cj13's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75


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orangeowl55's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0


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amyka's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

I love a good inspirational athletic story, and this one did not disappoint. I appreciate that the author did his research, and I appreciated the way he wove the events in Germany into the story of the Washington Husky's rowing team. Where I struggled slightly was with Joe Rantz's wish for the book to be about the "boys in the boat" vs. centering on him - I do think the story was more about Joe than the other boys or the boat itself. But it's not for me to say if Joe would have liked the final printed piece. I learned a lot about the US during the depression era. I watched the movie before reading the book and the book goes into a lot more detail about Nazi plans for the war. Be prepared for that side of the book as well. 

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brie9410's review against another edition

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informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

5.0

Ed Hermann was a perfect choice for this book. He pronounced all the German names and places better than I ever would have. He added a depth to the book that I wouldn't have gotten had I read it. As a native to the Pacific Northwest, though, he cannot pronounce Washington towns and rivers (Chehalis, Puyallup, Sequim, Columbia, Chinook, etc.) at all

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arturo_luzen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0


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slahlum's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Absolutely fabulous book.

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abicaro17's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative tense slow-paced

3.0

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. Its my favorite kind of story: American underdogs beating the odds to show the world what America can do. Unfortunately both the formatting and pacing makes this a super slow and difficult read. The interesting and relevant tales of the actual boys in the boat are sprinkled in with side plots varying between Nazi Germany setting up for the Olympics to the Dust Bowl. This made it hard to read as a lot of information could not only be condensed but also wasn't necessarily relevant to the story. The last three chapters really pulled it together for me though as it was what we all came for: the 1936 Olympics. In short, would I read this again? No. Would I recommend it? Maybe. If you like historical sports novels definitely! Otherwise maybe just watch the movie? 

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rochelleisreading's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring medium-paced

5.0


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thebookishmuggle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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alenert's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

This book was so freaking good.

Audio is great. It had me audibly reacting alone in my room. “WHAT?!” at the start of the Olympic race. Like, how was it THAT CRAZY??? “THAT’S THE END??!” when the narrator said “Epilogue.” Their bond 🥹

TW: Hitler Germany, Nazi propaganda in action, antisemitism, war, child neglect/abandonment

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