num_pages: 195
description: The protagonist of Tobias Wolff’s shrewdly—and at times devastatingly—observed first novel is a boy at an elite prep school in 1960. He is an outsider who has learned to mimic the negligent manner of his more privileged classmates. Like many of them, he wants more than anything on earth to become a writer. But to do that he must first learn to tell the truth about himself.The agency of revelation is the school literary contest, whose winner will be awarded an audience with the most legendary writer of his time. As the fever of competition infects the boy and his classmates, fraying alliances, exposing weaknesses, Old School explores the ensuing deceptions and betrayals with an unblinking eye and a bottomless store of empathy. The result is further evidence that Wolff is an authentic American master.
language: English
title: Old School
titlecomplete: Old School
genres: Fiction, American, Coming Of Age, School, Literature, Classics, Novels, Historical Fiction, Boarding School, Literary Fiction
ratings_count: 12738
places: North East
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: California Book Award
category: Fiction (Silver), awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
publisher: Vintage