This is a strange story on several counts. It recalls a convoluted childhood and path to a successful adult life, and in a departure from other "bad parent" memoirs, the author begins by trying to understand his father by first reaching to understand his father's childhood. I think this is something that all memoirists should do, before they lay the blame for their unsatisfactory childhoods at their parents' doorstep. It is complex, disturbing, revealing. I think it could have been a little better if the author had focused a bit more on their childhood positives, as there had to be enough to carry them forward. On the other hand, then it wouldn't have been the story that I read. Since it was published over 40 years ago, I am late to the party but I found it still relevant. ( )

Wow, what a bummer to be Geoffrey Wolff and have a father like Trump, who thinks he should never have to pay debts. I imagine that's how Trump's kids feel. His family had to move all over the place when the bills caught up with them. When Geoff was grown up, his father expected him to get him a job, let him move in with him . . . Aargh​! ( )

mostly a story of males gone bad. how did g.wolff end up with a Fullbright scholarship? Mostly he was high and a terrible student. I found the story quite boring.book of the month club selection. people magazine's ten best of the year ( )

As you start the book, be clear as to who "Kay" is, because it's kind of confusing, and the author will return to the opening scene toward the end. ( )

This is the kind of memoir that makes the reader squirm for its raw account of dysfunction. It embodies the conflict between truth, wishful thinking, and memories, while portraying a certain lifestyle and era that baby boomers and their parents may remember vividly. ( )