The Boys in the Boat is a memoir, it tells a part of the lives of eight rowers. The book is intended for all people who enjoy sports history. It is a beating the odds story meant to entertain, motivate, inspire, and teach of a forgotten story. The author is Daniel James Brown, he has written other books that all typically fall in the field of narrative nonfiction, by far his most famous work is The Boys in the Boat. The title is representative of the entire story. Each of the nine young men who trained their hearts out to defeat Hitler’s team of rowers, and capture gold in the olympics has a unique story, and they all share one thing in common that they call the boat. Joe Rantz is the main character in the book, he as well as the other rowers…
evil is a theme that is obviously apparent, the good forces of the United States are pitted against the evil minded nature of Hitler’s Germany. This overarching idea keeps the memoir suspenseful and allows the reader to always want to read the next page. It is a groundbreaking work because it is a true story that has been forgotten in the depression era. It is a great beating the odds thriller. The author writes to keep you wanting the next piece, there is always more and you want it with the way the author writes. Brown uses fairly basic vocabulary so as to make it quite understandable. I appreciated that it was an inspiring story that I had never heard before. I liked that the idea that hard work pays off can be applied to my own life and achieve gold and glory like these athletes did. Hard work pays off is an idea found throughout the memoir, and is what I believe Brown wants to tell young readers, for example, here: “It takes energy to get angry. It eats you up inside. I cant 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. Ive just gotta take care of it myself like Joe Rantz”(96) This quote represents the idea that you have to give it every ounce of energy you have if you want to be successful, it is the idea of hard work paying off. The members of the team all know they have got to put their best stuff forward to succeed. Another idea that has made itself apparent…
