The Boys in the Boat
Looking for a feel good, fascinating true story sure to inspire? I have one for you, and if you are unfamiliar with Olympic History… Spoiler Alert!
When looking at Daniel James Brown’s book, you might wonder how an author can fill 370 pages with a rowing story. Here’s how: he includes ever broadening brush strokes of history. The author shares the backstory of each coach and rower involved in making that special boat. Despite the rowers’ humble origins, they rowed their way to an Olympic victory while Hitler looked on with a sour face.
Stories within the story include the profound effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl on their families, their cities (welcome to Hooverville) and its effects on their state of Washington. The story reaches across our country to the history of rowing on the East Coast. Then, as the crew team makes its way across the Atlantic, they witness the propaganda and rising power of the Third Reich in Germany as it hosts the 1936 summer Olympics.
The author spent many hours researching for this well-rounded story about the rowers and coaches against the backdrop of hard times of the 1930’s. The writing encompassed historic local, national, and world events which reminded me of the novel/movie Forrest Gump, by Winston Groom, except Boys in the Boat is not fiction.
From the first chapter, I was captivated as the rowing descriptions brought back memories from my own experience rowing for Oregon State University’s Lightweight 8. One passage was uncannily similar to what I’ve written about my own experience related to the importance of working as a team to achieve what the book refers to as the “swing” - the beautiful harmony as rowers move in unison to propel that boat forward. In their case, their swing led them to become the world’s fastest rowing team and USA’s Olympic Champions of 1936. Their British boat builder and rower, George Yeoman Pocock was quoted:
Where is the spiritual value of rowing? . . . The losing of self entirely to the cooperative effort of the crew as a whole.
Yes, you’ll start the book or enter the theater knowing the ending, but the constant challenges the rowers encounter and the vivid images of our country’s hard times will keep you turning the pages. Delighted by these underdogs with the odds stacked against them, they show us determination and resilience in a decade when the world most needed to see it.
