Personal Review

After finishing Tobias Wolff’s memoir, “This Boy’s Life,” I tend to lean towards indifference in regards to the novel. While I liked the idea of reading a memoir and reliving someone’s life experiences, I did not feel complete emotion from the author. While generally I enjoy a simplistic prose, I feel Wolff did not entirely manipulate it enough to draw any feeling of wonder from the reader. It seemed as if Wolff was too open with his memories as it was easy to define his character and left little to the imagination. It is difficult to give an unbiased opinion of this novel, as personally I do not enjoy non-fiction literature.

Though there were things I did not find enjoyable, I found things to appreciate in Wolff’s work. Because Wolff did use a simplistic in writing his novel, he counteracted this with his imagery and dialogue. Wolff’s use of imagery made the reader feel as if they were living the moment. The dialogue made the characters come to life as Wolff included actual thoughts and words from real people. I liked that the author included anecdotes to clarify on the character of certain individuals. I also found it intriguing to read about Jack’s imaginative thoughts as it draws similarities between his young self and many other children and their imaginations.

I found it interesting that Wolff brought in symbols even when dealing with a real life. It seemed almost as if he was writing his own life, as white paint mirrored the cover that Dwight wore, or how a dead beaver signaled a change in Jack. I found it admirable that Wolff was able to reflect upon his life with poetic observations. I can appreciate anyone willing to tell their story and found the memoir to draw me in more when I reminded myself that these events actually took place. In reflection, I neither harbored great liking or disliking for the novel.