By Thomas Best
I am sure that I am not the only person who has ever bought a book for which their main intention was to better appreciate a much-anticipated upcoming movie. That was my plan with the book “The Boys in the Boat.” However, due to many conflicts, I never got the chance to go see George Clooney’s depiction of this University of Washington’s crew or eight-man rowing boat in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. However, after reading Daniel James Brown’s historical drama of the same title, I am not sure I will ever need to see the film. Indeed, it would seem impossible for any film to ever match the incredibly detailed and spell-binding historical drama captured in Brown’s narrative.
To begin, Brown’s ability to weave together the varied storied backgrounds of these underdog college boys, their coaches, and one legendary boat builder is astounding. One particular hard-bitten young man, Joe Rantz, has an early life which epitomized the hardships of Depression-era America. Not surprising, his character evolution is nothing short of heroic. Brown also manages to seamlessly blend this rich athletic saga with fearful rise of Nazi Germany led by Adolph Hitler, and his influential propagandist Joseph Goebbels and the groundbreaking female film maker Leni Reni Riefenstahl.
Brown accomplished all these dramatic elements within the equally challenging task of figuring out: “How do you keep up the attention of readers for hundreds of pages when some of your readers know the highlight and outcome of the book—the Washington crew wins the 1936 Olympics eight-man rowing event in Berlin. So why not just read the last chapter to capture the ultimate drama of the story. This would be where these underdog college boys defeat Hitler’s hand-picked Aryan elite rowers in a final gold medal race? If you did, you would miss the heart-felt struggle of Joe Rantz from his days as a determined teenager who had been abandoned by his family; the sage-like lessons dispensed by their wise boat designer, George Pocock; the intense descriptions of the hardships faced by Americans in Hoovervillian shacks pushed westward during the Dust Bowl; the immense importance of college boat racing in this era when as many as 100,000 spectators turned out for national championships; and the frightening rise of Hitler and his Nazi Party. What I was especially impressed with was the way in which Brown describes Hitler’s march toward of World War II and the Holocaust without implying that the world’s democracies should have fully anticipated Nazi atrocities.
Finally, I was enraptured with Brown’s understanding of the psychological harmony and perfectly balanced rowing rhythms required by crew racers (a technique known as the “swing.”). He makes you want to head to the YMCA and work on the rowing machine. Brown’s writing was ultimately nearly flawless, just as with the perfect balance of oars plying through choppy waters to push an eight-man crew boat to victory.
Thank you for listening
