Product Description

The author of "The Barracks Thief" and "Hunters in the Snow" recreates his boyhood experiences, relating how he and his mother travelled throughout the United States, and tracing his experiences and changes from young boy to manhood against the background of a violent and wildly optimistic America.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59106 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
The author of three collections of stories, Tobias Wolff lives with his family near Stanford University, where he is the director of the creative writing program.

Customer Reviews

A captivating tale of an escape from poverty
Tobias Wolff remained with his financially unsupported mother after his parents' divorce, stuck in the sticks at Concrete High School. Through an audacious act of forgery, he won acceptance to an exclusive prep school and Ivy League university. He subsequently became a university professor, and his book's articulate prose reflects his educational achievements. Especially memorable are his retelling of a friendship with an effeminate but pugnacious classmate and his account of finding a patron who purchased for him the new wardrobe necessary for hobnobbing with the upper classes who inhabit the east coast of America. As a published memoir writer, I can wholeheartedly recommend this work as a superior example of the genre.

An amazing book
This Boy's Life is the memoir of a boy's, sometimes typical, sometimes unique, adolescence. The text is written sparingly, yet richly which makes it a powerful read. Wolff has created a world in which we see though the eyes of the youth in the trauma of his own childhood, growing up in a difficult family situation in America in the 1950s. Having watched the film version, staring Robert DeNiro, Ellen Barkin and Leonardo DiCaprio I found, although a great film, that it isn't as great as the book. A warm account from an excellent author. Read it.

a damn good read
I just finished reading this yesterday, i read it in a day and a half. i love the way tobias wollf writes, he has a captivating matter of fact way of telling his story. unlike many autobiographies i found this one to be less of the "pity me" variety and more of the "this is who i am". he offers no apologies for his sometimes destructive behaviour and doesnt try to gloss over his actions by using hiw own life hardships as an excuse, I have alot of repsect for this writer as this book was truly a lesson....i think the overall message is ...it isnt where you've been...its where you are going that counts!