I reread the book quite often. When the book came out I was in college so it was weird to see what I had said over 3 years before. It was also interesting to learn things about my friends that (most of the kids in the book i went to high school w/) i never knew. It made me understand them more. I knew Jono from the 6th grade on and he was one of my closest friends, but I never knew he did not know his heritage. I probably should not tell you who I am, so I will give you a hint: I went to Winston-Salem St. U. BUY THE BOOK & give it to your kids. They will see they are not alone. By the way, I am a teacher now.

This book gives a variety of stories of kids their brief history of why their room is like it is.It's like being a fly on the wall.In the sometimes confusing time of being a teenager you realize you are not alone.

"My Room : Teenagers in Their Bedrooms" was a very interesting book. Looking at each teen in their room, looking at the individuals themselves, I would often judge them, as most people judge others in real life. However, quite often, my judgments were wrong: a clean looking teen would turn out to be a recovering drug addict, another teen whiched looked as if he was an atheist, actually was an active church goer, and so on, and so on. The book teaches a good lesson not to judge people by the way they appear, but by their actions, and state of mind. It had some pretty cool pictures, and the book also told of what happened to each teen later in life. Good readin'. Check it out.

As if "The Night In Question" wasn't good enough, I went and bought "Back In The World." Just the first story alone could be printed ten times in between two covers and you'll read it different every time. There is this girl who likes to shop lift, works in a theatre, goes home to her little brother. It's us, beautifully written and immaculately realized. Tobias Wolff is gold and everything he touches turns just the same. Read this, then "The Night In Question" and then read "This Boy's Life." Read his made up words and then read his personally inspired words and found out just what he had to go through, how he triumphed over adversities to become the best short story writer out there today.

This book is great. What else would you expect from Mr. Wolff. I find his stories refreshingly unique. This man could write about getting your oil-changed and make it interesting. This is a must read for anyone interested in the works of the so-called "Dirty Realists." Also read Ford's Rock Springs and anything you can get a hold of by Raymond Carver. These men write about our lives, not the lives we all wish we had. Wolff is an in-your-face writer that punches home all his points with clear language and just hard writing. Also check out In The Garden of the North American Martyrs and The Night in Question--other collections of his.

I can't believe that I am the first person to review this book. Read this book!!! Beautiful stories, some of which brought tears to my eyes. Mr. Wolff is a great writer, who deserves the serious reader's attention.

This collection of short stories chronicles an era. "Walking Out" by David Quammen is a haunting story of a boy's passage into manhood. The interaction of and the depiction of characters in "Testimony of Pilot" is spectatular. Every story is priceless and compelling. I lent my copy out more than seven years ago and have been trying to locate a replacement ever since. Tobias Wolff compiled a masterpiece in Matters of Life and Death.

Carol Bly's stories call me home. She captures nuances of Midwest culture, and in particular, aches in the souls of Midwest women, with a startling precision, honesty, and eloquence that reminds me of everyone I ever grew up with.

But a Bly story goes beyond simply the personal level of her characters' lives. "Chuck's Money," for example, the final story in her new collection, is a penetrating analysis of issues of class structure, power politics, and moral crises in Small Town America as they play themselves out in quiet marriages, church carpools, and funeral suppers. Through the eyes of bookkeeper Leona and her oak tree of a husband Allen, we see how the suicide of a teenager sets in motion a series of events that redress old and new injustices. The net result is an exuberant image of people who can be so decent sometimes it takes your breath away.

Wolff's short stories in this collection provide crisp narrative journey's exploring humanity in its complexities, confusions, controdictions and emotions. It is as if a heart pumps underneath all the words in each story: they are that alive and that remarkable. I read this in one sitting weeks ago, and the stories and characters are still fresh and instant in my mind. Wolff is one of the best short story writers ever.

I have read Tobias Wolff for about 5 years now so I was very exited to read this collection of short stories, and needless to say I was not disappointed. The first story I ever read from Wolff was "Bullet in the Brain", and these stories followed in the same amazing tradition. Wolff is able to set the reader down in the middle of a scenario or time like no other author. This voice that he uses is so unique in each story and that you have a real sense of who you are dealing with in each story, and on a smaller level, each character. Wolff is able to create interest in situations and actions that border on plain on all other accounts. He creates characters that we see next to us on the bus everyday buy showing the reader who they are in the actions that carry out, and the how they deal with the certain situations they find themselves in. A hunting trip with friends becomes a look into the deepest crevasse of friendship; a fender bender turns into a trial in patience and trusting with people in everyday settings. Wolff is a master at writing these stories in a voice that speaks to every person, and yet is so unique that we must read on. This was a wonderful collection of stories and is highly recommended for any reader of fiction.

One of my creative writing professor's recommended this book to me, and I adored it! I read This Boy's Life a few years ago, and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't blown away. But, In the Garden of North American Martyrs has given me a new and fierce admiration for Tobias Wolff. Each story is well-crafted without being overtly so. Like Raymond Carver, the style is slightly sparse and gives you the feeling that these people could be your next door neighbors. The characters have that regular joe quality, but they are never ever boring, it only makes the things happening to them more potent. From the man who wrecks his car, to the professor who has a one night stand, each tale is piercingly believable without ever being dull. If you're looking for the kind of short stories anyone could aspire to, read this book!

If this book were written by many contemporary American writers, it would be by far their best. However, when you're Tobias Wolff, you've got to be cognizant of the fact that you've done better. While this collection demonstrates the range of Wolff's talent, his ability to shed light on so many different individuals, and his mastery of the short story form, his true gift of articulation is more evident in earlier works, specifically, In the Garden of North American Martyrs. If Nabokov's writing is like someone dumping gooey chocolate syrup and crushed Oreos on a dollop of vanilla ice cream, Wolff's prose is as clear as a glass of water. Hemingway might have aimed at such clarity, but Wolff got it in Martyrs. The Night in Question warrants rereading no doubt. Some of his sentences are just gems and do things that any writer knows it's tough to make language do. Wolff also manages to create whole characters in 3 inches of print (and none of his books have more than 400 words to page) and makes their dialogue resonate with disturbing familiarity. The Night in Question, like all of Wolff's work - The Wolff Pack - will bite you, but if want to be consumed, check out some of the earlier stuff.

I usually find story collections more difficult to read than novels or non-fiction. It's jarring to emerge from one story, and then be expect to plunge right into the next. Learn new characters, understand the new basis of another story.

So I'm usually biased against story collections from the beginning.

That said, I really, really liked "The Night in Question" by Tobias Wolff. All of the stories in this collection are crisply written, highly entertaining, and oddly satisfying despite all the missed connections, shattered illusions, and the other myriad vagrancies of life presented therein. Some are bound to be classics. I think "Firelight," "Flyboy," and "Mortals" are three such stories.

There are flaws in this collection. "Bullet in the Brain," for example, relies on an absurd and unbelievable set of character actions to advance the plot. Basically, a theater critic ridicules an armed bank robber for showing such bad taste and robbing in such a cliché fashion that the bank robber shoots the critic, starting off the real part of the story, the synaptic explosions that jar loose a final, poignant memory.

But these flaws are minor. It's a durn good book, and if you like good readin', you'll read this.

I've only read Tobias Wolff's short stories--both this book and the ones from "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs"--but this collection has continually left me speechless. Story after story focuses on the everyday happenings of mostly "ordinary" people with an attention to detail that reminds me of eastern poets. Yet Wolff blends his take on things with a distinctly "American" flavor--that is, he's an American writer at his best. Stories like "The Chain" and "Bullet in the Brain" are emphatic in their declarations of the human condition. After reading many of them, I couldn't wait to share some particular passage or insight with a loved one--or a stranger, for that matter. In this collection, moreso than "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs", I got the distinct impression of a vibrant, funny, quietly wise writer who--as Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye" might have said--I really wish were a personal friend.

If you're tired of the predictable mediocrity of most of the short story collections flooding today's market I encourage you to pick this book up, it may open your eyes up to some of the more overlooked story writers of today. Tobias Wolff does a great job combining some of the finest mainstream stories of the later part of the 20th century with some less predictable, more intriguing selections. The result a consistently excellent collection.

Among the many highlights in the collection, among them Kate Braverman's hypnotic "Tall Tales From the Mekong Delta", Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" in which Carver actually takes a step toward justifying the hype surrounding often over rated work, Mary Gaitskill's "A Romantic Weekend" a take on sadomasochism that is at once cold and humorous, Barry Hannah's "Testimony of Pilot", Thom Jones' "A White Horse", Robert Stone's "Helping", and John Edgar Wideman's "Daddy Garbage", but the two highest points of the collection, as they would be in any other collection, are Denis Johnson's "Emergency" and Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried". The first, from Johnson's indispensable collection "Jesus' Son", is halucinogenic, unnerving and beautiful. In "Emergency" Denis Johnson reveals his uncanny ability to draw the reader into the fabric of his story to the point where one believes that he is an actual physical observer of the events portrayed. Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" is equally evocative, but in a much more overt and emotional way. O'Brien does a brilliant job of portaying his group of American foot soldiers in Vietnam and his descriptions are so exact that we can't help but feel the fear and emotional strain he describes.

The rest of the collection is strong with a few exceptions. "River of Names" by Dorothy Allison is shallow and not at all up to par with some of her other work. "Darling" by Scott Bradfield starts off wonderfully but ultimately disappoints by overdosing on its own bitter medicine. Even so, there is so much good material in this collection that we owe a great debt to Mr. Wolff for making it so readily available.

"The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories" speaks with the intensity of liquor and fists. It lets loose on the gut of America.

Tobias Wolff, one of America's hardest hitting fiction writers, ("The Night in Question: Stories" and "In the Garden of North American Martyrs") has hammered together one of the best collections of modern fiction--far better than any individual "Best of..." collection.

If you are drawn, like me, to the intensity and disillusionment present in American literature at the turn of the century (i.e. Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald) this book may be what you have been looking for in contemporary writers. Including such staples of the contemporary cannon as Raymond Carver, Andre Dubuse, Amy Tan, Joyce Carol Oates this book packs in the best of modern short fiction and restores the genre to its former revered status.

Tobias Wollf, himself an excellent practitioner of the short story, does not include a work of his own in this wonderful collection (save a very thoughtful introduction). This is one of the most well edited collections of contemporary short stories on the market. It may be a few years old by now, but most of the "must read" writers, as well as surprisingly good lesser-knowns are included. Raymond Carver and Andre Dubus, sadly no longer contemporary in the strict sense, live on within these pages alongside excellent new voices. Two stories that really stand out for me are John L'Heureux's "Departures," a very deep and moving narrative, and Ralph Lombreglia's "Men Under Water," a beautiful alchemy of the dreams and realities of contemporary life. The selections written by Jamaica Kincaid, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O'Brien, and Denis Johnson are so well picked, they seem to capture a bit of the authors themselves, as well as a portion of their writing. Because of these atttributes, I think the Vintage Book of Contempory Short Stories is both valuable for personal collections and for use in the classroom. It does the job that all compilations are supposed to, but seldom do, accomplish. It exemplifies the current breadth and depth of this contemporary artform.

This is the fruit of an annual story competition. The Series Editors say, "Awfully good stories. More than that, we cannot say." The Guest Editor says, "This is not an apologia for creative writing workshops." You know you're in for it, but the first story is OK, it's all jokes and jokes are rudiments of art, but there's no inspiration and the stories are all about writing and things without being things written themselves.

The Best New American Voices 2003 is a superb collection of stories from new writers working in graduate writing programs, arts organizations, workshops and summer conferences. The stories stretch over a wide variety of subjects representing areas from many different cultures. In "Good" a woman named Jeanie has a confusing affair with a man she meets while visiting her dying mother in the hospital. "The Storekeeper" tells the story of Hays, a sharpshooter performing an illegal mission in operation Desert Shield. The collection ends with "The Good Life" the story in this collection that dips the most into a surreal tone where a couple's new perfect home literally disintegrates before their eyes. They all focus intensely on a central character whose perspective largely dominates the story. As Joyce Carol Oates comments in her excellent introduction, "the dominant mode is psychological realism." She goes on to suggest interesting ways in which writers emerge as writers and how the discipline of writing as a formal practice has swiftly developed in America. Many of the stories have a peculiar ability to haunt you with their distinctive tone as in the stories "Who is Beatrice," where a woman is strangely disengaged from her life and wanders continuously through used book stores; "Chickensnake," where snakes demonstrate their ravenous ability to consume things whole; and "Everything Must Go," where a grieving wife is attempting to forge a new life for herself in New Hampshire with her son. The dead or dying play a major role in many of the stories. Nevertheless, the stories each feature many moments of uncommon humor and uplifting sentiments. This collection can serve as an introduction for people who want to be writers to understand the predominate contemporary "voice" and form of American fiction today. Equally, it is a treat for passionate readers to enjoy short glimpses of powerful new talent and learn names to watch for in the new releases section of bookstores. It is a wonderful and diverse collection of stories to own.

This book delivers what it promises: interesting, innovative, new stories from what should be the literary stars of tomorrow. I highly highly recommend it. The opening story "Good," by Cheryl Strayed, is stunning in its poignancy; and it has a climax that's both surprising and yet psychologically real. The story "Peace," by Dylan Tai Nguyen, is a rueful but powerful meditation on what happens to language in totalitarian regimes, and on what happens to families when the forces of history invade and sever. It's a sad, but deeply affecting piece. I'd buy this book for Christmas--to give to anyone interested in the landscape of serious literary fiction in America.

Wolff is a fine writer, and the book is certainly readable, but it added barely anything to my understanding of war, Vietnam, the soldier's life, etc. Frankly, I was disappointed, based on the previous work I'd read by him. Other Vietnam books, such as "Chickenhawk", "The Things They Carried" (the latter billed as fiction) and "We Were Soldiers Once, And Young" really put this one to shame, and I strongly recommend all of them, without reservation, to anyone who might be interested in this subject. This one you can skip.

Be warned... this is not an action packed novel based on military field operations. Wolff's memoir takes the reader from the beginning of the Vietnam War to the end of his experience. In sharp contrast to E.B. Sledge's With The Old Breed, this book plays out the author's feelings and experiences in a very non-imbelished and descriptive way. During the Vietnam War 80% of active servicemen did not in fact see sustained combat in the forests of Vietnam, this book is a rare piece that reflects accuratly that percentage. I would rate the book a perfect 5, but it stays anti-climatic. Wolff has a witty diction that makes this book an easy read, and even easier to level with.

In the large, this is not strictly a novel about the war in Vietnam. Vietnam was merely the backdrop, the structure upon which Wolff placed his search for understanding. In fact, each chapter is a short story so well written they can stand by themselves.

Wolff has a unique writing style; clean, nothing wasted. Adjectives and adverbs are used sparsely and throughout the work countless gems are smoothly woven into the story line. With an all too rare honesty, he confronts, often with dark humor, his loves, his fears, his competency and the pointless nature of the many wars in which he is lost.

His reconciliation with his grifter father upon his return to the states is remarkably moving. The subtly of that reunion, of a son and father who desperately need each other inspite of a lifetime of bitterness, keeps drawing your thoughts back to it.

Well done.

The novel This Boy's Life may sound dull since it is a memoir of a teenager which doesn't catch too many readers attention. As they say, don't judge a book by it's cover(or title). This non-fictional narrative is a true life story about a rebellious boy's vitality in his teenage years. As people continue to read the novel, they will feel as if they are an actual part of the story. Most actually feel an emotional connection with the main character in the story.
Tobias Wolff, the main character, is the insubordinate character in the story. He is a violent teenager who tries to find his own sense of self, but has trouble accomplishing this goal. His insecurities aren't helped by the environment in which he inhabits in. Even though his habits are not the right habits to have, he is persistent in trying to become an alteration of his old self so he could grow out of his un-functional environment. His many efforts and attempts to become a picture perfect person are impossible because of his abusive step father Dwight and other events that always seemed to get in his way. Despite Tobias's stepfather, he manages with his schemes to get away from the life he hated and the person he hated with it.
Jack is the name that the main character Tobias Wolff went by. Jack always wanted to be different because he was always known as the screw up and the misfit in the isolated town Chinook. His mother, Rosemary, deals with her trails after being repeatedly being threatened by her most recent husband Dwight. Rosemary often gets bored with things easily which explains her sometimes odd behavior in the story. Before settling down with Dwight, she was a person who often searched for a new adventure. Dwight was the step father and husband of Jack and his mother. He had three children already with his former wife. It would seem that since Dwight has had experience raising children that his tactics didn't seem to be very well developed. He was abusive to his son and wife and never let anything go. The children weren't a key role in the story and aren't mentioned as much as other characters.
The question is whether or not Jack will ever get away of his home and find the person that he truly is in the real world. He has chances to leave and that's to be accepted by another school away from the west coast. He receives all his forms and does all the paper work and now he just has to wait and see what happens.
The ending of the book was a little disappointing. It happened fast and didn't elaborate enough on the finishing events. It turned out well and was very realistic. The thin novel could answer questions about other people's lives that may not have it as well as others do and can relate to many situations in people's lives. Overall, it was an exceptional book and would be recommended to many.

Tobias Wolff's memoir entitled This Boy's Life is a poignant look at a dysfunctional family set in the "Baby- Boomer" era; a time in America when society was still being exposed to the portrayal of family by such icons as "Lassie" and "Ozzie and Harriet". This book proves to be a worthwhile read as it encompasses the struggles, triumphs, and qualities of an unsung hero.
Toby (our hero) once said "I wanted to call myself Jack, after Jack London. I believed that his name would charge me with some strength and competence inherent in my idea of him. [P. 8]" In this comment it becomes clear that Toby held internal struggles and he wanted to have a fresh start and outlook on life. With that being said, it becomes more evident that he struggled before he left and wanted to have a name that would "charge" him with "strength and competence" so that in the future he could triumph over his struggles. Or help prevent those that lie ahead of him all together. That same alter ego helps him in his struggles with Dwight, his evil stepfather and nemesis.
Throughout the book, one basic cliché that makes for a great story is stressed and that is "You can achieve anything that you put your mind to". Although that exact phrase is never mentioned in the story, the way the hero, Toby, overcomes all of his obstacles shows just how pertenent the above mentioned phrase is to Toby's whole life. Like when Dwight made Toby play basketball in dress shoes because he was too cheap and cruel to buy him sneakers. Despite the humiliation of repeatedly tripping, Toby continued to play because he was determined to finish the game.
Toby is "Every man's Hero" because he is a whirlwind of contradictions. He's deeply flawed yet focused. He is vulnerable but sly. And in the end we cheer for this insecure, young boy who proves to be a tower of strength and courage. When Toby risks his life to rescue someone in danger, the evolution of his character is complete. The Unsung Hero.
This Boy's Life: A true classic and a great tale of "Good Overcoming Evil" and a testament to moral fiber and hard work.

A must read for all, even teen or pre teen readers. This is an extraordinary composition, a beautiful work. Indeed, one I could not pause reading since its commencement untill its end.

Firstly, the argument is so compelling, so frank, so natural, and so accurately written, that it takes brains to combine into a piece the different tones depending on Tobias age development, situation, life evolution, etc. His prose is absolutely well thought, since its structure and simplicity, describes in utter detail the characters, especially Tobias personality, his own train of reasoning, notable due to its positive attitude all the way.

Secondly, perhaps of uttermost importance, becomes the fact : while the partial memoir is conveyed, the psychological pre and adolescent mind, its problems, frustrations, fears, solitude, joined to the coping of the culture cruelty, the need to belong to something, complicated relations with girls, and all these problems, sometimes underestimated by youngsters as well as parents, teachers, doctors, etc., are brought up to us by the author. Tobias Wolff achieves to convey the audience all his psychological wisdom, by relating his lifetime as a youngster in the fifties. Indeed, one could just take any book related to developmental behaviour off pre teen boys to teenagers, its difficulties, the peer pressure, the induced alcoholism, amid all the problems boys have to quietly endure, and find out that they are subconscious and subliminal conveyed to the reader. Wolff does this subliminal teaching either by relating Tobias or other boys lives.

Essentially a must read by anyone beyond the age of 9-10, particularly a boy, and by the universe off people that are concerned about their sons, pupils, patients. etc.

Leave it anywhere where it can definitely be accessible to your boys, fathers and even sisters. Afterward, you will see how their attitude changes, maybe subtly for the best, since Tobías was and must still be a positive fighter for a greater life.

I would give it all the stars of the Universe.

It is Extra, Extra Excellent.

Do yourself a favor, don't miss reading it.