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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
More sporty and historical than expected but a captivating and inspirational account of the resilience of the deaf community and the meaning of brotherhood.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
(audio)…I really enjoyed this inspiring true story.
3.5 stars. I liked this. Interesting and informative. I would recommend it to others. It could be a tad on the dry/documentary side and didn't really have anything I wanted to stop and highlight and discuss. I have a little more background in deaf culture than I'd assume the average reader would have (my sister is an interpreter, I took several years of ASL/Interpreting classes). A lot of the background info on deafness and the deaf community was a tad redundant for me, but understandably essentially included for those without the background knowledge.
I'm NOT a football fan (I have enjoyed my son's basketball and some books featuring that sport) and hadn't ever heard of 8-man teams. I think I tuned out of some of the sports talk.
The prologue is 1st person, the author telling us(the reader) how he came about writing the book. It switches to 3rd person (past tense) for the book. 37 chapters, all with unique chapter headings. As I finished the book and looked back, the headings didn't really jog my memory of the contents as sometimes happens.
The book featured a few individuals. I struggled to really remember the individual names or stories. There was quite a bit of history of deaf culture along the way. As far as playing football, it was interesting to think about how the lack of hearing could be both a detriment, and an advantage at times. There was an almost deaf boy on one of my son's basketball teams, I remember as the crowds on the other side would make derogatory calls, the student body on our side would chant "he can't hear you" ... I laughed out loud when the deaf team in the book was playing another deaf team and was so excited because they could finally trash talk! I learned that the "huddle" came about with because of two deaf teams playing each other, attempting to hide the signs/conversation - and was adapted by all other football teams.
Covid got a mention, as the storyline/history overlaps that time. Interesting to think of the impact the isolation had on deaf students.
No proFanity. Completely clean. Other words I note - route (pronounced "rowt" in audio), and then there was "rout" being said also. Snuck. Scrum. Had to look up a couple of words: peripatetic and Pyrrhic, a couple other lesser used P words, prevaricate and prescience.
I got the audio and Kindle copy from the library. The text copy has some photos. v
I'm NOT a football fan (I have enjoyed my son's basketball and some books featuring that sport) and hadn't ever heard of 8-man teams. I think I tuned out of some of the sports talk.
The prologue is 1st person, the author telling us(the reader) how he came about writing the book. It switches to 3rd person (past tense) for the book. 37 chapters, all with unique chapter headings. As I finished the book and looked back, the headings didn't really jog my memory of the contents as sometimes happens.
The book featured a few individuals. I struggled to really remember the individual names or stories. There was quite a bit of history of deaf culture along the way. As far as playing football, it was interesting to think about how the lack of hearing could be both a detriment, and an advantage at times. There was an almost deaf boy on one of my son's basketball teams, I remember as the crowds on the other side would make derogatory calls, the student body on our side would chant "he can't hear you" ... I laughed out loud when the deaf team in the book was playing another deaf team and was so excited because they could finally trash talk! I learned that the "huddle" came about with because of two deaf teams playing each other, attempting to hide the signs/conversation - and was adapted by all other football teams.
Covid got a mention, as the storyline/history overlaps that time. Interesting to think of the impact the isolation had on deaf students.
No proFanity. Completely clean. Other words I note - route (pronounced "rowt" in audio), and then there was "rout" being said also. Snuck. Scrum. Had to look up a couple of words: peripatetic and Pyrrhic, a couple other lesser used P words, prevaricate and prescience.
I got the audio and Kindle copy from the library. The text copy has some photos. v
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Great inspiring story. Informative about deaf history and culture. The sports narrative parts were a little lacking though - too simplistic - and I would have enjoyed more background on the boys themselves.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I most enjoyed the sections talking about the deaf community or the individual boys. I understand football enough to enjoy watching a game but don't completely grasp the finer details. For this reason I didn't enjoy the play-by-play of the games or the discussion of football as much. It couldn't be left out so that's more of a me problem. However, I can't help but hold up any book like this to The Boys in the Boat... in that book I was completely riveted by the races and surprised by the fact that I was. I think part of that was built up by what the author did in the other moments. Similar things were done here to a lesser extent and also weren't "sticky". When I left that book I remembered all 8 men distinctly. I think that's what was missing for me in this one. It's still quite good, it just fell a tiny bit short of my expectations.
inspiring
medium-paced
This was good -- I did not find it to be the best book of the year, which Amazon did. Not sure how much of this was due to the fact that I am not a football fan -- there were a ton of play-by-play descriptions of football games that I found myself skimming through. The most interesting parts were the chapters about deaf culture, and the history of how deaf students are taught, ASL history, etc. I also wanted more of a deep dive into the player's individual stories.
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced