The Boys in the Boat

Author: Daniel James Brown

One-sentence summary: A western American men’s rowing team battles great odds during the American Great Depression to compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin with Hitler at the helm of Germany about to begin WWII.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: The insights into individual lives during the Great Depression as well as the details about the great deception of the Nazis during the 1936 Olympics were both fascinating.

Our least favorite thing about it: Too many details about rowing.

Main Topics of Discussion: Teams, work ethic, hope, sport of rowing, Germany, friendships, family relationships and responsibilities

Our favorite quote: “Like so much in life, crew was partly about confidence, partly about knowing your own heart.”

Notes: Overall we really liked this book and the remarkable story it told of the rowing team. We enjoyed learning about rowing as well as more intimate details as to the day to day lives of people during the Great Depression. We were also intrigued to learn about all of the propaganda and deception surrounding the Berlin Olympics and how that affected the world’s perception of Germany and Nazis. Really fascinating. The incredible work ethic and team spirit of the boys (men) on the rowing team and the extreme dedication by everyone involved even down to the intricate building of the boat was an inspiring and uplifting story. Joe’s story, in particular, was hopeful and about overcoming immense hardship and emotional trials.

Our critiques are minor. We felt that there was TOO much information about rowing and after a while it got repetitive. How the strokes were performed (correctly or incorrectly) and the logistics of each practice and race made the book drag a little in the midst of an otherwise very interesting story. It’s not that we didn’t want to learn anything about rowing…but we felt that some of the repetitions of the information could have been edited out. Because of this, we felt that it also made the book a tad too long. Long books are fine as long as everything in them is crucial…which we did not feel was the case with this book. Still, it was definitely worth our time and very enlightening.

Memorable Meeting Moments: This was Amberly’s meeting and she took us to a wonderful little Thai restaurant where we sampled so many delicious dishes. We stayed for over three hours at our table and even had our dessert there. Such a fun evening!

What We Ate: Lots of yummy Thai appetizers and dishes plus Amberly’s chocolate cake and lemon bars.