A quest for gold: The beauty of rowing
Growing up, I never really understood why people watched sports. I liked games and was (and still am) very competitive. However, it wasn’t until fairly recently that I truly understood why sports are important. Reading stories has helped me to see the impact that games can have on people’s lives. One story that shifted my perspective was Daniel Brown’s “The Boys in the Boat.” After reading it, I saw how sports are a microcosm or a miniature play of life. There are rules and obstacles, a bad team and a good team. There’s bravery, skill, humility and honor all present on the field or courts, or in this case, in a boat.
This story focuses on nine Americans and their quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The book became a New York Times best seller and won several awards, including the American Library Association Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and Nonfiction. Daniel Brown drew on the boys’ own diaries, journals and memories to write the story. It is masterfully crafted with scenes of the rough lives of Americans during the depression era. Brown also enchants the reader with his descriptions of rowing, a sport that requires tenacity, focus, a mastery over pain and an intense focus on a goal.
Each chapter starts out with a quote from George Pocock, a legendary master boat builder for the University of Washington’s rowing team. One of my favorite quotes from him is “To be of championship calier, a crew must have total confidence in each other, able to drive with abandon, confident that no man will get the full weight of the pull…The 1936 crew, with Hume at stroke, rowed with abandon, beautifully timed.”
The central plot of the book focuses on Joe Rantz, a boy abandoned by his family at a young age who is trying to find his way in the world. The story begins at his freshman year try-outs for the University of Washington’s rowing team. Through his character the book explores the themes of teamwork, character, family and economic class. Joe’s story is the heart of the book and really gets to the core of what is important in rowing and life.
Besides just pulling your heartstrings, the book is also written with great style. Brown has a way of making the scenes come to life. He smoothly blends the story shifting from the past to the present and from Germany to the United States. The race scenes are enthralling and had me reading as quickly as I could.
I put the book down with a new appreciation for rowing, and the teamwork required from every single person in a boat to move together smoothly propelling the stern forward in the water.
By Sierra Lastine