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A review by midnight_voss
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. To be quiet honest, I've been audiobooking Augusten Burroughs and his brother John Elder Roberson for about a year. I normally just listen to books as I'm working, or out for a walk, or on a long drive. This is an audiobook I couldn't put down. I listened on the way to school. I listened in between chores. And then I'd come home and just stare as I listened and listened, knowing that I needed to do other things.
As a short synopsis, after Running with Scissors... is it a surprise that the author writes a memoir about dealing with alcoholism? And it's not just a standard arch. He goes to rehab early on... and then there's the rest of the story. It's good enough that I might give it a second listen. There's a awareness to the representation of 12-steps programs, some self-mocking, and for the most part, it is really interesting and insightful. Most people are too jaded to just walk into something like that without being skeptical, and he portrays it well.
There are parts of this book that are heartbreaking, and others that are just hilarious. Burroughs has a good sense of humor, and unlike Running with Scissors, this book has more of a plot to hold it together, though I think some things might have been foreshadowed earlier. He's very good with memoir, obviously, and he has ample life experience to shock and delight you.
Towards the end, there's a section that had me in tears, really. I got very invested.
As a short synopsis, after Running with Scissors... is it a surprise that the author writes a memoir about dealing with alcoholism? And it's not just a standard arch. He goes to rehab early on... and then there's the rest of the story. It's good enough that I might give it a second listen. There's a awareness to the representation of 12-steps programs, some self-mocking, and for the most part, it is really interesting and insightful. Most people are too jaded to just walk into something like that without being skeptical, and he portrays it well.
There are parts of this book that are heartbreaking, and others that are just hilarious. Burroughs has a good sense of humor, and unlike Running with Scissors, this book has more of a plot to hold it together, though I think some things might have been foreshadowed earlier. He's very good with memoir, obviously, and he has ample life experience to shock and delight you.
Towards the end, there's a section that had me in tears, really. I got very invested.