Mention Out Of Books This Boy's Life
| Title | : | This Boy's Life |
| Author | : | Tobias Wolff |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 304 pages |
| Published | : | January 20th 2000 by Grove Press (first published 1989) |
| Categories | : | Autobiography. Memoir. Nonfiction |
Tobias Wolff
Paperback | Pages: 304 pages Rating: 3.98 | 24510 Users | 1436 Reviews
Ilustration As Books This Boy's Life
This unforgettable memoir, by one of our most gifted writers, introduces us to the young Toby Wolff, by turns tough and vulnerable, crafty and bumbling, and ultimately winning. Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move, yet they develop an extraordinarily close, almost telepathic relationship. As Toby fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff does a masterful job of re-creating the frustrations and cruelties of adolescence. His various schemes - running away to Alaska, forging checks, and stealing cars - lead eventually to an act of outrageous self-invention that releases him into a new world of possibility.
Be Specific About Books Conducive To This Boy's Life
| Original Title: | This Boy's Life: A Memoir |
| ISBN: | 0802136680 (ISBN13: 9780802136688) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Ambassador Book Award for Autobiography (1990), Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography (1989), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Biography/Autobiography (1989) |
Rating Out Of Books This Boy's Life
Ratings: 3.98 From 24510 Users | 1436 ReviewsAssess Out Of Books This Boy's Life
Wolff is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers, having read a novel, a novella, a short story collection, and now a memoir. And man, he can write in any form, and better than most anyone else. Reading this after reading Old School, Wolff's novel about a prep school boy competing with his classmates to win private audiences with their literary heroes, you can see where some of the inspiration was drawn. The narrator in Old School is undoubtedly modeled somewhat after Wolff's own experiencesPart of moving from being a teenager to a functional adult is seeking your own identity outside of what friends and family think of you. Tobias Wolffs struggle with this is in part what makes this book such a great read. Although he grew up in 1950s Washington state and his life experiences are somewhat different from mine, its the core of feelings of being a teenager that never change and are the same no matter what your circumstances.Part of what makes Wolffs struggle that much harder is that
Wolffs memoir of his nomadic, fatherless childhood searching for an identity and a future is hypnotically engaging. In search of wealth and the right man, his divorced mother moved Toby, who renamed himself Jack, from Florida to Utah to Washington State, where she married Dwight, definitely the wrong man, especially for Jack. "I was bound to accept as my home a place I did not feel at home in, he writes, and to take as my father a man who was offended by my existence and would never stop
I was struck reading other reviews of this book that many stated that it read so well it could have been a novel and not a memoir. What struck me also was that he chose some incidents that showed him in an awful light, beating a poor frightened dog with a mop, being one of them. However, Wolff is such a good writer I didn't care how many dogs he beat. The voice in the book carried me through the relative mundane, rainy, overcast world of a grim childhood in the gloom of Washington State. The
This is a remarkably honest recollection. In the 1950s, a boy called Toby and his divorced mother head west for adventure and a new life, but they end up in a town called Concrete under the thumb of an abusive, even stupid, man who treats both of them badly. In recalling the boy he once was, the author makes no excuses for him. The boy was a delinquent and a thief, and he showed no promise for becoming a reasonable man, let alone a writer. I was struck by the lack of self-importance in Wolffs
Tobias Wolff was a professor at Stanford. He was my friend Laurel's Italian partner. His friends called him Toby. He scared the bejesus outta me. This is technically unfair, as I never once spoke to him or took one of his classes. I think it was the mustache that did it. It was a very intimidating mustache.Of course, none of this has anything to do with the book, which I loved. I just thought you'd like to know.
I can't very well articulate why this book elicited a 5 star response from me, which is why I enjoyed it so much. Despite not being able to put my finger on it, I found myself wanting to get back to it all the time.Not a reaction I typically have to memoirs by established authors.He spoke in away that maintained the feel of adolescence without condescending hindsight or grandiose naivety. The writing seems so simple and concise and yet there were numerous times when I had to fight my urge to
0 Comments:
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.