Boys in the Boat Nine Americans & Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!

Average customer rating 5 (3 comments)

---

`

This book exceeded my expectations by a lot! Fasten your seatbelt and hang on for an amazing ride through a time of dustbowls, shantytowns, and abject poverty juxtaposed next to the blue-blood sport of rowing. What makes this so inspiring is that we get to follow a group of University of Washington guys go from being poor farmers, loggers, and fishermen to first class rowers despite their backgrounds. This is set during the time leading up to and during the Olympics of 1936 when Hitler and his ego wanted so badly to win. I would put this in the same league of writing as Unbroken. That good!

`

Spellbinding and inspirational story of nine golden boys and their times, for both rowers and non-rowers like me. Loved learning details about the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, and the athletes during depression years. The background of the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany was well done, with a different angle of looking on those times. I found the insight into racer selection very interesting, but, of course, the personal stories of the athletes will stay with me forever!

`

Although its subtitle implies that THE BOYS IN THE BOAT is about the American eight-oar rowing crew in the 1936 Olympics, the book is more than that. It's mostly about what led to the formation of the crew. Also, the story is made personal by its concentration on one of the boys, Joe Rantz. If THE BOYS IN THE BOAT was fiction, I wouldn't have enjoyed it. That's because the whole thing is so unlikely: Joe overcame such odds in his personal life. None of the boys came from money when they suddenly emerged from Seattle, a city few were familiar with then, to beat the prestigious Eastern schools (e.g., Yale and Harvard). The boat and the boys dealt with several disadvantages in Germany, both before and during their races, only to beat their competition. None of this story would be believable if I didn't know it was true. Throughout this book, juxtaposed against Joe's and the boys' story is Hitler's creation of the fictional Germany that he wanted to present to the world during the Olympics there. As he hides the real Germany, the US ignores him, and the boys and other athletes just work on getting there. When the story was over, I didn't want it to be over. So I read the endnotes. You'll probably do that, too.