Old School

Not the movie with Will Ferrell--although that is very funny in a sophomoric way of course—but the modern classic, dare I say, by Tobias Wolff. He is better known for his memoir This Boy’s Life which was made into a movie starring Robert DiNiro.

A scholarship student in a New England prep school aspires to be a great writer and looks forward each year to a writing contest in which the winner becomes a kind of king for a day as he gets to meet with the famous guest writer who is invited to the school at the culmination of the competition each year. After losing out several years to students who were honored to meet with the likes of Robert Frost and Ayn Rand, the narrator’s (whose name you never learn) learns that his hero, Ernest Hemingway, will be the next guest author. He is determined to win the competition. A slim novel that is beautifully well written and so much more than I am able to convey here.