Confessions of a Spent Youth — Vance Bourjaily

In this masterwork of confessional literature, a man approaching middle age recalls his impetuous youth with fondness, remorse, and astonishment

Spanning the years 1939 to 1946, this is the story of a defining era in one man's life and an exhilarating tribute to the entire generation that came of age during World War II.
 
Quince's youthful adventures begin with his first sexual encounter, a night with a girl named Moomie in a one-room cabin in Virginia, and end with the twenty-four-year-old veteran settling down to his postwar future. In between, he falls in and out of love with dozens of women, drinks and drugs his way through two years of college and four years of military service, travels the world, and meets a dazzling array of colorful characters.
 
In a voice both beguiling and sincere, an older, wiser Quince narrates his escapades in search of the truth about who he was and who he has become. One of the finest novels of mid-twentieth-century America, Confessions of a Spent Youth is poignant, witty, and profound.