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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
In Running With Scissors, Augusten Burroughs gave us a hilarious and horrifying look into his early life. When his parents divorced, Augusten's mother signed over guardianship of him to her psychotic psychiatrist. Refusing to go to school, he spent his days drinking or getting high with this foster sister, and being preyed upon by a 33 year old pedophile. It was a story like no other-hopefully because no one else has ever lived through that particular brand of hell.
Dry picks up the story of his life as an award winning copywriter at an ad agency and raging alcoholic. After a particularly disastrous business meeting, his company gives him an ultimatum-go to rehab or lose his job. He enters rehab determined to treat it as a spa vacation, only to be confronted pretty quickly with the strange world of group therapy and the 12 steps. He leaves rehab determined to stay sober, but the pressures of real life threaten his fragile sobriety. And this, this is a story I've heard before.
Granted, Dry is told with Burrough's usual wit. I admire his ability to laugh at himself, and unlike some recovery memoirs this one is not preachy or sentimental. But it also doesn't really have anything new to say on the subject of addiction. He was a drunk, for understandable reasons, but still a drunk. He nearly ruined his own (and a few other people's) life. He met some unusual characters in rehab, had difficulty re-entering the "real" (read: sober) world, etc...etc...If you are a fan of Augusten Burroughs, it is probably worth reading just so you can say you've read the "complete set", so to speak, but if you've never read his books before, start with Running with Scissors-much more compelling story.
Dry picks up the story of his life as an award winning copywriter at an ad agency and raging alcoholic. After a particularly disastrous business meeting, his company gives him an ultimatum-go to rehab or lose his job. He enters rehab determined to treat it as a spa vacation, only to be confronted pretty quickly with the strange world of group therapy and the 12 steps. He leaves rehab determined to stay sober, but the pressures of real life threaten his fragile sobriety. And this, this is a story I've heard before.
Granted, Dry is told with Burrough's usual wit. I admire his ability to laugh at himself, and unlike some recovery memoirs this one is not preachy or sentimental. But it also doesn't really have anything new to say on the subject of addiction. He was a drunk, for understandable reasons, but still a drunk. He nearly ruined his own (and a few other people's) life. He met some unusual characters in rehab, had difficulty re-entering the "real" (read: sober) world, etc...etc...If you are a fan of Augusten Burroughs, it is probably worth reading just so you can say you've read the "complete set", so to speak, but if you've never read his books before, start with Running with Scissors-much more compelling story.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
While still dark and uncomfortable, this memoir of Burroughs' battle with alcoholism in his early twenties was much more enjoyable than *Running With Scissors.* And though still utterly horrifying, it was also a fascinating plunge into the world of addiction--a page-turner, for sure.
I'm in for *Magical Thinking* now. Can't wait for it to come from the library!
I'm in for *Magical Thinking* now. Can't wait for it to come from the library!
Amazingly phenomenal. This is a book is meant to belong on the New York Times Best Selling list because that's what it's written for. Amazingly captivating and shocking while still making you laugh. I believe this would be a book worth recommending to recovering alcoholics. This is one of those books I will certainly pick up again.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A very fast, intriguing read. Definitely not for the faint of heart (some explicit homosexual and drug-related content), but I enjoy his writing style and wit. You're quickly drawn in as the author spirals out of control and you're along for the ride.
After reading more about this book and finding out that there were parts that were not true, it really made me change my mind about the book. Overall, it was an alright read but knowing that I had to doubt each character that was introduced was kind of annoying. Not what I expected to do when I was reading my first memoir. I'll have to be more careful next time I read a memoir that it is a little more true to life and not just added false details to make the story more interesting.