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 book suggestion -- my all-time favorite Amazon pick -- is a little book called The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, about another "failure" trying to come to grips with his life. Excellent books, moving and funny -- both!
Rating:
Summary: Can Get In To The Heart Of It
Review: This was an easy book to get in to the heart of. Excellent style of writing. The author takes you through the painstaking journey of the different forms of abuse and how it drives the adult in to addictions that are so difficult to control. There are many books out on the market that deal with abuse, and yet only a few such as 'Dry','Running With Scissors' and Nightmares Echo' allow the reader to understand without to much of the physical look in to that side of their lives.
Rating:
Summary: Augusten Burroughs At His Best
Review: "Dry" is an extraordinary memoir that tells of a life filled with addictions. A haunting of his past. I personally liked "Running With Scissors" better than this book, but both books are excellent works. Mr. Burroughs hands you his life within the pages and makes you understand so much about his world and the hardships that addictions can cause. I rate it up there with all of his works as well as that of David Sedaris and Katlyn Stewart
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 />
Rating:
Summary: A Really Great Follow Up
Review: After reading about Augusten Burroughs train wreck of a childhood in "Running With Scissors", I didn't know if I was up for tackling his alcoholic adulthood in "Dry".
I'm glad I did. And frankly less of a tackle, than a roll with a familiar face/voice, I thought it terrific.
Having just recently read Carrie Fishers "The Best Awful" these books were like damaged book ends that both meet in the middle at rehab. But where the bulk of Fishers book was her lack of pill popping that quickly leads to her prolonged mental breakdown, Burroughs bottoms out near the start of the book, as a successful advertising whiz kid whose normal nightly consumption is at least twelve drinks. His story is of Manhattan as seen through the eyes that couldn't see before. Or at the very least focus. A dear friend sick with AIDS, a high pressure job, and a toxic crack smoking boyfriend are all potential disasters waiting to send him back to the bottle. Funny, dark and terribly honest, it's cup runs over with hope.
Rating:
Summary: Drink in Burroughs' Harrowing Experiences
Review: As a follow-up to his bestselling work, Running with Scissors, Burroughs gives more insight to the experiences that created the author we know today. This time, with Dry, he tackles his dependency on alchol and how he let it get the best of him, until he saw the light. We follow Burroughs from realization to reheb to relapse and back again to realization. Only an author with a flair for writing and knack for humor can make a situation that can be deemed extremely horrifying seem like a fun, rollicking adventure. Burroughs takes us on the ride of a lifetime through the world of alcohol and drug addiction, and makes non-addicts never want to test the waters and makes recovering addicts glad that they have chosen to change. Read this book if you are looking for a good look at someone else's life, and in the age of reality television, this is definitely one book you don't want to pass up.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Memoir from Burroughs
Review: Augusten Burroughs' last book (RUNNING WITH SCISSORS) chronicled his bizarre childhood, including his dysfunctional family, the even more dysfunctional family he lived with when his mother had a series of nervous breakdowns, and his relationship with a pedophile. DRY: A MEMOIR picks up about 10 years later; Burroughs has a successful career in New York advertising and is a raging alcoholic. He's in denial about his problem, so he's surprised when his co-workers stage an intervention and even more surprised when he reluctantly agrees to a 30-day rehab stint. The book follows his attempts to remain sober, deal with his past, and cope with some harmful romantic relationships. The book often skewers the mental health system, replete with therapy-speak, AA meetings, and self-help lingo, However, Burroughs adopts a fairly benign, almost affectionate, tone toward mental health workers. Ultimately, DRY is filled with the kind of wit and attitude you've come to expect from Burroughs. I laughed out loud quite a few times, and I felt some real suspense reading to see whether he'd relapse. Burroughs is quickly establishing himself as a quirky and talented writer. Although he may be pegged by some as a "gay author," his work is pretty universal and likely to appeal to many different audiences. I most highly recommend this book, and I look forward to reading more of his work.
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 book suggestion -- my all-time favorite Amazon pick -- is a little book called The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, about another "failure" trying to come to grips with his life. Excellent books, moving and funny -- both!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but loses steam
Review: Dry was an entertaining and actually a great book to find out what happens to an alcoholic. However, the story had a couple of flaws. At first, the story of Augusten's battle with booze, his trip through rehab, and dealing with his new sober life was interesting but by the end I felt like the same chapter was repeated 10 times. It seemed like the author was running out of material so he started finding different ways of saying he was ignoring his friends, struggling with not drinking, and staying in a horrible relationship. I enjoyed the book overall and learned a lot but by the end I was very ready to move on.
Rating:
Summary: What an incredible book!
Review: I read Running With Scissors and thought it was pretty good, but the author's apparent flippant attitude about his difficult life was a bit of a turn-off to me. As Dry makes clear, however, that 'flippant attitude' is probably how he survived his childhood. The writing style in Dry is different from Running With Scissors, which makes Dry a superior and more powerful novel. This book is moving, inspiring, and funny, and isn't it a wonderful experience when you find a book that makes you want to sit down and have coffee with the author? Dry is the best book I've read in years, and the feedback I've gotten from the two people I've let borrow it has also been extremely positive. This is one of those rare sequels that will probably appeal to both fans AND non-fans of the first memoir.
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