SOURCE: Eder, Richard. Review of Back in the World, by Tobias Wolff. Los Angeles Times Book Review (17 November 1985): 3.

In the following review of Back in the World Eder says that Wolff “writes with a lavish display of skill.”

The land of disquiet explored by a segment of American fiction is prosperous, druggy and largely devoted to games. A lot of work gets done, or it couldn't be paid for. But you don't see the work; it isn't really part of life except as an off-stage drain on the spirits.

The games that the inhabitants consider their real life are played in a state of crowded anxiousness. They offer an illusion of companionship, but they are essentially solitary. Everyone brings his or her own board; the other players can be painlessly evicted and sent away.

Tobias Wolff, like other masters of the territory such as Ann Beattie and Frederick...