Tobias Wolff's memoir is about a boy's search for his true identity by trying on a number of personae. The reader also gets some interesting insights to his divorced mother and her complex personality. Tobias starts his journey to self-discovery by demanding that he be called "Jack", not Toby, because Jack sounds more macho, more like a guy, or even a dangerous rake. His mother Rosemary seldom forbids Jack anything; and when she tries to put her foot down, she's overruled by the loser men in her life, most notably and comically pathetic: Dwight. Jack tries every role from juvenile deliquent to cigarette-smoking, gambling Boy Scout. No kidding!The book is a page-turner without the cheap thrills, unless you count his sneaking home from school at around age 11 to "play" with the.22 one of Rosemary's boyfriends gave him. He aims at people on the street with the empty rifle. The game is no fun with an unloaded rifle, so he gets his ammo and is back to the apartment window aiming at people below.This is my second read of the book which I selected for an American Lit student studying memoirs. I'm sure this one has very high interest for all ages.