Old School

By: Tobias Wolff

Narrated by: Dan Cashman

The author of the genre-defining memoir This Boy’s Life, the PEN/Faulkner Award–winning novella The Barracks Thief, and short stories acclaimed as modern classics, Tobias Wolff now gives us his first novel.
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 one writes more astutely than Wolff about the process by which character is formed, and here he illuminates the irresistible power, even the violence, of the self-creative urge. Resonant in ways at once contemporary and timeless, Old School is a masterful achievement by one of the finest writers of our time.

A cautionary tale: honesty above all or else…

The author portrays life in an all-male boarding/prep school in the mid 20th century. The main characters are.

Paused too long on periods

Paused too long on periods. I put 2.5x speed and so much time waste just stopping on the period parts

A Window into a World

Poignant truths woven smoothly into this story by the gifted Mr. Wolff. Believable characters I enjoyed spending time with.

listen to this

I picked up a copy of this book In a Boston airport in 2005. it's been a book I visit and take in every few years. For me, it's about all the half truths and lies we allow ourselves to live with and accept to get by. Ultimately, it's about forgiveness and honesty. I'm no critic. I simply love the book. it's one of the books I'll insist my kids read along with Old Man & The Sea.

Beautiful writing. Complex story, real and rich.

Beautiful writing. Complex story, real and rich. Felt true tho I’m not a boy and have no experience of a private school. Not a thing to argue with here! I will listen at least once more.