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hecaldwell's review against another edition
4.0
Entertaining, funny, happy, sad. An insight into a boys experiences of life.
savvystory's review against another edition
3.0
This was kind of hard to read, but not because it’s badly written. I could read a product manual written by Tobias Wolff. It felt like a one-note lashing of his childhood self. He also seemed to be battling between his short story style and the memoir format. This didn’t have the typical memoir slant of analyzing what happened and mining it for insights. He indulged in that infrequently, which was kind of refreshing, but I was left to form a sort of meta-reflection based on the stories he chose to tell.
It felt like this was the confession he couldn’t get out in the confessional early in the book. Even as he describes his childhood circumstances, he doesn’t acknowledge how they may have complicated his morals, ethics, and self-esteem. He seems to blame it on his youth and the mystery of his developing personality. It was like he wrote this to explore the question, “who am I deep down if I was able to be such a shitty person for so long?”
Well, your dad abandoned you, your mom was totally distracted, you were abused by multiple step dads, and you were left to figure out who you were on your own. Maybe cut yourself some slack. I would’ve appreciated stories that showed other aspects of his character.
If this was a collection of short stories, I would’ve been bored with the repetitive theme of guilt and shame in each story.
Other than that, it was cool to read about his time growing up in Chinook, WA, a town I’ve passed through on the way to the mountains plenty of times.
It felt like this was the confession he couldn’t get out in the confessional early in the book. Even as he describes his childhood circumstances, he doesn’t acknowledge how they may have complicated his morals, ethics, and self-esteem. He seems to blame it on his youth and the mystery of his developing personality. It was like he wrote this to explore the question, “who am I deep down if I was able to be such a shitty person for so long?”
Well, your dad abandoned you, your mom was totally distracted, you were abused by multiple step dads, and you were left to figure out who you were on your own. Maybe cut yourself some slack. I would’ve appreciated stories that showed other aspects of his character.
If this was a collection of short stories, I would’ve been bored with the repetitive theme of guilt and shame in each story.
Other than that, it was cool to read about his time growing up in Chinook, WA, a town I’ve passed through on the way to the mountains plenty of times.
torihoo's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. What a phenomenal memoir. I've read some of the fictional stories of Tobias Wolff before, but never his autobiographical work. It read like a novel in the best sense, but also rang with a sense of unalterable truth because it was true. This was his life. At times you are disappointed in Toby as he is disappointed in himself, and at others you cannot fault him because, what would you have done? 10/10--would recommend to a friend.
amandumb's review against another edition
2.0
(2.5 stars)
I understand all the reasons I should have liked this book: it was well-written, there were many absolutely beautiful lines, and the descriptive language was so prevalent that I often forgot I was reading a memoir. Still, any time an author uses the phrase "shivered my timbers," describes dead cats, or retells the same plot line in several slow-moving permutations that exhibit almost no tangible character development, I lose my patience. Maybe I'm the problem here, and maybe I'm being too acerbic, but I didn't get the reading experience I was hoping for.
I understand all the reasons I should have liked this book: it was well-written, there were many absolutely beautiful lines, and the descriptive language was so prevalent that I often forgot I was reading a memoir. Still, any time an author uses the phrase "shivered my timbers," describes dead cats, or retells the same plot line in several slow-moving permutations that exhibit almost no tangible character development, I lose my patience. Maybe I'm the problem here, and maybe I'm being too acerbic, but I didn't get the reading experience I was hoping for.