Reviews:
Amazon.com
There is a passage early in Augusten Burroughs's harrowing and highly entertaining memoir, Running with Scissors, that speaks volumes about the author. While going to the garbage dump with his father, young Augusten spots a chipped, glass-top coffee table that he longs to bring home. "I knew I could hide the chip by fanning a display of magazines on the surface, like in a doctor's office," he writes, "And it certainly wouldn't be dirty after I polished it with Windex for three hours." There were certainly numerous chips in the childhood Burroughs describes: an alcoholic father, an unstable mother who gives him up for adoption to her therapist, and an adolescence spent as part of the therapist's eccentric extended family, gobbling prescription meds and fooling around with both an old electroshock machine and a pedophile who lives in a shed out back. But just as he dreamed of doing with that old table, Burroughs employs a vigorous program of decoration and fervent polishing to a life that many would have simply thrown in a landfill. Despite her abandonment, he never gives up on his increasingly unbalanced mother. And rather than despair about his lot, he glamorizes it: planning a "beauty empire" and performing an a capella version of "You Light Up My Life" at a local mental ward. Burroughs's perspective achieves a crucial balance for a memoir: emotional but not self-involved, observant but not clinical, funny but not deliberately comic. And it's ultimately a feel-good story: as he steers through a challenging childhood, there's always a sense that Burroughs's survivor mentality will guide him through and that the coffee table will be salvaged after all. --John Moe
Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
Review #1: Disturbing, but hilarious!
2008-02-04 
This book took me only a few hours to read. Although the story is much to stomach; believe me, this novel will have you engrossed the entire time.
Review #2: Disturbingly funny
2008-02-02 
In this memoir, we follow the coming-of-age of Augustin Burroughs, a budding homosexual with narcissistic parents. His mother is a self absorbed amateur poet who thrives on her own inner chaos and his father is pretty much absent. Early on, he abandons Augustin and won't accept any of his collect phone calls. His mother, not only narcissistic, but bipolar and prone to fits of drama, gets into an unusual relationship with her shrink, a character even more outrageous than either of the two parents. Boundaries get blurred and Augustin is sent to live in a bizarre communal environment created by the psychiatrist, Dr. Finch and a collection of his patients and his own biological children. The remainder of the book details the various relationships between teenager Augustin and members of the Finch household, including his affair with a man 20 years his senior.
The characters in this soap opera are unforgettable. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a memoir, not a novel. These crazy people actually exist. And therein lies the thrall of this particular read. These are characters that should be paraded around on a Jerry Springer show, if for no other purpose, than to watch someone throw a chair at the entire lot of them. I would have felt better then. Alas, the only justification for any of this mayhem, is that Augustin exposed them for the pathetic batch of loonies they are. Oh, and Dr. Finch loses his license. But I would have rather seen him get pelted in the head with a chair.
Review #3: Blaugh! Glad it was 1/2 price
2008-02-01 
Ok, I understand it was a memoir, but please...I can't imagine for a moment that the doctor was for real. It would have been pretty good but for so much silliness at the doctor's house. Some good parts, true, but for the most part, I was disappointed. I'm glad I didn't pay full price.
Linda
Review #4: Disappointing and depressing
2008-01-14 
This book was given to me as a gift based on the comparison to David Sedaris. I discovered nonfiction humor a few years ago, greatly enjoying Sedaris, Jill Conner Browne and others who have turned mishaps in life into tales that delighted.
Life is disturbing and to be able to find humor in even the darkest moments is a gift. Burroughs has this gift, but these stories are too graphic, disturbing and depressing to make into humor. Mental illness and abuse are not funny. These are not mundane topics in which to find the light - there is no light.
I found the writing to be simple, straight forward and descriptive (sometimes too descriptive); however the style helped me to feel the voice of Burroughs as a teen - I felt it was appropriate and well written in that respect. He's telling these stories as they happened (or as he remembers) and expects you to laugh.
If you are able to find humor in funerals, traffic accidents and cancer, you may find it among these recollections, too. I did not and left hoping that he and all who were represented in the story were able to find help and heal.
Review #5: Don't be seduced by popular opinion.
2008-01-13 
I can understand why this novel has received so many low ratings. Running with Scissors tells a story of someone who has had less than normal experiences throughout their childhood. Unfortunately, after a movie adaptation and popular media praise, this novel has entered the realm of literature frequented by a less receptive audience. Many people who read this book will think they're reading literature at it's most ribald. Many of these readers are people who have never even heard of "Beat Generation" authors like William Burroughs or Allen Ginsberg. I think it's unfortunate to see this book being criticized by people who aren't receptive to awkward sexuality.
To those who are interested in this novel: Don't be turned off by some of the negative reviews. Anyone interested in reading this book with the proper mindset should be aware that there are far more disturbing topics to read about than a youth having uncouth homosexual experiences. |
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