I got this fair-condition softcover at a local Goodwill thrift shop. It's a linked collection of vignettes/novellas, most from the viewpoint of a young man who's a student at an elite prep school in 1960. He's a writer, as are quite a few of the other students, with regular rivalries in the form of short story competitions - with the winners being allowed a personal meeting with the visiting author of the day. The authors are characters here too, from Robert Frost to Ayn Rand to Ernest Hemingway; not all of them appear on scene, but we hear about their thoughts on the contest-winners and sometimes on their own works, and there are some impressive (and sometimes hilarious) reactions from the boys who have become rabid fans of one or more of these authors.

There are personal ups and downs, jealousies, and misapprehensions - and, late in the book, a dramatically bad decision by our hero that changes the course of his life.

As a kind of bonus story, there's a follow-up tale from the viewpoint of one of the school masters, whose own past and actions had an effect on the events of the main protagonist's storyline.

I really enjoyed Wolff's writing, and if his first-person narrator was a bit too full of himself to be completely sympathetic (especially when he fell off the ethical high road) I appreciated his struggles and empathized with his youthful certainty and enthusiasm, even as I knew those were going to be dashed soon. Good book!

I left this book in the charming Little Free Library at around 1 on this rainy day; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2017 Allergic to A release challenge. ***