This Boy's Life: A Memoir Tobias Wolff
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

When The Forest House was published, it struck me that I wasn't alone in writing a second, more focused memoir. It details a childhood so shocking, at times you just have to shake your head. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls. *Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, a scene driven memoir; as well as Geoffrey Wolff's Duke of Deception. In our class discussion about the memoir This Boy's Life, I found out valuable information about certain allusions, themes, character relationships, and symbols/motifs. One scene after another doing tremendous work in the narrative, with exquisitely selective detail. One of my favorites is John Lanchester's Family Romance: A Love Story. I recommend heartily several men's memoirs, including the classic This Boy's Life and Frank McCourt's books. This Boy's Life is great, as is The Duke of Deception, his brother Geoffrey's memoir. I learned early that the most important thing in life is a good story.” And in the prefatory note to his classic memoir, This Boy's Life, Tobias Wolff writes: “I have been corrected on some points, mostly of chronology. In fact, this is exactly the type of story that started the Memoir Revolution. It is a rather grim, yet darkly funny coming-of-age memoir about a boy that lives in a difficult environment that he seeks to escape. 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. Speak, Memory is pretty amazing, so I might leave that on the list. I just finished reading This Boy's Life: A Memoir . One of the first, Tobias Wolff in This Boy's Life (1989) told his bleak story about trying to grow up, raised by a single mom and an absentee dad. I think of it as a quiet memoir of rebellion—and she's funny, too.