This Boy's Life

One of my favorite memoirs of all time. IT was perfect in its pacing, its pitch. It was a beautiful, but unsentimental look at youth, poverty, family, and all the cracks and fissures that the world creates to swallow the dreams of youth. Wolff's language still rings with me. I find myself, going back and reading whole passages of 'This Boy's Life' just to drink the language and the rub against the energy and charge of Wolff's vitality. A good memoirist gets the reader to experience the artist's past life through his words, a great memoirist seduces the reader into a place where the reader suddenly recognizes the universal experiences in our shared lives.

There were parts of the book I felt like Tobias Wolff was not writing his history, but mine. The details of our lives might have been different, our stories might be adolescent antipoles, but I read Wolff and I think he has robbed me of my emotions, faked my youthful hope, slandered my stripling reputation, and squandered all of my schoolboy potential.

There is something amazing about this audibook. It's the right mix of narrator and author. I saw the film version of this a long time ago and thought it might prevent me from liking the book version. The book is even better. Tobias Wolff writes in a very spare, very brooding style. This book really did its job of transporting me to a different time and place in a situation I will never be in, myself. I also highly recommend "our Story Begins," by the same author. That was what got me interested in this book, and I thought those short stories from 'Story Begins,' were great. It's a strange thing that people who write books like Twilight are famous and no one has heard of Tobias Wolff, who unquestionably creates art with what he does.

This is the perfect book to listen to in your sleep - so little happens that even if you miss 8 hours of it, you won't need to rewind to try and catch up in the morning. The narrator does a passable job considering what he had to work with - I can't really fault him for the lack of strong characters or story arc. The writing isn't horrible, its just not interesting. I only hung in there because I kept expecting some major event to save it at the last minute that would make the first 3/4 of the book worthwhile - by the time I figured out it wasn't coming I was a couple hours from finishing so I just stuck it out. If you are looking for something tame to help you relax, then go for it - otherwise, save your credit.

For some reason, this book is highly touted. I found the writing uninspired and the young protagonist at times very unlikable (as in when he's beating his dog). I understand cruelty begets cruelty, and this boy certainly dealt with too many harsh men in his life, but it is still hard to find sympathy for a young boy who's sadistic at times, even if he feels shame afterwards.

Nice story, well read, but the boy's life was not all that interesting. And in the end i was left thinking, why did i read this? No conclusion, nothing gained, nothing learned. Like watching water boil.

Tobias' autobiography left me feeling sorry for all who encountered him from his Mom to his many benefactors. In trying to be frank and self revealing he seems to be only aware of how others were oblivious to his inner deceit and shameless lies. He has no love for anyone and doesn't seem to care who he hurts. I can ride along with this for a while but over time it became apparent that he just didn't care about anyone else but himself. Writing it now that he is a successful author, I would have hoped for at least an after-word of some awareness of how people had helped him and some yes, gratitude for if not letting him learn at the feet of the masters at least some common humanity of a mom trying to do the best she could.

Despite the fact memoirs are not usually my cup of tea, I found this one fascinating and touching.

Tobias Wolff doesn't need my praise. I am much looking forward to finding his novel "Old School" in the audible catalogoue.

Half way through and haven't found a reason to continue. I don't care one way or another about the main character or even the minor ones.

I loved this book and the narrator did a great job. As the title implies, it is the story of the author's childhood and adolescence from 1955 to about 1963 (10 to 18 years old). Wolff tells a great story and paints a vivid picture of the underbelly of mid-century All American life--a dark, poignant, tragicomic "Leave it to Beaver." The author, writing as a wiser, much more mature, introspective adult, reflects on the formative years he spent as an immature, naive, foolish boy who lacked direction, role models, and any sense of family and self. He offers clear and touching insights into his self-destructive childhood behavior and the despicable behavior of the adults around him. Still, I found it hard to like the boy or to have much sympathy for him because as soon as I started to like him and feel sorry for him, he'd do something rotten, criminal, or stupid. He is deeply flawed and is at least partially to blame for many of the problems in his life, but I did feel compassion for him and I was deeply interested in his story. Anyway, I don't think the author intended to gain readers' affection or sympathy with his hard-knocks story; I think he sought to come to terms with his past and to examine it with honest self-reflection. This memoir is a journey in which author and reader gain insight from self-examination and gain compassion and forgiveness for self and others.

Best enjoyed the ability of this character's mother to extricate herself from bad situations. Least enjoyed that she entered one after another and her son's continual display of delinquency and trouble.

Yes.

No.