Rating: 
Summary: Tough and Real
Review: Rather than reproduce the entire book in this review, I just want to say, briefly, that it's not easy to feel a lot of sympathy for Toby Wolff as a boy because he sabotages your empathy with his crazy behavior. But he's a real person. You feel his emotions, his predicaments, and his frustrations. That's because the writing here is so clear and direct. And as a result, you carry on, sadly knowing how trapped he is in his childhood, his powerlessness. I'm glad I read this book, but I'm not sure why. I think it's because it validates our spirit of survival, and verifies the utter stupidity of some parents toward their children. I recommend it to anyone who has had rough sailing while growing up, which is probably the entire human race.
Rating:
Summary: No hero
Review: I wonder what Mr. Wolff is like today. Hopefully, he has finally grown up, learned from his mistakes. I got so irritated, and even angry with the young version of the author while reading this memoir! He did a lot of nasty things. I'm not talking about the petty theft, drinking, vandalism, etc. The issues I'm referring to are much more serious. However, what really bothered me was not so much what he did, but that usually he felt no remorse for doing them! For example, he treated his best friend Arthur terribly: "I didn't want to be associated with him." He stole gas from a nice family, then to add insult to injury, he wouldn't even apologize for doing it! He even committed fraud when applying to prep schools- in one of the book's many humorous moments: "the report cards were made out, incredibly enough, in pencil, and I owned some pencils myself." Even when Father Karl points out that he's making his mother unhappy, Toby does not mend his ways. Perhaps most frustrating of all is that by the end of the book he still has not learned from his mistakes. That, presumably, comes later- at least, I hope so. If not, Mr. Wolff is probably off somewhere cheating on his taxes. Does this seem like a harsh judgement of Toby's character? Yes, Toby did have a difficult childhood, but so do many people, and they don't go around stabbing their best friends in the back ("backbiters"). Was Toby a sympathetic character? I suppose you do end up rooting for him in spite of his flaws. Regardless of what his mother said to the principal, he was indeed a liar. He was also a thief, and a poor friend. But I suppose he was human.
Rating: 
Summary: The Analysis of "This Boy's Life"
Review: Tobias Wolff, a self-made writer who had experienced first hand many hardships during his childhood writes the This Boy's Life. It's an honest memoir, strong and tragic. This boy goes through a lot and remains as natural and good as anybody else could have done so in a better environ. As Thornton wilder says, "I am convinced that, except in a few extraordinary cases, one form or another of an unhappy childhood is essential to the formation of exceptional gifts." Therefore it shouldn't be that hard to understand why and how two brothers with two drastically different upbringings end up to be as good as one another; one brother grow-up under the protection of his natural father and another boy under the savageries of an alcoholic stepfather. Could Freud be wrong here where he wrote: "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."
The author is now a successful essay writer who had gone to hell during his childhood, had learned from the real life, and had amassed a huge treasure, which can be used in his literal works. He writes this book at the age of forties when he can look back and dig into the catacomb of his childhood memories and construct a picture of how it went and how he made it.
The best feature of this memoir is the scene descriptions: Hunting scenes, driving scenes, the confrontation scenes, and interaction scenes, especially between the narrator and Dwight and the narrator. His natural goodness and his strong personality of a deprived kid are well sensationalized.
The memoir begins beautifully and moves from one scene to the other without any hitch. The chapters are separated logically, yet the best part of the text is the dialogues. The author knows his way of how to use dialogues; short ones, long ones, action ones, and sad ones.
The memoir is about growing up in the worse possible situation and go through the tough periods of life and while getting involve in it and become effected by the surroundings, yet come out alright and making it. The lesson is vague; this boy gets along and gets through because of what? Is it due to the love of her mother or the strength of his natural goodness inherited to him from his parents? And if this is the case, so why you and I going through so much hardships to be good parents?
Appropriately, the Memoir doesn't answer these questions and that may be the key to its relevance. It leaves it to us to figure it out because every case and every child presents a different situation and requires a different support and upbringing.
The end of the book is confusing and somewhat hurried significantly, even unfitting. Some scenes are described too thin and some too extensively. There are some exaggerations and hyperboles in the description as well as language; I like to focus on page 189 when the narrator, Jack (later Tobias,) walks on a branch and falls hard with his hands in the pockets. He gets drowned in the depth of a concussion but later walks unscathed: Where are the fractures? At least some cuts and bruises?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent memoir
Review: I hate people like Tobias Wolff. He's the kind of writer you just want to be like more than anything, but you can not master his style, it's one of a kind. This is a suspensful story, full of tense moments when you don't know if Dwight is going to start beating him or if the store clerk is going to bust him for forging a check. This is just so well written that I can not possibly find one flaw, it's just impossible. His writing is superb and his memoirs are brilliant. Read this and his collections of short stories, most notably "The Night In Question" and "Back In The World." Then when you're done reading those, read them again because they deserve to be read more than once. But of course, if you read them, you'll understand what I'm talking about and you won't needmy recommendation to read them again.
Rating:
Summary: Quit reading the reviews -- Add to your Shopping Cart!
Review: You will not be disappointed by Tobias Wolff's memoir of his unusual boyhood. True, the book is grim at times, but it is also filled with sensitivity and a quiet hopefulness. If you've never read Toby Wolff before you are in for a real treat. If you've seen the Leonardo di Caprio, Robert de Niro, and Ellen Burnstyn movie (which was pretty good itself), you should read the book as well. You might also want to consider BOY (ISBN: 0141303050) by Roald Dahl and STAND BEFORE YOUR GOD (ISBN: 0679759417) by Paul Watkins for similarly comic tragedies of boyhood. Personally, I think that Geoffrey Wolff's memoir, THE DUKE OF DECEPTION, rivals or even surpasses THIS BOY'S LIFE, as fine as it is.
Rating:
Summary: MASTERFUL STORYTELLING!!!
Review: Wolfe is an amazing author! He describes childhood in ways that almost anyone can relate to. He is a master in his craft and is an inspiration to anyone desiring to write a memoir of their own. While you could feel the angst of the writer's plight, you could also laugh your [butt] off at the hilarity he chose to make out of it in his later and wiser years.
This book should be required reading for every highschool senior in America (girls and boys alike)!
"Catcher in the Rye" was excellent, but "This Boy's Life" is nothing short of brilliant! I would recommend this to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Sensitive Boy Survives a Nincompoop Stepfather
Review: Tobias Wolff's classic memoir has all the elements of a fairy tale: a brilliant boy has the great misfortune of having an evil, simian, philistine stepfather impose his hate and ignorance on poor, almost helpless Tobias who, living with his mother and new family, endures a torture that resembles a noble character being oppressed in an evil castle. Tobias' stepfather Dwight is so frustrated and enraged by his own incompetence that he needs a scapegoat. And who should it be? His stepson Toby of course. This memoir pits the bright young Toby against his evil stepfather in a collision that has more drama than most novels. Tobias Wolff is so sharp that he is able to put his memoir in the context of The Great Gatsby and show a young man and his mother searching for identity and the American Dream of Eternal Self-Reinvention. We see Tobias grow up and become someone of great strength and humanity in spite of his malice- and rancor-filled stepfather in what is a highly compelling story of survival, wit, and struggling into young adulthood.
Rating:
Summary: I hated this book
Review: Entertaining, interesting, and thought provoking are all things that can't be found in this book. ...
This Boy's Life is about a single mother trying to raise a son correctly, but runs into many problems. For example, Toby is the main character in the book, he runs in to problems such as drugs, drinking, and smoking (243). Toby in my opinion is an unreal character because he has to deal with things that most kids never will in real life. ... Toby also has an abusive step father named Dwight (202). Dwight is a character that is thick headed and stupid. He spends all of his time beating Toby and then when Toby is going to leave he tries to be nice ... so that he will stay. In conclusion, Toby is an abused teenager that has a hard life to live and he makes even harder by doing drugs.
This Boy's Life is a horrible book. For example, the book starts out with Toby and his mom in there car witnessing a semi truck going over a cliff. This has nothing to do with the rest of the book and it doesn't belong. The rest of the book follows this example with having things that contradict themselves and things that don't belong or don't matter. In addition, the book focuses too much on Dwight beating Toby and Toby trying to escape. Toby needs to be more like an actual kid and live the life of one. This book needed a better ending and climax to make it more exciting. If this book focused more on the life of a real teenager I think more people might be interested in it.
So for my final statement I think this book needs to be focused more on realistic events and the characters need to be more realistic and relatable too. The people that might like this book are the people that like bad books and poor reading material. ...
Rating:
Summary: The story of "This boy's life",is quite interesting!
Review: The Great Story of "This Boy's life" The book "This Boy's Life" was a wonderfully written book that keeps the readers interest by keeping the reader in suspense, and readers can really get into it. The story was about the author, Tobias Wolff, and his journey through life. Toby was your typical teen that made trouble for everyone he was around and for himself. He lived a hard life away from his biological father and brother, and ended up living with an abusive stepfather. In the book, Toby did not prove to be a convincing hero because he was untrustworthy, refuses to admit to his wrongs, and had the inability to be a role model because of his actions.
Toby was untrustworthy throughout his life in the book. The first time was when he skipped archery and catechism classes. He wanted to escape the nun who was watching him because he felt she saw too much into him. This was the main reason he did it. He also did it because he knew his mother would not find out. Another example of Toby being untrustworthy was when he writes obscenities in the school bathroom. Toby lied saying it was not he, but the principal does not believe him. He was another character who saw through Toby. Toby's mom however, was so confidant in her son's honesty she says to the principal "If he says he didn't do it, he didn't do it. He doesn't lie." Toby did show feelings of guilt when he cramps up in the story. This showed he is not all that bad. The final example of Toby's inability to be trusted was when he stole gas from the Welch family. Toby states (after the family he's living with finds out) that he could not feel the wrong of the situation. When he stole the gas he broke a rule of the family he was with by getting drunk behind their back. In many situations, and to many people, Toby was untrustworthy. He did not see the wrong in this; another reason Toby's not a hero.
Adults throughout the book try to help Toby change his ways or to admit to his wrongs. However, each time Toby refuses their offers of help. When Toby wrote obscenities in the bathroom, he was given many chances to admit that he had done it. Each time however, he denies it. He convinced himself he was innocent. This shows Toby had a problem mentally, but this was another thing he seemed to refuse to face. Another time was when Toby was in a car with Dwight, his stepfather. Dwight asks him if what he heard about him was true, if he was truly a troublemaker. After Toby denied everything, Dwight got mad and yelled at Toby. Toby could've avoided this by just telling the truth, but he didn't. The reader can see here that Toby is a character that seems to want to avoid trouble, but only with certain people. The final example was when Toby refuses to apologize to the Welch family. He could have redeemed himself with a simple apology. Instead, Toby said to himself in the book that he could not move. He got a feeling of panic because he feels sorry for the Welch's after seeing them, but even though he felt this sadness for them he could not bring himself to apologize. All of these examples showed Toby has a problem admitting to wrongs. Perhaps because he seems to have this image of himself that he wants other people to believe, and he thinks that admitting to these wrongs would distort that image.
In order to be a hero, the person must be a good role model. Things Toby did in the book resulted in him not being a role model or hero. In school at Concrete high, he copied the homework of other students to get A's, and then changed his grades after they began to drop. This was not being a good role model to others. He was easily influenced by others and by a strange drive to be accepted. This caused him to do bad things at school and elsewhere. Toby made one of his friends get official school forms. He used the forms to make and send out fake grades and letters of recommendations to colleges. His friend was a good student and person, but Toby was not; this affected his friend and caused him to do bad things. Toby's inability to be strong, like at Hill prep school; is another reason he is not a role model. Heroes are said to be strong willed, but Toby gives up when he feels himself "going under". Because of this, Toby is not a role model or hero.
Toby was not a hero, but there was a sense of compassion towards Toby. There was because Toby had a hard life, and one would like to believe that that is why he was the way he was. Since Toby does all these negative things, the reader will want to read through the entire book to find out what happens to Toby.
Rating:
Summary: BU's Review On This Boy's Life
Review: This Boys Life, by Tobias Wolff, is a memoir about the struggles of a teenager. The main character, Toby (Jack) Wolff, does not exhibit have many of the characteristics
of a hero. However, Tobys strength and mischievous nature balance out to make this an exciting book.
One quality of a hero that Toby does not portray is being honest. When he was in junior high, he wrote a cuss word on the bathroom wall and then lied to the school officials and his mother about doing it. He got off free, with no punishment. The reader can relate to being a teenager who makes a foolish mistake and doesnt want to get caught. As a result, the novel is realistic.
Another quality that Toby doesnt have that a hero does is committing good deeds. Toby did a bad deed when he gave false information to the schools he was applying to and sent them phony recommendations. He got into one of them but doesnt deserve it. He cheated the system and later was forced to drop out.
A hero should be witty, or clever, but Toby is not. He stole his stepfather Dwights hunting equipment and then expected to get a good chunk of money for them at a pawn shop. However, he got suckered into selling them for $60, which was what only one piece of all the equipment cost. He should have been clever enough to realize he was being played, but the lady fooled him into saying thats all she would pay.
With all of the reasons why Toby shouldnt be considered a hero, there is one quality that he has which makes him admirable. This is having strength. Toby's stepfather Dwight hit him, made him do chores, stole his money, and got drunk in front of him. Dwight even put Tobys life in danger when he would get drunk and drive through the mountains under the influence. Toby was very strong to overcome Dwights nastiness towards him and to never fight back. If he had fought back, there would have been huge problems in his family, and he didnt want to mess things up for his mom. A true hero would have stood up for himself and his mother when Dwight was harassing them, and he should have told Dwight that what he was doing was wrong.
Toby does not qualify as a hero. He did too many bad things, like smoking,drinking, and stealing gas from neighbors. The reason why this book is so entrancing is
because the majority of people arent heroes. Most everyone can relate to Toby and his wrong doings.
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