"Tobias Wolff tells the story of his teenage years. His parents are divorced, and he lives with his mother. Toby and his mother have a deep bond, and he travels with her across the country. He gets himself into a lot of trouble, but finally comes out on top."
Judy Berman, Resident Scholar
Click above for the new Obama Girl Parody video!
Review Analysis of This Boy's Life: A Memoir
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- committing crimes
- general coming of age story
Family, love
Yes
Special relationship with
- mother
Period of greatest activity?
- 1900+
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity
- White
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other people
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 5 (an average amount)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Deep South
- Pacific NW
Century:
- 1960's-1970's
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Book makes you feel?
- thoughtful
Lot of foul language?
Yes
Commentary on society?
Yes
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of set of events during life
Autobiography?
Yes
How much dialogue in bio?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
A LOT of info about personal vices?
Yes
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 0-25% of book
