I had not heard of this author until mentioned by David Sedaris in one of his monologues on a radio show. When one great author reccommends anothers work I always taken notice.
Wolff is a writer of short stories, memoirs and novels. He is also a teacher.
More to be found - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Wolff
This Boy's Life is such an honest account, brave even. I forgot that I was reading a memoir.
A dysfunctional Family set up; a mother trying her best with a
bad situation and an increasingly wayward son. I simply came to care
what happened to her as well as the author. A tour de force in writing,
pacing and delivery - nothing sugar coated, if anything, sometimes
shockingly honest.
The portrayal of the childhood friends, how
they came to be friends and their subsequent detachment etc., feels
genuine and accurate. It gives you a wonderful account of normal American way of life without romanticising or rose tinted glasses.
The account carries you along at such a pace and with such interest that (for me) I whipped through it at break-neck speed. It will be one I shall return to and highly reccommend.
