Cathy's Reviews > The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

This book is so good you won't want to pick up another book for a while after finishing it, knowing that nothing else could be this good. High marks for story, characters, writing, and research. Nine University of Washington students, the sons of loggers, farmers, and miners, overcome many disadvantages of their impoverished circumstances and learn to row their eight-oared racing shell to perfection. The transcendent experience of coming together as a team doesn't happen without a struggle, and each individual needs to learn to trust his teammates and to set aside his own ego. When they learn to work for each other, with respect and love, that's when the magic occurs. Once they find their swing, their victories come with joy and even ease. Together, they make it all the way to the Berlin Olympics of 1936. The experience is one the boys never forget. One of the boys, Joe Rantz, grows old, becomes an old man, and on his deathbed tells his story to the author, Daniel James Brown. Joe says don't make the story just about me, "It has to be about the boat." The author struggles to understand what that means, but comes to appreciate that it is the sheer beauty of their endeavor, this mysterious thing that together they are able to create.