This memoir reads much like a novel. In the book we learn about Wolff's hard formative years when his mother was moving from town to town, trying to provide for her son. It can be difficult to hear stories about children who are put into bad situations - but in this case, it helped knowing that in the end he becomes an acclaimed author and professor. Recommended to anyone who like memoirs.

This is another one that could go 5-stars for me. I get hung up on the "amazing" part of the review system. Lolita was "amazing." I remember being knocked out by Ragtime and Lost in the Funhouse. This is book isn't amazing, but it's one of the best stories I've ever (re-)read. Wolff has really got his thing down and this is his tightest effort ever (of which I'm aware). Sorry not more analysis, but I gotta go.

Probably the best memoir I've ever read. Wolff chronicles his life from 10-18 as he and his mother drive across the US and dead-end in Seattle during the '50s and '60s. His mother reluctantly remarries and ships the newly minted "Jack" off to her new husband and his family in rural Washington State. Most of Toby/Jack's life is unbelievably sad but his relationship with his mother keeps him from turning completely sour on life. Told in episodic vignettes, Wolff writes beautifully about the major and minor events that shape his adolescence. Not for the lighthearted but worth sticking with!

I don't remember where I heard about this book. It was mildly entertaining about kind of a crazy childhood of a creative and up to no good kid.

for some reason, old school captivated me a little more than this one, which is in retrospect crazy, because this story is true. but i dogeared lots of pages and again loved how well he can convey a young boy's perspective. a lovely book.

I certainly liked it, but was not as mesmerized as I was by Old School, in that it's less lyrical and more strung out. Should be read before Old School, not after!

A good well written memoir.

A well-written yet totally forgettable memoir. I wonder if having read Manchild in the Promised Land just before this influenced my reading of it somehow.