Reading: This Boy's Life; pages 201-240, By Tobias Wolff

  SUMMARY
  On page 201, Toby talks about the letters he receives from his brother Geoffrey who is a t Princeton. Then he accounts Dwight's over reaction to an "empty" mustard jar that Toby threw away and shoves Toby's face in it to prove a point. After Toby cleaned it out, Dwight smacked him across the face. Feeling upset, Toby called his brother and told him what had happened, and Geoffrey said that Toby needed to leave immediately, and came up with an idea to send him to boarding school. Toby informed Geoffrey with lies about his life to give him a better chance of getting into a school. Geoffrey sent out information to Toby about schools he should apply to, and Toby sent mail for applications; however, Toby's grades and social life were completely off from expectations. Toby's dad then called the house a few days later explaining to Toby about how everything would work if he got accepted into a boarding school, and that he would come down and stay with him and Geoffrey for the Summer.
    A little while later, Toby went down to Seattle to take the standardized tests. He then goes into detail explaining how he was mastering the test and all of its tricks and curve balls it tries to throw at you in the verbal section. A few weeks later, Toby is in school when Arthur gives a folder to Toby containing transcript forms, and blank paper. Toby used these materials to compile a fake school life where he received all A's and had recommendations from his teachers. With all of this, Toby sent in the applications. Toby then goes off into a quick tangent explaining how he and Arthur were forced to fight each other in the school gym, and Arthur kicks the crap out of him. Next, Toby explains that he did well on his tests, but he ended up getting rejection letters from all the schools he applied to.
REACTION:
    I think that this section was one of the parts of the book that I can relate to most. I'm also in the process of trying to find the right schools to go to and which one is most economically practicable; however, my intentions and transcripts are not false. I enjoy this book mostly due to the fact that it's almost not believable that Toby can accomplish so many things by cheating a system. Wolff's ability to comically entertain the reader while telling his life story is what makes me keep reading on.