17484. BOOK REVIEW: THE BOYS OF MY YOUTH BY JO ANN BEARD. This paper reviews Beard’s collection of highly personal and painful stories from her own life, ranging from the loss of her childhood doll to her first crush to her divorce to her witness and survival of the mass murder of her coworkers. Finds that Beard has successfully and effectively blurred the lines between fiction and nonfiction, blending the two styles to create a voice that is detached but entirely honest. KEYWORDS: book review nonfiction memoir. Written 2004. Chicago/Turabian parenthetical style. 8 pages, 10 footnotes, 3 bibliographic sources. 1,923 words.