The Boys in the Boat: Setting 1 key example

Most of the story’s primary plot—Rantz’s journey from childhood to Olympic rower—takes place at the University of Washington, where Joe learned to row and became an Olympian. At points, this main storyline is indistinguishable from any other book about a college student: Brown discusses many of the quotidian moments Rantz faces as a young adult, from working his way through school to befriending teammates to the fun the rowers have between grueling practices. Meanwhile, the story’s secondary plot takes place in Germany and details the rise of the Nazis, specifically the propaganda engineered by Joseph Goebbels and how the 1936 Olympics fit into Germany’s carefully crafted public messaging. 

An important but easy to overlook facet of the many settings in Brown's book are the numerous bodies of water Rantz and his compatriots row on over the course of the story. Rantz learns to row on Montlake Cut, the canal where the University of Washington’s rowing team practices daily. However, Rantz and his teammates race all over the world, from the Hudson River course in Poughkeepsie, New York to the Langer See in Grünau. Each course has nuanced and not-so-nuanced distinctions between them, from their length to the number of racing lanes to chop. While Brown could not change the settings of the story (The Boys in the Boat is, after all, nonfiction), the settings very much shape the book, especially in the sections detailing crew races.