Rating: 
Summary: Honest Memoir
Review: <br />He admits hes a drunk, admits he fails to come home...admits that he is basically forced to under go rehab. But deep within the book you understand the reasons why he got to that point. He is honest about the difficulties in returning back to where he once was, only he has to do it sober. This is a moving memoir, funny and at times heartbreaking. More importantly it is real and courageous. Courageous like other books I have read, Nightmares Echo and A Child Called It,including but not limited to his other book, Running With Scissors, Dry is the story of love, loss,and finding your way back when everyone else gave up.<br />
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Summary: Another Inspiring Chapter
Review: When Augusten Burroughs published his childhood memoir, Running With Scissors, he took the world by storm with his wit, cynicsm and dry humour. Now, Burroughs takes us into yet another dark chapter of his life, his twenties, the greater part of which he spent drunk and high on cocaine. Burroughs bares his heart and soul on the page; he keeps nothing hidden from his reader. And that's exactly what makes this autobiography stand above the rest. Burroughs is so brutally honest that you don't always end up liking him. As a matter of fact, he often seems very shallow and arrogant on the page. And yet, even with all his flaws, you also end up caring for Burroughs a lot. The novel starts when Burroughs is told by his employer (he's a an advertising editor) that he needs to go to rehab or he loses his job. There, he befriends a group of strange characters that will help him through his hard time. When he is finally released from rehab, he isn't fully ready for what is waiting for him on the other side: the real world. For starters, his best friend is HIV positive and slowly dying. Secondly, he falls in love with a man who is still an addict and who's life is just one big mess. And then, there's the temptation, which is always present, always threatening. But don't be fooled. The book isn't as dark as it appears to be on the surface because you know, after having read his previous biography, that Burroughs has a strong character and that he'll somehow find a way through this all. And the fact that he uses humour to alleviate the dark moments helps make this one very fascinating and involving read. This is what a biography should be like; funny, touching, inspiring. It is beautifully written and lives up to the standards of the amazing Running With Scissors, something that isn't easy to do(it was one of the best memoirs I have ever read). Dry is a one of a kind memoir that will stay with you for a long time. Not to be missed! It will surely be one of the best book of the year.
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Summary: The title might be "Dry" but the book certainly isn't!
Review: This book is even better than "Running With Scissors!" Twice the dysfunction and twice the fun! Don't get me wrong, this memoir has its profoundly sad and poignant moments: the loss of his best friend to AIDS, the total loss of self respect and the constant foibles in trying to regain it etc... but Augusten Burroughs has this uncanny way of making something as serious as alcoholism less "heavy." While the disease should never be taken lightly, people who live through such tragedies with triumph have ultimately earned the right to make a joke out of them. Sometimes it is the only way to live through something without wanting to kill yourself. I've always appreciated someone who can laugh in the face of adversity and joke about the things that were once impossible for them. It is a sign of strength I admire very deeply in this author. He allows his readers to be voyeurs into his once private hell and I for one am glad of it. Burroughs has a true fan in me. I'll be eagerly awaiting the next installment of his crazy life.
Rating:
Summary: A Delight!
Review: This book was a pleasure to read, I could hardly put it down. Augusten's story is both funny and moving. I've read all of Augusten's books to date, and I recommend them all. If you like one, you like them all too.
Rating:
Summary: Not dry at all
Review: What a solid follow up to Running With Scissors. It's so nice that it isn't a let down after his brilliant, bestselling, and critically acclaimed account of his bizarre childhood. Dry is a must read on so many different and significant levels. It is at once profound and riotously funny--makes you stop and consider the consequences of your own behavior and laugh until your guts hurt. What more can you ask from a book? Like his previous literary efforts, this one is well worth the price . . . and then some. Would also recommend the book----------------------------CHILDREN'S CORNER by Jackson McCrae.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Elite
Review: Augusten Burroughs created a masterpiece when he wrote Running With Scissors. His follow up Dry is one of the rare books to match the brilliance of its predecessor. Burroughs has a rare ability to infuse an interplay of comical musings that tempers the worries of addiction and abuse accounts. This unorthodox delivery introduced in Running With Scissors and carried through in Dry is more in tune with what one would expect from a fiction novelist than in the world of Memoir. In the world of books Dry stands together in the elite world of Running With Scissors, Nightmares Echo, Naked Lunch, and My Fractured Life. It is a richly rewarding book that hits the mark.
Rating:
Summary: If You Like Running With Scissors -- Try this!
Review:
Augusten is a lucky bum. In his life, he's given chance after chance, blows it again and again -- yet somehow makes it through. Although the topic of the book is something that's kind of a downer, Burroughs is able to make this memoir a roller coaster of emotions. The story is filled with characters who encourage Augusten, some who tempt him, and others ... we're not sure of. They include a guy named Pighead, diagnosed with HIV and who may be Augusten's great Lost Love; Foster, a movie star good-looking guy Augusten meets in Group Therapy; Hayden, a Brit comrade from Rehab; Greer-one of my my favorite characters, who's his partner at the ad agency where he works. There's also a bit of Mormon-bashing in the book, as his arch-enemy at the ad agency is LDS, and who evidently wants to destroy Augusten. Even though Augusten's doing a damn good job by himself.
There are many twists and turns in the book, but the narrative is more coherent than "Running With Scissors" was. The spirit and style is the same as his first memoir, but this is better. He still goes off on tangents and flashbacks and fantasies, all of which offer insight into how his mind is working. Some of my favorites include explaining his addiction by his early obsession with "Bewitched" ... how Darren Stevens the First would come home from a long day at Tate Advertising and Samantha would whip up a drink for him; another is an extended fantasy about Sally Struthers that you'll just have to read to believe. I was laughing so hard that I got teary-eyed.
I cried later in the book -- and reading about his struggles made me want to change some things about my life. I don't always agree with him or what he said in the book, and I don't envy him his own demons, but I think that the trials we've each been given are what we each can bear. How we cope with temptation is part of the measure of our lives.
This was a wonderful book, even though it was filled with some vile things, a few unsavory scenes, but it gave me insight into a part of humanity that I'm not well acquainted with. I probably won't have most of the experiences that Augusten writes about here, but reading his memoir has affected my life. If just for a few hundred pages, I know more about the ups and downs of going "Dry." Give this book a try! Another recent purchase very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "The Losers' Club" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.
Rating:
Summary: Even better than "Running with Scissors"
Review: I read "Dry" very soon after finishing "Running with Scissors" and think I enjoyed this second Burroughs memoir even more than the first. (And I LOVED the first!) Reading Burroughs is like having a long conversation with a fascinating, candid friend. Blessedly, this book lacks some of the stomach turning qualities, and gross out humor, of the first.
After his madcap and unstable childhood in "Scissors," who would have guessed that Burroughs would wind up as a six-figure ad exec? That is one of the many surprises of this page turner. Burroughs chronicles his alcohol addiction, a stint in rehab, and two notable love affairs in a breezy style that contrasts with the serious events. And, in spite of the melodramatic twists, never once do you feel like you're witnessing a tawdry, Jerry Springer type display. There is a humanity behind all this, thankfully. In the end, Burroughs life is strangely uplifting because it is a story of survival. It is a reminder that, prior to the popularity of child-centered, family values political rhetoric, kids got through a lot and lived to tell.
Rating: 
Summary: How do you just live?
Review: In no time I finished this autobiographic book and I loved it. Burroughs' style of writing is very natural and prosaic. Every now and then he displays quite some insight in human condition and phylosophy. It seemed to me he has a strong and creative personality. Somehow though he 'likes' to be sedated and lonely. Is there a cause for becoming an alcoholic? Well, some he confesses, others are left behind or dont even exist. I was suprised this publicity agency where he works sends him to a rehabilitation centre to give him a chance to recover. I thought NYC is much more tough. While reading I visited Augusten's website. I found out he is dry now, and happy with his partner Dennis. That's a relief :-) I have seen a lot of drinking and using drugs in the gayscene myself. I guess for the same reasons as for straight people, to control the deep fears of failure.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: Augusten is an awesome storyteller. He makes you experience the haze of alcohol and drug addiction as though it was happening to you. He has a wicked sense of humor and kept me laughing through much of the book
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