On the Water
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.66 (783 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0802116922 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 134 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-01-19 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.. From Publishers Weekly Rowing is a sport in which the athletes on a given team are so tightly intertwined that, during optimal performance, total synchronization occurs. Anton's working-class parents do not understand or fully support his commitment to the sport, but nonetheless he throws himself into an arduous routine of rowing, running and lifting weights all in an effort to cement his relationship with David, his two-man craft's other rower. Van den Brink shuttles between intimate descriptions of the duo's grueling practice sessions and races, and Anton's reminiscences many years later when he revisits the abandoned boathouse. Van den Brink presents David as Anton's antithesis: self-assured and affluent. This is a sensitively written and finely tuned work. The mental bond that exists between good rowers is a powerful one, and van den Brink's tight, precise novel, set in 1
"The magic of superlative writing" according to Grady Harp. When an author can create a completely absorbing novel, peopled with finely tuned characters that stir us with tension and competition and longing, a novel that uses as its base a sport that few readers know enough about to connect, then that author has displayed credentials of an impressive talent. ON THE WATER spends alomst every page in the preparation, practice and execution of a two man crew boat. He gradually pulls us into that boat with an understanding of the rules of the game and the rigors of the men. Five Stars This I gave as a gift to someone that wanted to learn about the sport. It is outstanding.. A beautiful, very Dutch book Linda Oskam Anton lives in a new neighbourhood near the Amstel river in Amsterdam in the 1930's. From his early childhood onwards, the river attracts him and when he is about 14 years' old he becomes a member of the rowing club on the other side of the Amstel. Anton is an outsider: the other member are from higher social classes, his father works in the public transport branch. He is also an outsider in other aspects: he observes the others and doubts himself.But then one day the eccentric Dr. Schneiderhahn chooses anton
All summer, a quiet obsession and magical bond forms between them as the intensity of their training and competitions increases. "Brilliantly written," applauds Denmark's major newspaper, Politiken."Your heart literally beats with these two boys as they struggle their way to their goal." But the goal was not to be, and on the wintry eve of Holland's liberation five years later, Anton stands on the banks of his beloved river and remembers the majestic summer he spent with David. Anton, a shy teenager from a lower-class family, is paired with David, self-assured and affluent, and suddenly into Anton's drab life there is the river, boats, woods, the flash of sunlight on the copper oarlocks, and his strong, silent, almost amorous understanding of David. Now the boathouse is derelict and deserted, and the river reflects only bombers roaring across the sky from England to Nazi Germany. David has long since disappeared, and the starving city is a cruel, shadowy reminder of what once was. In the golden Amsterdam summer of 1939 on a crystal river in Holland, two young oarsmen train with a rather mysterious German coach. Yet up ahead