Rating: 
Summary: simply put
Review: Simply put, without much thought toward shaping a simple truth, this book is awesome. The story is lean, muscular, and wise. Wise, in fact, beyond the evident wisdom of its characters. It is the brilliant story of a boy trying to fit in and to be accepted, of understanding that such a need never actually dies. The story is truthful and undeniably resonant.
Rating: 
Summary: Go to "School"
Review: Tobias Wolff's "Old School" is one of those books for people who love literature. Dedicated to the soul of twentieth-century literature -- the good, the bad, and the arrogant -- it's a spare, deceptively simple book with some startling twists.It takes place at an elite prep school in the 1960s, when the world was shifting under people's feet. A working-class boy secures a scholarship, and manages to pass himself off as one of the carelessly moneyed types who populate the school, hiding his middle-class Catholic/Jewish background. He and his classmates adore the (then-modern) classics, and are thrilled when major writers are called on to judge writing competitions at their school. But the boy doesn't make an impression on Robert Frost. And because of a nasty cold, he can't even get into a competition judged by Ayn Rand. But when he learns that Ernest Hemingway -- his literary hero -- is the next judge, he's determined to catch the great man's attention. But to create a true-to-life story, he delves into a real-life story from his own school -- with disastrous results. Don't read "Old School" if you need a lot of thrills. Like the school itself, "Old School" is a quiet, restrained book. And without preaching or being arrogant, Wolff manages to show us how important honesty of all kinds is to good literature. And at the same time, he can give his straightforward story twists and new dimensions. Wolff shows exceptional insight into literature -- and how a teenage boy sees it. For example, the narrator becomes enamored of Ayn Rand's books at one point. Then he meets the author herself, and her arrogance and disdain strip away his appreciation for her works -- he sees how writers like Hemingway focus on people who may be ordinary, but are magnificent in their ordinariness. Wolff's writing is spare and quiet, and his characters are sort of the same. There's the narrator, a naive young teen boy who grows up a lot over the course of the book -- even if he is the least alive of the characters -- the quirky classmates and the imposing Dean. And he does a wonderful job of translating Frost, Rand and Hemingway into his own words: Frost is faux-humble, Rand is unabashedly hypocritical and self-absorbed, and Hemingway is endearingly rambly. "Old School" is an ode to good literature, and the "old schools" of the mid-20th century. A quiet, nostalgia-laden and surprisingly poignant book, this is a solid and satisfying read.
Rating: 
Summary: Beach Reading
Review: Tobias Wolff's coming-of-age/love affair with books novel is a decent read. However, its writing quality is patchy, themes only half-heartedly tackled, and its characters are on the wrong side of compelling and likeable. It's good, just not disciplined enough, not tightly woven enough. One could say that the writing reflects that blue-blooded insouciance with which the protagantist is so enamored. There are ample passages that demonstrate Wolff's skill at writing, but its uneven quality leads me to believe he wrote this between cocktial parties and book signings.
I enjoyed reading this book, and finished it rather quickly. Wolff hits on some pretty solid themes of self-awareness and its connection to good literature. However, there was a certain je ne sais qois about it that left me unfulfilled at the end. Perhaps it was the lack of genuine drama, or the lack of any serious resolution. The book meanders melancholicly and then suddenly dissipates, unable to leave much of an imprint due to its insubstantiality.
Many will enjoy this book. I did myself. I suspect however that it will collect a lot of dust on the bookshelf after you're finished. It will on mine.
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