About this title: Tobias Wolff's dark and eccentric memoir about growing up rebellious in the 1950s is a funny, heartbreaking portrait of a vulnerable boy trying desperately to keep things together as he and his skittish mother travel aimlessly around the US, avoiding the violent lover she left behind. Finally settling in the Pacific Northwest when she marries ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780060972776ISBN:0060972777
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. later printing, pages clean and unmarked, some yellowing, hinge tight. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: [0-06-097277-7] 1992, later printing., later printing. (Trade paperback) Fair to good. Wuld be about fine but for a couple of deep pencil gashes on the front cover. Movie tie-in. (Biography) read more
Edition: 15th Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Perennial Library, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060972776ISBN:0060972777
Description: Good. No Dust Jacket as Issued. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book shows moderate wear/ spine tight, pages clean/ covers slightly creased; moderate edge wear/ corners creased/ several page tips creased. read more
"Wow, I loved this one. I had been familiar with a few of Wolff's short stories (Bullet in the Brain is one of my all time favorites) but this is the first of his longer works that I had read. I felt it described the awkwardness, anxiety and tragic passivity of boyhood perfectly. I reltated to it on so many levels even though I grew up in a different place and time and had a completely different personality than the main character of the book.
It is a dark book, however. Which is something I might have expected from reading The Vintage Book of American Short Stories (which Wolff edited) cover to cover. I loved that collection as well, but the themes of those stories were quite dismal. This Boys Life is about the futility of the many things we strive for. Its about loneliness and the poverty of human relations. We connect so briefly with others in ways that leave us wanting more. The ending brings no redemption for the main character, though Wolff does intimate that their are some comforts brought by maturity and experience. Wolff writes,
"Knowing that everything comes to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation gift for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end. Before we get it we live in a continuous present, and imagine the future as more of the present. Happiness is endless happiness, innocent of its own sure passing. Pain is endless pain."
So even these comforts of maturity come with the realization of much grimmer realities. But the books darkness doesn't come off as maudlin or sentimental. Rather it seems a bravely told truth, one much better accepted than ignored."
"This book was one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It is an autobiography by author, Tobias Wolff. It tells of the beginning of his childhood until he finishes (or is expelled from) high School. Tobias and his mother (Rosemary) moved from place to place in search of job opportunities and a chance to enhance their living conditions. They have lived in places such as Florida, Connecticut, and Utah. The majority of the story takes place in Utah. There, Rosemary and Toby (or Jack, which he changes his name to) live with a man named Dwight and his three children. They live in a small town named Chinook. At first, Dwight seems to be a normal and pleasant man, but this perception changes. In very little time, Dwight starts to be verbally and physically abusive towards Toby. Toby chooses not to tell his mother. Toby is also a trouble-maker in school, he repeatedly gets detention and hangs around with the wrong crowd. When he was a freshman he was hanging out with upper classmen. From the book I learned many things. I learned that Toby was almost bound to be unsuccessful by his extremely rough upbringing. His mother dated/married many abusive men and they all had negative effects on Toby. I learned that I should be very happy to be in the situation that I am in. My parents are supportive of me and my endeavors. Toby was pretty much alone from his very early childhood and on. This made him extremely rough but also caused him to have emotional problems. Overall, it is amazing how the author had such a rough upbrining and turned out the way he did."
"My daughter and I read this together - a class assignment. I liked the writing style in that it was gripping with the drama somewhat underscored through this young man's life. I'm always amazed, though, at how depressing these school assignment books are when, I think, they mean to pick "realistic" books.
Jack just can't get a break with his mom involved with a series of losers that he's forced to deal with and so it's no wonder that he makes so many bad choices that he becomes more of an enemy to himself than his stepfathers! Didn't like the ending much but understand why the author chose it. Hope "Jack" went on to a more successful life as a grown up!"
"I read This Boy's Life in one day. It is that rare kind of memoir page-turner that compels not because of blood and gore, or because you have to see what the insane parents are going to do next, but because of the writer's voice itself. This is a boy you just want to listen to. He is so genuine and honest that even while throwing rocks through windows, forging checks, and lying to himself and everyone around him, I found him unbearably sweet and vulnerable.
EXCERPT: "Her name was Alice. My class had been exchanging letters with her class since school began. We were supposed to write once a month but I wrote at least once a week, ten, twelve, fifteen pages at a time. I represented myself to her as the owner of a palomino horse named Smiley who shared my encounters with mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and packs of coyotes on my father's ranch, the Lazy B. When I wasn't busy on the ranch I raised German shepherds and played for several athletic teams. Although Alice was a terse and irregular correspondent, I believed that she must be in awe of me, and imagined someday presenting myself at her door to claim her adoration.""
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