The Boys in the Boat, Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Boys in the Boat.

Did you enjoy reading this section? I'm so excited for the boys to actually get moving and get to the Olympics. This section was tough just because all of the rowing stuff seemed to be so up in the air! It took so long for the right combination of boys to land in the boat. 

One thing that stuck out to me in this section was how hard Joe worked to make sure he could stay at the University of Washington and stay on the rowing team. Could you believe his summer job of jackhammering to carve out a place for a new dam? I cannot even imagine trying to jackhammer on solid ground much less while dangling from a rope. Check out this article about the construction of the Grand Coulee dam to see a picture of the jackhammer crews blasting on the side of the canyon. It was cool that Joe was able to bond with a few other boys on the rowing team while working that summer. I was glad when Joe was able to open up to others. 

What did you think of George Pocock? I was glad when he was able to take Joe under his wing. He seemed like a wonderful man, so I was glad that he was able to mentor Joe a bit. I think George made the ultimate difference for Joe and allowed Joe to become a successful member of the team. 

I really hoped that Joe would be able to reunite with his family in that section, so I was glad that he was able to reconnect with his father a bit at the end of this section. It's too bad that it took Thula dying to have the family come together. Were you surprised that Joe's dad said he wanted to build a house for them all to live in together? It was sad to read how Thula rebuffed Joe when he tried to make a connection with her and her children. It was good that Joe had Joyce. I think she really helped since she gave him unconditional love and support. 

It was crazy to me that the boys trained so hard for so few races. I really can't believe that they were motivated for so many months for two little races. I don't think I would have been able to be disciplined for all of those months with the competitions so far in the future. And, the pressure of those two races would have crushed me, I think! I am not meant to be a rower. Were you surprised when the sophomore boys were able to win their race in Poughkeepsie? They had so many problems. I was surprised that they were able to win. It was disappointing that the varsity team didn't win, but I'm not sure if Joe and his team would have been able to be the Olympic team in the varsity had won and been successful together. 

What else did you enjoy about this section? What parts stood out to you the most? What did you think of the parts that mentioned Germany and all of the deception taking place there? Are you surprised that Germany was able to trick everyone into thinking it was a peaceful place? How do you think things would have been different had there not been a 1936 Olympics in Berlin? 

While reading about this book, I realized that not only is there a motion picture version but also there is a documentary version that aired on PBS. Take a look at the video below to see the first part of the documentary. Don't you think it looks interesting? If you think this video looks promising, you can request the full documentary here. 

I hope you liked this section! Make sure to leave a comment to let me know what your favorite parts were. Finally, make sure to finish the book before checking back next week!