A humorous romp through an unusual childhood | Running with Scissors: A Memoir

Liked the Movie Better | Running with Scissors: A Memoir | Augusten Burroughs

books:


	• Running with Scissors: A Memoir Augusten Burroughs St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 819 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

A quirky memoir to be read and re-read

I first read this memoir when it was published in 2002. Now that other memoirists are rapidly adding their voices to Burroughs' amazing "come clean until it hurts" style of tell-all, I wanted to revisit this modern classic. If you have not read the book, but only seen the movie, don't think you can begin to get a taste of what Burroughs is all about from that film adaptation. Burroughs' laugh-out-loud angst can really only be appreciated on the page, and he must be read to be fully appreciated.

This book, about a boy brought up by a silent, angry father and a mad, narcissistic mother until he is abruptly given away to the mother's insane psychiatrist and his whacked-out family, is a jaw-dropping page-turner. That the boy even grows up to write this memoir is a miracle, in light of the sex, drugs and weirdness he is subjected to over the course of his boyhood.

This is a must-read book, and should be a permanent fixture in any well-stocked home library.

for more information click here

A humorous romp through an unusual childhood

Running With Scissors is an outstanding book. It's laugh-out-loud hilarious, often shocking and, at times, sad. There are enough unusual surprises in the book that I don't want to ruin them for you by giving away plot lines. Suffice to say, there's twists and turns along the way that are stranger than fiction.

A similar book I enjoyed was When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Liked the Movie Better

The movie got dozens of poor reviews at Amazon, where readers of the book insisted the book was so much better. I happened to like the movie so I figured the book would be great. It was good, but I liked the movie better.

The book, an autobiographical work that describes Augusten Burroughs' bizarre adolescence, features a mother that is so dysfunctional, Joan Crawford seems like June Cleaver. Mom dumps Augusten at the home of her warped therapist whose family brings to mind a barely saner Addams family. Burroughs describes a series of incidents that colored his life, but the book also contains a definite understory of the boredom that comes from a life with no rules or obligations, including no school.

The movie has the extra intensity of an excellent cast, including Annette Benning, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Chenoweth, Jill Clayburgh, and Gwyneth Paltrow and lacks some of the grossness of the book which makes the movie easier to take. Still it's an interesting story, both funny and grim with a writing style that makes it compelling.

for more information click here

What I learned from Running with Scissors

Augusten Burroughs showed me pain comes in all forms of lies, truth and laughter. It's all connected and somebody always ends up paying a price.

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor?s bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year-round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull, an electroshock therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing, and bestselling account of an ordinary boy?s survival under the most extraordinary circumstances?
Running with Scissors Acknowledgments
Gratitude doesn?t begin to describe it: Jennifer Enderlin, Christopher Schelling, John Murphy, Gregg Sullivan, Kim Cardascia, Michael Storrings, and everyone at St. Martin?s Press. Thank you: Lawrence David, Suzanne Finnamore, Robert Rodi, Bret Easton Ellis, Jon Pepoon, Lee Lodes, Jeff Soares, Kevin Weidenbacher, Lynda Pearson, Lona Walburn, Lori Greenburg, John DePretis, and Sheila Cobb. I would also like to express my appreciation to my mother and father for, no matter how inadvertently, giving me such a memorable childhood. Additionally, I would like to thank the real-life members of the family portrayed in this book for taking me into their home and accepting me as one of their own. I recognize that their memories of the events described in this book are different than my own. They are each fine, decent, and hard-working people. The book was not intended to hurt the family. Both my publisher and I regret any unintentional harm resulting from the publishing and marketing of Running with Scissors. Most of all, I would like to thank my brother for demonstrating, by example, the importance of being wholly unique.

for more information click here