Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Old School (original 2003; edition 2003)by Tobias Wolff
Work InformationOld School by Tobias Wolff (2003)
Favourite Books (354) » 14 more Books Read in 2021 (1,206) Best School Stories (86) Books Read in 2015 (1,689) Books Read in 2013 (1,370) Penguin Random House (109) AP Lit (303) Summer Reading (17) to get (181) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Boys at a 1960s New England prep school feverishly compete for the honor of meeting Robert Frost, Ayn Rand, and Ernest Hemingway. Old School was good, although the slimy first-person voice is disturbingly intimate. The narrator is a callow weasel, and spending time in his company makes you want to take a shower. (cf. A Separate Peace) ( ) A gift from a neighbor, I decided to read it based on the review quotes on the back cover, many heralding it as a 'tour de force" and "achieves a real profundity". It does indeed pay homage to the art of story, but not without some strong opinions, of which one in particular stood out. A fan of Ayn Rand's books, as well as 'objectivism', the theme that drives both "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead", he makes her look like the anti-christ. Regardless, a story focused on writers and the skill/pit falls of writing, this one pales in comparison to others I've read. Rather than belabor the subject, I'll beg off further insights or opinions for now. This book is worth it just to read the fictional portrayals of Frost, Ayn Rand, and Hemingway. It has a bit of an old trope--the narrator, a student at a prestigious East Coast boarding school, is really (gasp) a bit of an outsider...he's poor AND Jewish!--but it captures something about American sensibilities of class, money, intellectual dishonesty and the desire for something better. And as an English teacher I have to love any story that elevates the love of literature to a cult-like status. Has as a supplementAwardsNotable Lists
Determined to fit in at his New England prep school, the narrator has learned to mimic the bearing and manners of his adoptive tribe while concealing as much as possible about himself. His final year, however, unravels everything he's achieved, and steers his destiny in directions no one could have predicted. The school's mystique is rooted in Literature, and for many boys this becomes an obsession, editing the review and competing for the attention of visiting writers whose fame helps to perpetuate the tradition. Robert Frost, soon to appear at JFK's inauguration, is far less controversial than the next visitor, Ayn Rand. But the final guest is one whose blessing a young writer would do almost anything to gain. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |