The Boys In The Boat

I am in the process of finishing a book called The Boys In The Boat by Daniel James Brown. I have had this book on my Kindle for quite a while, along with a number of other books to read. The other night, I finally opened this book and haven’t been able to put it down. I am reading it late at night and every moment of my spare time. Once in a while I will find a book that I haven’t touched and have had for a while and when I finally settle down to read it, it blows my mind! It was like going through a jewelry box and discovering an overlooked piece of jewelry.

That is what happened when I finally started to read this book. I kept thinking how well it is written and what an interesting story. The book was about nine American rowers (eight oarsmen and one coxswain) from the University of Washington. Their quest was to be the best rowers, and be chosen for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and win a Gold Medal.

The book centers on the main character Joe Rantz, who we meet as a young boy and followed his story to the University and how he became a rower. But it was his struggles before that made a reader admire him more. He was a little boy when his mother died. When Rantz’s father remarried, the second wife doesn’t want him around, so they abandon him. At first, he lived with his older brother and then with others and then by himself. Rantz struggled to take care of himself, and  his survival tactics were amazing. But more interesting was that he harbored no ill will toward his father or his step-mother. It was a salute to him and how he managed his life that made me proud for him and proud to be an American.

We learn about the other rowers in the nine men crew too, along with their coaches. Crew is an interesting sport and that was also a big part of the book along with the making of the rowing shells and more. It was also the eerie tale of the 1936 Berlin Olympics that plays a shadowy part of this book.

While the crew and the other sports amateur figures were at the Olympics, there was something sinister going on behind the scenes in Berlin. While the Olympics are going on, Hitler and his generals present a different picture of Berlin, removing any signs of the Jewish people. All one sees are the Third Reich flags prominently flying, and soldiers with their high stepping cadence. There were no signs of the Jewish population because the Germans were in the process of getting rid of them, and removing their identifying symbols from the town. While the games are going on, the Germans are silently and craftily orchestrating the removal of the Jews and others from the cities, streets and towns. The Germans are also building their concentration camp, setting up the awful history of the Holocaust.

This was a fascinating tale of nine men and the others who help them become great. It is also an ugly tale of what was to come.