A Most Beautiful Thing by Arshay Cooper is an inspiring and incredible story about a group of young Black boys growing up on the West Side of Chicago who become the first Black high school rowing team. It chronicles the story of how difficult and challenging growing up in low social economical communities not only impacts their life choices but mindsets and family environment as well.

Arshay Cooper narrates the book and as he details that he was never an athlete or considered a popular guy in high school and joining a rowing team was something he never considered. It was not a sport he even knew about. Growing up on the West Side, basketball and football were the sports to play and that is what was considered being an athlete and a way to get out the neighborhood. So when his friend Preston wants to join the team, he is reluctant to do so. Unbeknownst to him and the rest of the team that joins, rowing changes their lives in unexpected ways that they would have never imagined.

This book explores not only the premise of the first all Black high school rowing team but also the impacts of growing up poor, racial bias, family dynamics, having a support system, brotherhood, adventuring to the unknown,, discovering your drive and striving for your dreams.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review!

A Most Beautiful Thing was at times heart wrenching and comical, but most of all it was enlightening. As I journeyed throughout Arshay Cooper’s narration, I saw strength, determination, and love. The author highlights the racial and socioeconomic disparities that entrench the United States. Although faced with hardships, Cooper displays the happiness that can still arise from a turbulent place. While reading the book I felt like I knew each person introduced. I found myself rooting for the Manley High Crew to win while they were simultaneously breaking personal and stereotypical barriers.

The title of this book, A Most Beautiful Thing, is very fitting, and there was not one moment where I felt like the story was dull. The imagery painted was outstanding. After finishing this book I believe it will leave the readers questioning what impact will they choose to make in their own communities. Thank you to Flatiron Books for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In the first week of my freshman year of college, a new friend asked me to go to a meeting for anyone interested in joining the crew team. I had never been considered an athlete, but rowing was a club sport, so anyone willing to work hard could join. It was the best decision I ever made in college. My teammates became my family, and I learned more about teamwork in that fiberglass shell than anywhere else in life. Reading Arshay Cooper’s account of joining the rowing team at his school brought back so many memories of my rowing days. I was so inspired by the work ethic of Cooper and his teammates, and cheered for them in every race. What I appreciated most about this book is that the rowers in Cooper’s book never won medals or became Olympic rowers, but every one of them benefitted in some way from the camaraderie and discipline required to be a member of the crew team.

A Most Beautiful Thing by Arshay Cooper is a remarkable and inspiring book about overcoming everything life throws at you. It is also a heartbreaking look at life in Chicago’s West side in the 1990s.

“Growing up, we had a fan in our apartment that made a loud clicking noise. We couldn’t afford a new one so we kept it. After a while, the clicking noise didn’t bother us, almost like it wasn’t there. We only remembered when new people visited and reminded us of the noise. That’s how the violence in our city was during the summer.”

The author was a founding member of the Manley HS rowing team, the first all-Black HS rowing team in America, and this is his deeply personal and poignant retelling of that experience, and how it - and Jesus - changed him and the people around him.

There’s a lot to learn from A Most Beautiful Thing: The power of mentorship and having someone believe in you, of mental and physical discipline, of teamwork and commitment, of changing expectations.

There’s a lot to learn from A Most Beautiful Thing: The power of generational trauma, the hopelessness of addiction, the false promise of protection provided by gangs, the visible and invisible racism that divides and defines us.

On the surface, this is a book about rowing, and if that’s your jam, you’ll love this book. But it’s so much more. If you’re a coach, a mentor, a parent - a human - read this book. And change the world.

This review is based on an advance copy read.

I really, really like stories like this one. People fighting against all the odds and climbing their way to success. This book was about the first all black high-school rowing team. These boys lived in the Westside of Chicago.

I never knew much about rowing, but did observe how it was a predominately white sport. I was amazed at the level of determination of these boys.

This book was an incredible read. If you like sport stories or just a tale about overcoming the odds, than this is for you!