Tobias Wolff’s memoir recounts his nomadic upbringing in the 1950s as he travels across the United States with his divorced mother to escape an abusive boyfriend. They eventually settle in the Pacific Northwest, where young Toby adopts the name Jack and struggles to navigate a volatile relationship with his stepfather, Dwight. Jack engages in petty theft, check forgery, and academic failure, constructing elaborate lies to mask his delinquency. He ultimately attempts to reinvent his identity by forging recommendations to secure a scholarship at an elite boarding school.
This book serves readers interested in the precise details of mid-century American domestic life and the psychological mechanics of self-invention. It attracts those looking for an unvarnished account of how a child uses imagination and deception to survive parental neglect and physical intimidation. Readers walk away with a clear understanding of the tension between a difficult reality and the desire to build a different version of the self through sheer fabrication.
Inward-looking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1989
- Language
- EN
