THIS BOY’S LIFE A Memoir <i> by Tobias Wolff (Harper & Row: $8.95)</i>

Readers may find it difficult to believe that the subject of this arresting autobiography survived his unhappy childhood to become a highly respected writer rather than a convict on death row. His efforts to escape from his abusive stepfather and ineffectual mother lead Tobias Wolff to lie, cheat, steal, drink, run away and forge checks. He changes his from name “Tobias,” an old name in his father’s family, to “Jack” in a gesture of rejection, but he lies and falsifies transcripts to gain admission to the exclusive prep school his father and brother attended. The author spares neither his audience nor himself: He was clearly an incorrigible thug as a youth, but his pain is so overwhelming that the reader longs to comfort him rather than discipline him. Wolff’s vigorous, straightforward prose makes “This Boy’s Life” a darkly memorable book.