Old School

by Tobias Wolff

Second time reading this--book discussion this time (pleaure reading the first time).

I liked this novel the first time I read it. It's a short novel about a young man at a boarding school that places a high value on literature. Each year, 3 great writers visit the school. The students enter a writing competition in order to win a private audience with the writer. In his senior year, our narrator does not win the chance to meet Robert Frost and Ayn Rand. With the prospect of meeting Hemingway, our narrator will do almost anything to win. . .

It's still a good story. It's still a short novel, which shouldn't surprise readers who know that Wolff is a writer of short stories, not novels. What I liked most about this novel is how Wolff illustrates the relationship between honesty and identity. Brilliant.

8/16/06