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Bry H.: Books to Read for Orange Shirt Day (0 comment)
Like Indigenous and Native American storytelling, children’s books have the power to paint a picture for children, shared though reading aloud, the lives, values, stories, and cultures of different people. It’s important to remember the past, especially as we move further away from it, even when that history is painful. Starting in the late 1800s...
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  • Liz Crain: Conquer Your Fermentation Fears! (0 comment)

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This Boy's Life

by Tobias Wolff
This Boy's Life

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780802136688
ISBN10: 0802136680
Condition: Standard


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From Powells.com

25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die

Browse all of the exceptional memoirs that made our list.


Staff Pick

Tobias Wolff is a writer’s writer known for tight sentences and inventive plots. This Boy’s Life tells the story of Wolff’s youth spent dodging abusive men with his mother, Rosemary. They leave Florida for Utah, and Utah for Washington. In each place Wolff builds on his persona. In Utah he becomes “Jack.” In Washington, he fakes achievement to secure a spot in an elite East Coast prep school. Jack Wolff is a lovable troublemaker in a bad situation. You root for him as you ache for him. Tobias Wolff’s storytelling, combined with his eventful life, make for an exceptional memoir. Recommended By Britt A., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

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.

Review

“Wolff’s genius is in his fine storytelling. This Boy’s Life reads and entertains as easily as a novel. Wolff’s writing and timing are superb, as are his depictions of those of us who endured the ‘50s.” The Oregonian

Review

“[This] extraordinary memoir is so beautifully written that we not only root for the kid Wolff remembers, but we also are moved by the universality of his experience.” San Francisco Chronicle

Review

“Wolff writes in language that is lyrical without embellishment, defines his characters with exact strokes and perfectly pitched voices, [and] creates suspense around ordinary events, locating the deep mystery within them.” Los Angeles Times Book Review

About the Author

Tobias Wolff is the author of two highly acclaimed collections of short stories and a short novel, The Barracks Thief, which won the 1985 PEN/Faulkner Award. He lives with his family in upstate New York and teaches at Syracuse University.

4.5 2

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.5 (2 comments)

`
lukas , February 04, 2014 (view all comments by lukas)
Tobias Wolff's memoir of his sometimes adventurous, often difficult childhood is, by turns, gritty, tender and nostalgic. The tough time growing up memoir has become something of a cliche, but this is one of the best examples, reading like a novel with an authentic, observant American voice at its heart. Much of it takes place in Washington, so Northwest readers especially will be able to relate to it. Wolff also wrote a memoir about his time in Vietnam. Made into a film with Robert De Niro. Leonardo Dicaprio and Ellen DeBarkin.

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smilesndeed , March 31, 2012 (view all comments by smilesndeed)
Well written and very much worth the cost. Wolff is able to deliver here with a gritty, honest, powerful and at times funny tale. It would be a great first novel to read from this author

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780802136688
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
01/20/2000
Publisher:
ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS
Pages:
304
Height:
.81IN
Width:
5.50IN
Thickness:
1.00
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2000
Series Volume:
no. 155
UPC Code:
2800802136680
Author:
Tobias Wolff
Subject:
BIO026000
Subject:
Biography-Childhood Memoir
Subject:
Wolff, Tobias - Childhood and youth
Subject:
Biography
Subject:
Authors, American -- 20th century.
Subject:
20th century
Subject:
Authors, American

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$8.95
List Price:$16.00
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1Local Warehouse

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