Amor Towles paints the 1930's NYC social scene with both wannabes and those in charge. His intriguing characters captivate the reader as he brushes in historically accurate local color. The philosophizing of Thoreau and George Washington plied their influence on the young characters --and added fuel to our discussion. Our book club enjoyed the author's website and jazz playlist, too. We nearly field-tripped from RI to Canal Street to take him up on his offer to attend!

What an enjoyable read! From this book, we learned many exciting details about the sport of Crewing, as well as detailed background information on the 1936 Olympics. We saw how the Olympics were used as a vehicle for Goebbels\\\\\\\' and Hitler’s propagandizing while utilizing the groundbreaking filming talents of Leni Riefenstahl.

We loved the personal stories of the individual crew members, particularly that of Joe Rantz, who displayed an incredible amount of fortitude from the time he was a child. An excellent non-fiction choice for our voracious readers! Although a few members found the crewing descriptions too tediously detailed for their tastes, many of us said we enjoyed this book even more than Unbroken, which is on our list of favorite past selections.

Very interesting and convincing plot. The slave owner got credit for the slave\'s work for years, but it was finally figured out. Solid research by the author and good attempts at a parallel contemporary plot.