Critical Praise

"A work of genuine literary art . . . as grim and eerie as Great Expectations, as surreal and cruel as The Painted Bird, as comic and transcendent as Huckleberry Finn."

——The Philadelphia Inquirer

"So absolutely clear and hypnotic . . . that a reader wants to take it apart and find some simple way to describe why it works so beautifully."

——The New York Times

"[This] extraordinary memoir is so beautifully written that we not only root for the kid Wolff remembers, but we also are moved by the universality of his experience."

——San Francisco Chronicle

"Wolff writes in language that is lyrical without embellishment, defines his characters with exact strokes and perfectly pitched voices, [and] creates suspense around ordinary events, locating the deep mystery within them."

——Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Wolff's genius is in his fine storytelling. This Boy's Life reads and entertains as easily as a novel. Wolff's writing and timing are superb, as are his depictions of those of us who endured the ‘50s."

——The Oregonian

"Unforgettable."

——Time