This Boy's Life (1989) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

show spoilers

• Tobias Wolff (Toby): The narrarator (and author) of the book, calls himself Jack
• Rosemary: Tobias' mother
• Dwight: One of Rosemary's main suitors, a short mechanic who lives in Chinook
• Jack: Tobias' communion nick-name, a name goes by for most of the book
• Arthur: Tobias' biological father
• Geoffrey: Tobias' brother, who lives with their biological father, and attends Princeton
• Father Karl: Add a description of this character.
• Sister James: A teacher from Tobias' Catholic School
• Chuck: Tobias' teen-aged drinking buddy
• Tina Flood: A 15 year old girl who is impregnated by one of Tobias' teen-aged friends
• Annette: Annette Funicello, who Tobias and his pre-teen friends lust over while watching the Mickey Mouse Club
• Lawrence Welk: Dwight's favorite musician, and the show he forces the family to watch and feign enjoyment over
• Judd
• Bobby Crow
• Franz
• Joe Feeney
• Pearl: Daughter of Dwight
• Norma: Older daughter of Dwight who Toby has a crush on
• Skipper: Son of Dwight

Quotes edit see section history

• “I didn't come to Utah to be the same boy I'd been before. I had my own dreams of transformation, Western dreams, dreams of freedom and dominion and taciturn self-sufficiency.”

  Toby

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Knowing that everything comes to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation gift for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end. Before we get it we live in a continuous present, and imagine the future as more of that present. Happiness is endless happiness, innocent of its own sure passing. Pain is endless pain.

  Highlighted by 64 Kindle customers

• Power can be enjoyed only when it is recognized and feared. Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.

  Highlighted by 55 Kindle customers

• WHEN WE ARE green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever.

  Highlighted by 54 Kindle customers

• that victims are contemptible, no matter how much people pretend otherwise; that it is more fun to be inside than outside, to be arrogant than to be kind, to be with a crowd than to be alone.

  Highlighted by 45 Kindle customers

• Like anyone else, she must have wanted different things at the same time. The human heart is a dark forest.

  Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers

• I hear his voice in my own when I speak to my children in anger. They hear it too, and look at me in surprise. My youngest once said, 'Don't you love me anymore?'

  Highlighted by 35 Kindle customers

• We hated each other. We hated each other so much that other feelings didn't get enough light. It disfigured me.

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

• Because I did not know who I was, any image of myself, no matter how grotesque, had power over me. This much I understand now. But the man can give no help to the boy, not in this matter nor in those that follow. The boy moves always out of reach.

  Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers

• I was caught up in my mother's freedom, her delight in her freedom, her dream of transformation.

  Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers

• coolness claimed its own out of some mysterious impulse of recognition. Uncoolness did likewise. We had been claimed by uncoolness.

  Highlighted by 22 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Seattle
• Paris
• Princeton
• Chinook
• Deerfield
• Mexico
• Utah
• Winchester
• Florida
• Marblemount
• Salt Lake
• Hill
• Connecticut
• Mount Vernon
• California

First Sentence edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Tobias Wolff (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Los Angeles Times Book Prize (1989: Biography)
• National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist, 1989: Biography/Autobiography)
• Ambassador Book Award (1990: Biography and Autobiography)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Does have reference to domestic abuse, drugs and sexual content

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( W ) › Wolff, Tobias
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Arts & Literature › Authors
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature
• Books › Literature & Fiction › History & Criticism
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Memoirs