me was that it showed that Toby was willing to do anything to get away from Dwight. The film only told one part of the story that I feel needed to be told. The reason Wolff grabs the reader in the way he does is because he tells several examples of ways he tried to get away from his abusive stepfather. Toby didn’t just try to get away from Dwight by applying to prep schools, like the film shows, he called his brother Geoffrey and tried to live with him at Princeton. He even called his neglecting father and wanted to stay with him in California. He stole money from his paper route customers and was going to run away to Alaska. Toby also lived with Chuck Bolger and his family until he got accepted to the Hill school. All these accounts of Toby looking desperately for an escape were told in great detail by Wolff in an excellent way. He reels the reader in and leaves them anticipating the next outstanding account of his abusive life. Another reader sums up this story by saying, “If ever you’ve wondered what it’s like to be an adolescent boy caught between an irresponsible father and an abusive stepfather, here’s your chance. In reading this book you become the boy and see life through his eyes. You live the consequences of a well- meaning mother who makes predictably poor choices in the men in her life. These choices leave her son adrift, confused and rebellious, unsure of where he belongs. He sets out to be a wise guy, masking the uncertainty he feels. His stepfather, Dwight, masking hisown demons and insecurities, also sets out on a mission to drive Toby down to his level. It’s to Toby’s credit that he doesn’t want to stay down and that’s enough of an edge. Instinctively using the creative license of his absent father, he finds a tenuous way out--enough of a break to set him on a better path.” (Salavarria)Of course the film could not add all these things that I fe...
