Excellent read! I loved this book and I loved this story! The fact that it is a true story made it all the more remarkable. Two of my favorite books about historical events are "Seabiscuit" and "Unbroken", both written by Laura Hillenbrand. It's fascinating to me that all three of these historical events happened during the same time period - and that all three stories are told in such engaging, personal and highly readable ways.
Before reading this book, I had zero knowledge of rowing. Zero. I didn't even know it was an Olympic event. When I am really enjoying a book, I read fast - and my eyes were flying by the words in this book. I learned so much! I loved the explanations of each position in the boat, what the responsibility of each person is, why the coxswain and the stroke seat are so important and what it means to "swing" when rowing. Even though I knew how each pivotal race had to end in order for these nine boys to advance to the Olympics, it was written in such a way that each race was exciting - and nerve-wracking at times. It's a story of endurance and will power and strength and incredible teamwork!
The personal touch comes in through the story of Joe Rantz (mainly). Even though we KNOW that Joe is in the USA Olympic rowing crew in 1936, reading his trials and tribulations in his personal life, his financial life and his rowing life keeps you at the edge of your seat. Joe is abandoned by his father, not once, but twice! He is mired in poverty - wearing the same sweater every day for his entire freshman year, and being made fun of by the other boys - but he presses on relentlessly. He works at everything and anything to make enough money to put himself through school. He is so accustomed to only being able to count on himself, that he struggles in the boat because he works as an "individual" rather than as one cog in the wheel that moves together. So, he is taken out of the #1 boat a few times - and put back in. I love that Joe is able to finally go "all in" and place his trust completely in the 8 other boys in the boat.
And Joyce! How lucky for Joe that he had Joyce in his life! She obviously loved him, but to make sure that for the rest of his life that he never felt "abandoned" again, how awesome is that?! I am so happy that they had 63 years together in marriage - on top of the years they were devoted to each other before their marriage. Then there is their daughter Judy. This story could not have been told without her. How many kids listen to their parent's stories as closely as she did - and appreciate the hard work, dedication, persistence and importance of the events?
On top of all of the above, as much as I have read about World War II and Hitler himself, I never knew that Hitler "sanitized" Berlin for the Olympic games in 1936! That in itself was an amazing use of propaganda, which obviously fooled a lot of people who attended the Olympic games and slowed down the world's complete understanding of what Hitler was doing in Germany. That the USA crew won the gold in the Olympics, despite the Germans manipulating events to their own advantage, is incredibly inspiring and rewarding!
Again, an excellent story and an excellent read!
Wendy's Rating: *****
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