This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

This Boy's Life

by Tobias Wolff

Tobais Wolff chronicles his young life through adolescence in this memoir, which follows him and his mother after she leaves Florida for work in the west and a "better" life.

Tobias takes on the name "Jack" and follows his mother through her various hopeful relationships with men who either just want to use her or who want to control her. Which is how they end up with Dwight, a seemingly-unassuming middle aged man who fancies himself to be a great hunter and fighter. Jack moves in with Dwight in his mill town before his mother joins them, where Dwight's real nature shows itself. He bullies the boy, hits him, and makes it clear that Jack is a nothing and a nobody, and should be grateful for the life Dwight will give him.

When Jack's mother arrives, there marital bliss quickly devolves into Dwight's possessiveness and control. It becomes clear that Dwight wants Jack out of the picture and is pleased when Jack turns out to be the boy he thinks he is.

Jack gets into all kinds of trouble as he acts out and tries to cover up for his perceived failings, as a lot of young boys do. He invents a background for himself, lies, and begins to hang out with rougher boys in an attempt to appear to be that kind of boy himself. His home life situation gets worse--his mother continually wanting to leave but staying for Jack's sake--until Jack ends up calling his brother back east. A plan is formed for getting Jack out of the home and into an elite boarding school like his brother and father before him. Jack fakes his transcripts and recommendation letters, lies to recruiters, and ultimately gets rejected from all except one of the schools. The ending gets him out of the house, but doesn't solve the problems he creates for himself.

This Boy's Life was a solid, engaging read. Even though Jack is a liar and a wannabe hoodlum, you can't help but like him and to root for him to make it, to get away from all that is holding him back. He is his own worst enemy, and I could relate to that. I also found Jack to be a very accepting person of others he finds "beneath" him in some way. The ending felt rushed, but all in all the story was very good. I give it 4 stars.