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marold's review
4.0
After reading Running With Scissors, I read Magical Thinking and craved more Burroughs. This book has his familiar, humorous, smart style and knack for writing about situations in a way that is totally relatable whether you can actually relate or not. This book is a little more serious than his others, but obviously heartfelt and honest. It's interesting to read about his bout with alcoholism and how he tackled it. If you're a fan of Burroughs, this is a must read. If you've never read anything by him, I would not start with this. His other books are much better and it would be a mistake to be introduced to this excellent author by starting with this book. Overall, good, entertaining read.
marksanders's review
2.0
An unfortunate case of the wrong memoir at the wrong time in my life. While I applaud his courage in battling alcoholism, I found very little to connect with & didn't enjoy following the train wreck of self-destructive behavior.
shannonjorgenfelt's review
5.0
Augusten Burroughs is one of my favorite authors of all time. This book in interesting, clever, and witty, and overall a joy to read.
lucrezi's review
3.0
You know how there are charismatic people on the edges of your life, the ones you might hang out with once or twice and find them endlessly entertaining for their wild stories, but you wouldn't feel inclined to integrate them into your day-to-day? Augusten Burroughs seems to be one of those people. He's interesting on paper and from afar, but up close, you see that many of the situations he gets into and his reactions to them are... not very appealing.
I feel both affinity and aversion towards him, because he (at least in Dry) was a mess who didn't know how to deal with his emotions and so he turned to the bottle. I get it. Those feelings of unknowably intense loneliness and push-them-away-before-they-leave-you - I get it.
I really get it. And though I may not feel that way after learning to deal with my own shit in healthy ways, reading about it through someone else's experience was pretty unpleasant. I'm reminded of a version of myself that was the same and did the same things, and I feel that ripple of shame that makes me want to put down my Kindle and take a break.
The first half of the novel is great. I liked reading about Augusten in rehab and Augusten going to therapy and AA. The second half is not so great - I got bored and wanted it to end sooner. I prefer his short stories.
I feel both affinity and aversion towards him, because he (at least in Dry) was a mess who didn't know how to deal with his emotions and so he turned to the bottle. I get it. Those feelings of unknowably intense loneliness and push-them-away-before-they-leave-you - I get it.
I go to the bed and sit on the edge, sinking into the plush down comforter and the featherbed below. I feel a prick of good fortune, an awareness that I am lucky to have such a nice bed to sit on during my anxiety attack. Why am I so anxious? And then it hits me. I’m not anxious, I’m lonely. And I’m lonely in some horribly deep way and for a flash of an instant, I can see just how lonely, and how deep this feeling runs. And it scares the shit out of me to be so lonely because it seems catastrophic—seeing the car just as it hits you. But then all of a sudden, that feeling is gone and I’m blank. So it’s like a door quickly opened, just a crack, to show me what a mess I was inside. But not enough to really stare for long and absorb all the details. Just enough to know the room needed a major spring cleaning.
I really get it. And though I may not feel that way after learning to deal with my own shit in healthy ways, reading about it through someone else's experience was pretty unpleasant. I'm reminded of a version of myself that was the same and did the same things, and I feel that ripple of shame that makes me want to put down my Kindle and take a break.
The first half of the novel is great. I liked reading about Augusten in rehab and Augusten going to therapy and AA. The second half is not so great - I got bored and wanted it to end sooner. I prefer his short stories.
nemoswimson's review
2.0
There's a lot of hyperbole here which makes me mistrust the whole memoir. For instance, empty litre bottles of whisky all over his apartment that he couldn't move about through which he didn't realise until he got back from rehab. His experiences in rehab, and drinking a litre bottle of whisky and it "not being enough". Along with his name change, it dissuades me from reading his other books.
plcbaker's review
3.5
He's a good writer but it bothered me to have the AA stuff included, aren't those things supposed to be confidential? I don't think it really conveys what it's like to get sober, though that may be different for everyone.
elbarton312's review
4.0
My first revisit to 'Dry' since the paperback edition came out in the mid 2000s. I prefer it over Running With Scissors and find his talent for making me laugh AND cry within the same page, heck the same paragraph, endearing. Augusten's relationship with Pighead is so similar to my own perspective on relationships, its kinda scary. Must read and enjoy the laughter and the tears, equally. Just like life. ~BRC
clarinetifer's review
4.0
I liked this A LOT better than Running With Scissors. Overall it was funny but also really truthful about his struggles with alcoholism. The ending left a little to be desired, but I enjoyed the read. :)