The Boys in the Boat (Daniel James Brown)

 

Wow. Was this read ever good for my soul. These days, in the middle of the pandemic, as we head into the darkness of the second wave, to read about people who work together for something good was really good for my soul. In the end, when they were at the Olympics with Hitler looking on and the Germans chanting, to have won that race was something else. I can understand the jubilation everyone felt (well, everyone except Hitler). This is a great story! 

I mistakenly put a hold on the book for young readers. Unfortunately, it isn't young enough for the crowd I teach. I will definitely read the full story when my hold comes in at the library. 

I suggested this book to kick off a family book club. There was a underwhelming lack of enthusiasm for the idea. It is kind of ironic that this is the book I had suggested. I think there's a lesson in that somewhere.

Great quotes:

....trying to find the right crew of rowers to take it to the Olympics:

p. 22 ...they would need something else as well. Something even more important. To be part of that kind of crew - a gold medal crew - each young man would also have to be able to put aside his own personal ambitions. He'd have to throw his ego over the side of the boat, to leave it swirling in the wake of his shell. He'd need to pull, not just for himself, not just for glory, but for the other boys in the boat.

....on when your family abandons you and you're alone:

p. 52 He made some oatmeal and sat back down to think some more. His father had always taught him that there was a solution to every problem. But he had always said that sometimes the solution wasn't where people would ordinarily expect it to be. You might have to look in unexpected places and think in new and creative ways. He could survive on his own, he figured, if he just kept his eyes open for opportunities.

....on unity

p. 67 One of the fundamental challenges in rowing is that when any one member of a crew goes into a slump, the entire crew goes with him. Each of the rowers has a slightly different role, depending on his position in the boat, and each of these roles is critical....When working well, the entire boat operates like a well-lubricated machine, with every rower serving as a vital link in a chain that powers it forward. 

This machine can break down easily. A lack of concentration on one person's part can impact the performance of the whole boat. To keep themselves focused, the freshman crew in Joe's boat had come up with a mantra that their coxswain, George Morry, chanted as they rowed. Morry shouted, "M-I-B, M-I-B, M-I-B!" over and over to the rhythm of their stroke. The letters stood for "mind in boat". The chant was meant as a reminder that from the time an oarsman steps into a racing shell until the moment the boat crosses the finish line, he must keep his mind focused on what is happening inside the boat. His whole world must shrink down to that one small space.

...on holding your tongue

p. 91 As they drove away, Joyce fumed. Over the years she had been slowly learning more about Joe's life, about what happened at the Gold and Ruby mine, and in Sequim. She could not understand ow Thula had been so cold, how his Father had been so weak, and why Joe himself seemed to show so little anger about it all. Finally, as Joe pulled over to the curb to drop her off at the Judge's home, Joyce erupted. Why did he go on pretending that they hadn't done him any harm?  What kind of woman would leave a boy alone in the world? What kind of father would let her do that? She was nearly sobbing by the time she finished. 

She glanced across the seat at Joe, and saw at once, through a blur of tears, that his eyes were full of hurt too. But his jaw was set, and he stared ahead over the steering wheel rather than turning to looka t her. 
"You don't understand," he murmured. "They didn't have any choice. There were just too many mouths to feed."
Joyce that about that for a moment, then said, "I just don't understand why you don't get angry."
Joe continued to stare ahead through the windshield.
"It takes energy to get angry. It eats you up inside. I can't waste my energy like that and expect to get ahead. When they left, it took everything I had in me just to survive. Now I have to stay focused. I've just gotta take care of things myself."

....on winning despite your background 

p. 112 As they sat at the starting line, in the City of Seattle, rolling with the choppy waves, waiting for the crack in the starting gun, with rainwater running down their necks and backs and dripping from their noses, the question wasn't whether they were strong or skilled enough. The real question was whether they had the maturity and discipline to keep their minds in the boat. Could they focus? Or would their anger and fear and uncertainty unhinge them? 
(spoiler: they won)

....on 1+1 being much more than 2

p. 140 There was a straightforward reason for what was happening. The boys in the Husky Clipper were all tough, they were all skilled, they were all fiercely determined, but they were also all good-hearted. Every one of them had come from humble originas or had been humbled by the hard demands of rowing. Life, and the challenges they had faced togehter, had also taught them humility - that there were limits to their individual powers. They had learned that there were things they could od far better together than alone. They were starting to row, now for one another, not just for themselves, and it made all the difference.