This Boy's Life

By: Tobias Wolff

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

First published in 1989, this scarifying memoir has become a classic of the genre, as notable for its artful structure and finely wrought prose as for the events it describes. The book essentially launched the memoir craze that has been going strong ever since. It was made into a movie in 1993.

The story is pretty grim: teen-aged Wolff moves with his divorced mother from Florida to Utah to Washington State to escape her violent boyfriend. When she remarries, Wolff finds himself in a bitter battle of wills with his abusive stepfather, a contest in which the two prove to be more evenly matched than might have been supposed.

Deception, disguise, and illusion are the weapons the young man learns to employ as he grows up, not bad training for a writer-to-be. Somber though this tale of family strife is, it is also darkly funny and so artistically satisfying that listeners come away exhilarated.

©1989 Tobias Wolff (P)2010 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"Unforgettable." ( Time )

"At once compassionate and deeply disturbing." ( The New York Times Magazine)

"A jewel-like memoir of childhood in the 1950s...Lucid, bitter, precise, terribly sad: the real-life equivalent of Wolff's acclaimed fiction." ( Kirkus Reviews)

pretty good

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

it was a good book, but not one that I had to listen to all the time.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

A Sui generis masterwork....

Sui generis yet the begetter of the a new genre of memoirs-some excellent,many self-indulgent masturbation.

Mary Kerr's "The Liar's Club" is the woman's cognate.

Wolff's brother,Geoffrey's "The Duke of Deception " is the indespesa ble bookend to TBL.

Individually and together they changed my children's lives and deeply enriched mine.

Loved It!

It was like returning to my boyhood. Love his writing and the narration is especially good.

Nooooot eeeeeeeeven -Jose Orcozco, 2018

Im a slow reader so audiobook is good.
Lmao xd noob jk ur mum kek

Classic memior

This helped invent a genre and and pioneered a path to publication for authors like David Sadaris and Tom Bissell. A must read for anyone who appreciates memoirs.

a story of a life

a story of someone's growing up and living their life. I enjoyed the book better than the movie. Tobias wolf and a hard struggling life. if you've read the book. see the movie.

Poor narration ruins book

Mistakenly purchased memoir NOT read by the author. The narration was too acty-y; ineptly tried to sound frightened, or naive or whatever sentiments the narrator believed the author was conveying. Just let the words do their job. You don't have to speak in a falsetto to sound like a 13-year-old girl (as the narrator did to sound like the author's step-sister). The narration ruined to book; couldn't finish listening. Too bad.

*A Life Full of Abuse and Yet Optimism*

The story begins with 10 year old Tobias Wolfe and his mother, who is divorced from his father, living with another man. They leave his home because of abuse and move on down the road to greener pastures. Toby changes his name to Jack and this book tells of their adventures. Jack was certainly not a model child. He was very adept at lying, stealing, cussing and skipping school, getting in fights with other boys, and even forging checks. The only subject that interested him was writing. In an attempt to calm his rebel spirit, his mother sends Jack to live with a man who has proposed to her. This proves to be a mistake as the man is abusive to him. However, when questioned, Jack does not reveal these things to his mother and so she gets married again. Both she and Jack are unhappy. It takes them several years to escape this relationship. Through it all Jack entertains the idea of going to prep school and to college, even though he has never been a good student. He manages to get accepted, and to accomplish his goals. Always an optimist Jack succeeded where most would have failed.

Stunningly good

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.

What's the point?

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.