Rating: 
Summary: Stand back! He's on the loose
Review: If you've read Running with Scissors and liked (or at least appreciated) it, you'd better read Dry, too. It's mostly about Augusten Burroughs's re-entry after leaving rehab after his obligatory 30 days. Somewhere in the process of his experience 'inside,' something clicked, and he actually starts to examine himself, his motivations, his life, and the choices he's made - and it's not easy. Not easy for Burroughs to live through, certainly not easy stuff to write, not all that easy to read, either, but it sure makes for a good story.
Funny, heartbreaking, and searingly true. You couldn't make this stuff up.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and poignant
Review: I assume buyers of this must have read Running with Scissors, which means that they're unshockable non-homophobics. Shockable homophobics will need CPR within the first few pages. It continues the life of Augusten Burroughs. (Oddly enough he is more frank about his degree of fictionization in this book, although the events are less fantastic and more believable). He comes to Manhattan, works in advertizing, has an alcohol problem, goes in into a gay rehab tank, joins AA, relapses, and gets sober again. He has several love affairs, partly to get over his passion for a friend who is dying of AIDS.
In its way it is as funny as Running with Scissors. It's also more overtly tragic. You could say that Running with Scissors was about even more tragic events but seriousness was seldom allowed in, except in the most mordant and bitter way. This becomes almost sentimental at times.
Which is the better book? Dry addresses deeper issues of more universal concern. Running with Scissors was more startlingly original. I haven't read Sellevision yet.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read - loved it - Read PERMANENT MIDNIGHT too!
Review: I read Running with Scissors and Dry in the same 2 weeks. I don't think it is fair to compare the two as others are doing. The topics are so different and the perspective is too.I thought the tone was hilarious and disturbing which was the whole point of his book. He is not asking for sympathy, just poiting out all the bad things about addiction on personal relationships, work and life in general. Told with great humor and sarcasm. I love how he balanced making fun of self help groups while also acknowledging how incredibly important they are. Some things about therapy can seem silly but it is the end result that counts. Another great book (about drug abuse not rehab) that is also told with great humor and is even better than "DRY" is PERMANENT MIDNIGHT by Jerry Stahl. I would read that if you liked DRY.
Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: One of the finest memoirs I've ever read, I could not put it down. It shows what the real bottom of hitting bottom in addiction is like, without the slightest bit of almost...bragging that some memoirists have done, like in Permanent Midnight, where you believe that the author is sort of secretly impressed by his low, that he's showing it off, that he's manipulating the reader. The real story of the low is horrible, it's not glamorous but it is spectacular. I truly did not understand alcoholism until I read this book. Burroughs sense of irony is brilliant. He uses it to explore a point, to take a good look at himself, not to hold the reader at arm's length or, and here I find myself saying it once again, show off. I think every Burroughs book has at least three brilliant thoughts or sentences, that are so good you want to write them down and email them to your friends, that show you something utterly familiar in an absolutely original way. This is like David Sedaris on ... well, crack. Or alcohol. I appreciate Burroughs surviving to write on. And on.
Rating:
Summary: Addiction is abuse of self
Review: Ursula, Memoir fan
This book is a wonderful piece of literature. It is hard to put down and you are given the lessons to understand addictions in its raw forms. Addictions of any kind, take a toll on the person. This author does well to tell us his story and to make us understand what it is like to walk in his shoes. You also are shown 'HOW' this addiction comes about. The abuse is abuse...is abuse theory. That people live what they are taught in so many ways. What a compelling piece of work. I would also like to mention here a few other Memoir style books that have captured my attention the way that 'DRY' has. They are: 'NIGHTMARES ECHO,MY FRACTURED LIFE and RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. Read 'DRY'!!!
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Fun, A Fast Read with Some Meat on the Bone
Review: DRY (Burroughs, Augusten) is a strong, strong novel about addiction and more so the reflection of society from both the contrasting perspectives of the addict and the former-addict. Right up there with MY FRACTURED LIFE (Travolta, Rikki Lee), BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY (McInerney, Jay) and LESS THAN ZERO (Ellis, Bret Easton).
Rating:
Summary: An exhilirating read
Review: Dry is one of the best books I have ever read. One would not think a story about dire alcoholism would be uplifting - but strangely enough, this is. It is an emotional rollercoaster with lots of laughs, high, and low points. Despite the serious subject matter, this IS a very funny book. Augusten Burroughs has left nothing out of this memoir. After reading it, the reader knows very intimate details about his life: his relationship with his boyfriends, his co-workers, being sexually abused as a boy. but most importantly, his relationship with alcohol. Whether you are a teetotaler or a binge-drinking alcoholic, this book will make you laugh, weep, and never look at drinking, love, or life the same way again.
Rating: 
Summary: No Running with Scissors
Review: I picked up this book because, like many, I was a big fan of Augie's first book-Running with Scissors. His second novel falls far short of his previous work. It may also be the case that his first novel reached such epic levels not because Augie is an incredible writer, but more because his childhood was so bizarre and fascinating in a non-fiction sense. Dry is okay, but I thought it really got kinda boring and redundant in the middle. I think he should have lengthened the beginning and added more of his alcoholic exploits pre-rehab rather than just jumping into the rehab portion so quickly. Then he's out of rehab pretty fast too, which is unfortunate because this was another entertaining part of the book. When he returns to work and begins his life without alcohol is when the book kind of stumbles. It's not like this information wasn't important and necessary, it's just that he meanders on this time period for way too long and you begin to wonder while reading these chapters..."when the hell is this guy gonna relapse so this book gets interesting again?" I know that sounds awful, but it's the truth. And, coincidentally, when he does relapse the book once again gains momentum. In order to keep a book like this interesting you need to flood it with sordid details and events typical of a lifestyle quite atypical for non-alcoholics. Just like Running with Scissors, the key ingredient is the actual events and the details. If Augie's childhood had been normal Scissors would have stunk, and when Dry gets too caught up in Augie's sober work/social life you kind of lose interest because, like work, it just becomes the same old same old.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful Memoir of Alcoholism and Recovery
Review: Dry recounts Augusten Burroughs struggle with alcoholism and recovery, hitting rock-bottom, and his effort to resurface once again. In it, he simultaneoulsy mocks AA, the Proud Clinic and his rehab group, as well as recognizes in a peculiarly insightful way, that they have, in fact, saved his life. He describes in vivid fashion his changing relationship with his friends, drinking buddies, and former lovers during this tumultuous time, ending with an epiphany of self-awareness as he abandons alcohol for good. This is a poinant story, humorously told, yet without being funny. Burroughs makes you want to care about him, from successful ad man, to his near bout as a skid row bum. Burroughs's insightful description of coming to grips with alcoholism and its consequences seems both sad and funny at times, such as when he describes coming back from rehab to an efficiency apartment filled with thousands of empty Dewars bottles, and furniture he now realizes he had bought when he was drunk. It's truly hard to put down and is a fascinating read; important, too, if you've ever known anyone who had a problem with alcohol. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Wow...what a ride!
Review: I am an addict in recovery...and this book hits so close to home, I laughed, I cried, I went to a meeting. Thank you, thank you, thank you Augusten. Your "story" rocks!
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