Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This Boy's Life is a memoir of a vulnerable childhood in the mid 1950's. Toby, the main character has had a life full of trouble and grief. His mother and father are divorced, leaving him with his mother, Rosemary, while his brother and father live in Connecticut. Toby and his mother are always on the go and through this Toby and his mother become very close. They are trying to become new people and escape Troy, Toby's abusive stepfather. "It was 1955 and we were driving from Florida to Utah, to get away from a man my mother was afraid of..."(Wolff 4). The book carries you through various troubles that Toby and his mother get involved with; Toby commits a few schemes of his own along with it. The book is a very good read for teenagers and adults can also take something away from this memoir too.
The majority of the book takes place in West Seattle in a low key community. "We lived in a boarding house...At Night if my mother wasn't to tired, we took walks around the neighborhood, stopping in front of different houses to consider them as candidates...the boarding house was full of old men and men who probably seemed old" (Wolff 37). Toby finds himself with a bad crowd of friends which gets him into trouble. He breaks cafeteria windows, nails some rich people's cars with eggs, and is just a thug when he is not around his mother. He is lost between his mother and the rest of the world.
I would definitely recommend this book to teenagers especially runs that have experienced some things like Toby such as abuse and always being on the go. The book draws you into many different situations that bring you to the heart of the moment. Although this book review may not be very convincing that this is a "must read", if you ever get to pick up the book you will be drawn to it in a snap of a finger.
Rating: 
Summary: This Boy's Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff
Review: This boy's life is memoir of a professor named Tobias Wolff at the Syracuse University. The story takes place in Salf lake city, Seattle, and Concrete, Washington. The story takes place in the 1950's. The story starts with a big truck and a trailer running off a cliff and blowing up. Reading the first paragraph one would think that it is one of those action - adventure novels where things blow up. But one was not idea how wrong he or she is. The novel starts out with a teenager (Toby) who is traveling with his mother (Rosemary who is a victim of black Friday) to Utah. Trying to escape an abusive relationship. Also traveling with them are their high hopes of starting a new life but all of that is smashed into to pieces when her abusive lover shows up in Salt Lake City. They flee again, this time to Seattle. Somehow Jack's mother always manages to find and love men who are abusive to her and who make Jack's life miserable. Toby, who changes his name to Jack after Jack London, and for the rest of the novel he is known as Jack. Separated from his father and older brother who is attending Princeton and living the money life Jack can only dream about. Jack never finds out what is a real family life like. He is also gripped with guns just like a normal young child is fascinated with guns would be. When Jack and his mother arrive in Seattle, where his mother meets Dwight. To her Dwight seems to be the perfect man for a husband for herself and a father for Jack. His character can be best described as cruel, antagonist or the villain of the story, the one who steals Jack's childhood, his only motivation is to humiliate and insult everyone and anyone he can. For every move Jack makes Dwight is there to criticize him. Dwight uses physical power to show everyone that he is the king of the castle. Throughout this book Jack raises the question to himself of who he is and struggles with his own identity as a man, and with less than good role models and even more he is looking in the wrong places at the wrong time. Jack is overcome by the power of his fantasies and is convinced that they are even more real than reality; his fantasies help him to overcome his pains and trouble in life which are mainly caused by Dwight. He finds himself becoming a master of deception, pretending to be whatever other people want from him, instead of who he himself is. For example his plans of running to Alaska, forges letters of recommendation from his teachers, and He tries to make his mother happy by becoming what he thinks she wants him to be, and by doing that he ruins a big part of his life. This story somehow seems similar to The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. As both novels deal with self identity issues and family relations. This boy's life as a book is lacking something, like for all the abuse Jack apparently suffered from Dwight especially, one does not feel any rage or anger at the situation, when reading the novel it felt like reading a newspaper, one does feel towards the character, events and situation in the novel but the feeling is strong enough. The reader is just not encouraged enough to feel strongly about the characters, events and situation in the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: The story of a boy
Review: This Boy's Life, a memoir by Tobias Wolff, is a perspective of life. Unlike Steinbeck, Wolff focuses on his life and the ups and downs of it. If you don't like stories of life, then you probably wouldn't like this book.
Toby is a kid just like you and me, always getting into trouble. He is around the age of fourteen, but sadly he is abused all the time. Toby does, however, show lots of empathy, like when his mom always gets upset. Toby also shows patience towards others, like when Dwight (his step-dad) beats him.
Toby always wants to run away, because being abused and he flat out does not like Dwight. Also his friend supports him, good friend, eh? Toby's ambitions make the story very interesting, because it's a true story/memoir and it lets the reader see different points of views on life.
The setting was really cool, since it took place in Washington State, (rock on) in a small town called Chinook. Chinook is like the place where you'd take camping trips to, deep in the woods. It's also one of those small towns where you know everyone. The school is even a small on that no ones ever heard of, Concrete.
The author pointed out that someone does not have to be good at everything to be good at just one thing. Like how he became a writer but was receiving poor grades in his other classes.
The end kind of just leads off; it made me and others I know confused. Do not get me wrong, I like the book but the ending could use a little touch-up. If your looking for a true life story that entertains and intrigues you to keep reading then pick-up, This Boy's Life, today.
Overall, the book offers suggestions of what to do when abused and what to do when you're bored. Finally Toby stands up for his self in the end just like you and I might do. When he is bored though, he always gets into trouble; usually set off by friends.
Rating:
Summary: One Crazy Life
Review: This Boy's Life
By Tobias Wolff. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989 If you ever thought your life or family was crazy, you must read "This Boy's Life," by Tobias Wolff. It is a memoir that is written in an eventful narrative format.
Jack Wolff is a boy who has one unusual life. He smokes, drinks, vandalizes, and steals. That is, however, until he is forced to move from Seattle to Chinook, with his new step-father, Dwight. Dwight turns out to be an abusive drunk, who will change Jack's life forever.
Rosemary, Jacks mom, is constantly in and out of depression. She meets Dwight and they get married less than 5 months later. Dwight has three kids of his one, two daughters and a son, who are all the complete opposite of Jack. Jack likes to go out and cause trouble, while Dwight's kids have been brought up in a very strict environment.
Jack and his mom desperately want to get away from Dwight's abusive behavior. However, once Dwight finds out they want to leave, he threatens Rosemary with her life. He says that if she ever left him he would slit her throat.
This is where the fun begins. Jack starts to think of many different ways to get away from Dwight. He comes up with some crazy but sometimes very well thought out ideas. One of his crazy ideas was to run away to Alaska with his best friend Arthur. Once they get to Alaska and set up a "camp" he plans on sending for his mom to come and live with him. Another plan is to go to a prep school in California by himself. Once he graduates from this prep school he wants to have his mom run away from Dwight and start a new life with her first husband, Jack's dad. However, these ideas are very hard to do and he never does run away to Alaska. When he tries to get into Hill he runs into many problems that seem unsolvable.
Though Jack's life is tough, he finds ways to be happy at times. However, will he ever get away from Dwight.
This book will keep you reading. Though it is not suspenseful, it is very eventful with Jack running into new things every turn of the way.
Rating:
Summary: A Harsh Life
Review: This Boys Life is a memoir by Tobias Wolff, and his book is a powerful and moving story of a tough child hood full of abuse and Tobias's anger towards the world. Tobias Wolff's story may help many children, or adults, with giving them the ability to know that there is other people in the world that have had abuse, and showing them that there is a way out for them.
Tobias Wolff was a young teen in the book that had the reputation as one of the "bad kids", and was not favored by many. Toby was always getting into trouble with respecting authority, and keeping up in school. Toby had a loving and caring mother that always helped him through any problems he had though, and always believed that Toby was a good kid.
When Toby's mom married Dwight, an abusive ragging alcoholic, Toby's whole world turned upside down. Dwight took Toby's bad life, and decided that it was his responsibility to change him through punishment to give Toby a good reputation. Toby was forced to live in a very remote town, where everyone knew each other, which lead Dwight to know about anything bad Toby did from other local people, which was located in Chinook. The whole story took place in the 1950's, which was a tough enough point in time already all on its own, not to mention how harsh Dwight was to Toby.
Toby was beaten on a regular basis, and hardly ever stuck up for himself, that was until Toby stole Dwight's car and wrecked it. Toby believed that if he stuck up for himself and never gave up he would be able to finally be rid of Dwight, and luckily for him it happened. Toby worked hard for his dream to have a better life, and all his hard work was rewarded when he reached his dreams of going to a pep school and showing everyone, including himself, of how he deserved to have a good life.
This book was a very powerful and compelling true life story of a child that was severally abused and beaten, and how in by believing in himself, it allowed him to reach his dreams. This book proves that anything is possible if the right amount of dedication and hard work is used to reach those goals.
Rating:
Summary: Turn on the Lights
Review: This is not your All American idyll. No, young Wolff is not the barefoot boy with cheek. It seems his life would be everything he could desire if only he weren't drawn to the wrong sort of peers and if only his mother avoided abusive men. After a few pranks such as drawing a bead with a 22 rifle on passers by, and pelting with eggs a well-to-do man in his new Thunderbird Convertible it almost seems like just desserts for Wolff and his mother to be swept away to an isolated company town in the Cascade Range of Washington State with the nefarious Dwight the dim-wit.
But whoa, the new man in their life is a monster who eventually is banished from their lives by court order. Halleleuh! But for two or more indelible years, this is the sort of stepfather who makes young Wolff deliver newspapers for the brief years of their association, claiming to be saving the funds for the boy but instead spends the money on fancy hunting rifles for great horseback hunts which never happen. A drunkard and a master of brow beatings, the one redeeming factor dull Dwight brings into Wolfe's life is an association with the Boy Scouts and indeed Wolff credits his scouting days with his later decision to join the army.
As presumably a real life memoir, the writing is excellent. It does however beg the question; what is craft without purpose? The strength of This Boy's Life is the candor and comfort with Wolff recounts his struggles. Hurray then for candor, hurray for the anti-hero but please Turn on the Lights! Must this hero live in darkness? Give him purpose, direction, and discipline. Most of all, give him fresh thunder!!!
Rating:
Summary: "This Boy's Life" is an adventure to set yourself free!
Review: This memoir of young Toby in the 1950s and 60s is wonderfully written, and I couldn't take my eyes off the book. I would definitely rate this book a perfect 10. Many people can relate to Jack's life of adversity and struggle to find his identity. He wonders what his purpose in life is and sets out on many journeys to find a sense of peace and belonging. Wolff's genuine writing style can engulf any reader because of his humorous innocence. I would say Jack has been through more adventures than most average kids go through to escape family horror and find freedom. When I read this book, I realized that power and fear may restrain someone only for so long. However, one eventually finds a way out. One of Jack's thoughts was, "I learned a couple of lessons. I learned that a punch in the throat does not always stop the other fellow. And I learned that it's a bad idea to curse when you're in trouble, but a good idea to sing, if you can." If Jack can sing so can you and I, so read this book and you may learn a lot about yourself.
Rating:
Summary: excellent book.
Review: This was an excellent book. I could relate to it in many ways. I too had a childhood like Tobias and I am finally getting over it.
Rating:
Summary: Not "Leave it to Beaver"
Review: Tobias Wolff must have under gone many traumatic times in his life in order to write a book describing them. In this memoir, Tobias Wolff reenacts his childhood for all to witness. This Boy's Life is exactly what it is said to be, Tobias Wolff's Life. As a young teen growing up in the 1950's, life wasn't easy. Add in a divorce and being separated from the rest of his family, life could be near traitorous. That's how the life of Jack came to be like. Jack is forced to leave with his mother, leaving behind a life that he had been familiar with for so many years. They first drove to Utah, leaving everything in there shadow. From Utah, Jack and his mother, Rosemary, moved on to Washington where they spent many more years. In those coming years they had many challenges and met several different people. Some were positive in there lives and some were a threat to their well being. Could Jack make it through all of the hardships that he was going to face in his life? When first starting on his voyage to Utah, Jack was a well behaved kid. Soon after his move, he started hanging around with the wrong people and crowd. He got into smoking, and was soon vandalizing other people's property and often stealing things as well. Deep down, he always wanted a better life for his mother and himself. He was obviously not a true trouble maker at heart. He was determined to get out of his current situation, and wanted to bring his mother along as well. Jack finally decides to straighten up his act. As was said before, he wanted to get away from his life, more specifically Dwight, his mother's new husband, who was a terror to society. He was emotionally unstable and also abusive to the ones he "loved." After many years of moving around and trying to find his place in the world, he is finally accepted in to Hill, the school of his dreams. Although this is the high point of Jack's life at the time, his journey is far from over. He has many triumphs, but all come with many failures. This Boy's Life gives you, the reader, a quick look on how life was back in the 1950's for some people. As most think, it wasn't just the "Leave it to Beaver" era. While that was going, there was also the real world where everyone else was living.
Rating:
Summary: This Boy's life Rocks
Review: Tobias Wolff tells about his unstable childhood in his memoir, This Boys Life. He introduces and elaborates on all the different places, situations, and people that have affected him.
The book has all kinds of diverse well thought out characters. The main character, Jack, is a teenage going up in the 1950's. The book is told in the way that Jack sees it. Jack is a gawky ungraceful teenager looking for belonging; he looks for it in his friends and family. Jack is a mellow character; he looks at his life as a learning experience. He does not repeat the same mistakes over again. Jack will only listen and respect one person, and that is his mother. Jack's mom, Rosemary, has done what everyone told her or wanted her to do. She has never been fully happy in her life. When she got a divorce from Jack's father, it was just her Jack. She becomes close to Jack, they develop a bond that no one can break. Then Rosemary meets Dwight, Jack's future step-dad. Dwight is a simply man, all he needs is his beer, the TV, and a gun. Dwight has a very short temper, is easily jealous, and sometimes even abusive. He never really felt appreciated from his family, job, and friends.
The book gives great insight on how an insecure abuse victim handles dilemmas in his life. He turns towards his mother, Rosemary. Rosemary dedicates her life to her son. She wants the best for her son and she tries everything to make sure that he is always happy. Then Dwight enters their life. Dwight falls in love with Rosemary, soon his love turns unhealthy. He becomes obsessive and jealous. He wants all of Rosemary's love and attention, he becomes abusive towards Jack.
Tobias Wolff captures the confusion and frustration of being a teenager. The scenes in the story are places we have all been to and can picture easily. (For example, the Jack's run down high school, and Jack's the dirty home.) Each twist and turn in this story will have the reader wanting to read more to see what will happen next.
This Boys Life takes the reader on a ride with Jack Wolff through all his struggles and triumphs, from the very beginning to the unusual end. This Boys Life will move the reader.
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