The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Weds August 5, 2015

Hostess:  Amy
Attendees:  Jana, Michelle, Cheryl, Mary Margaret, Pam

                                                         Welcome back to Book Club!

                                                   

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Non-Fiction

We agreed this book had good character development.  We admired Joe for his perseverance under dire circumstances, but we would have liked even more detail about Joe's home life.  It was difficult to wrap our heads around his abandonment by his father, and being out on his own at such a young age.   The author did an excellent job exhausting us in his portrayal of the boys' athletic training in the  cold and misery of the Pacific coast weather.  Some thought the book was a little slow in the beginning, but it picked up.   We learned a lot about rowing in general,  boat building, and the correct pronunciation of "coxswain."

The winning team.  Joe Rantz is second on the left.

Master boat builder George Pocock

There were lots of interesting historical facts with some overlap with our favorite Louis Zamperini (may he rest in peace).   We were  also intrigued about the sanitization of Berlin during the Olympics.

Overall we gave it a rating of 4.5

Here's a link to a video that sums up the story:

https://youtu.be/n58w0BctOvs 




We discussed our summer reading "homework" and here's what we came up with:

Cheryl would not recommend Little Mercies
Susan would not recommend Lila
Myra would not recommend The Wright Brothers

Sept:   The Secret Life of Violet Grant  - host   Janna
Oct:     Dead Wake - host Mary Margaret
Nov:    The Nightingale - host Susan
Dec:     The Marrying of Chani Kaufman - host Michelle
Jan:      The Headmaster's Wife - host Cheryl
Feb:      The Goldfinch - host Pam