Wolff's This Boy's Life: A Memoir is a riveting, autobiographical account of the author's teen years. Brought to the Pacific Northwest by his divorced mother, young Toby soon is forced to endure life under his strict and cruel stepfather. Toby's efforts to get away from his stepfather lead to his self-transformation.

Wolff's second memoir, In the Pharaoh's Army, and his novella, The Barracks Thief, both evoke his experiences in the Vietnam War.

Wolff's brother, the novelist Geoffrey Wolff, wrote a memoir of his childhood with the boys' father, The Duke of Deception (1979).

Ann Beattie's short story "Weekend" (1978) explores the relationship between a husband and wife after the husband's repeated affairs.

Short story writer Andre Dubus's "The Fat Girl" tells about the important relationships in a woman's life: to the food she eats and the people she loves. In the story...