
worst but
of mankind at its best and worst.
Hurricane Season is a journalistic view of one team, its players and
the effects of the worst storm in American history. It is a tale of
football, its impact on the youth who play America's favorite sport. It
is a tale of one school and its efforts to create the best possible
school that produces well rounded men and women. It is the tale of a
government that is not able to handle the storm or its aftermath. But
most of all, it is a tale
of people- from the players who never give up, their families that
survive the unthinkable and a school of parents, teachers and coaches
that care.
Neal Thompson has written a book that will resonate will all readers.
His ability to tell the facts, clearly and vividly, on all levels of
his account is exceptional. He tells all his true tales
with clarity of knowledge, facts and figures, data and details. But it
is the emotion that comes
through the portrayal of the various aspects that makes this book
outstanding. It is nonfiction at its most effective; it pushes the
reader into involvement, caring and action. It is impossible to read
this book and not respond on some level- perhaps some extra
understanding or support for local sports programs, a volunteer relief
effort (it is still needed) or at the very least an awareness of the
America around us.. It celebrates our resiliency as it mourns our
failures. Thompson managed this extraordinary writing feat of non
fiction with heart, soul and flesh, examining the entire body of one
individual event in our modern history.
Reviewer's Personal Note:
I must say that I HATE football. I live in small rural town in New
England that lives, breathes and idolizes our State Champion high
school football team. I never quite understood it. This book certainly
does explain it on many levels. If I loved this book as much as I did,
any sports fan will really be impressed. But it should go way beyond
sports fans for readers. I am rarely not able to put a book down (I
would never do anything but read othewise) but this book had me glued
to the end. I highly recommend it for all readers.