Running with Scissors: A Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Talk about your weird childhood
Review: Burroughs absolutely, no doubt, hands down for sure had one of the weirdest childhoods I've ever read about. It elevates the word 'dysfunctional' to a whole new level. For scary, surreal, and sexual, Running with Scissors (what a great title) takes the cake.
Starting with the divorce of his wacko parents, an already violently bad situation only gets worse when Augusten is sent to live with his mother's psychiatrist (who treats his mom's problems with visits to a motel), a wildly bizarre egomaniac. I mean, hello? Most of the remainder of the book documents his years spent with the shrink's family, including his initiation into homosexuality by a family member who's 20 yrs older than he is.
It's hard to find a single word to describe this book, so I'll go for a string of single words: scatalogical, sexual, bizarre, scary, depressing, hilarious, pathetic, hopeful, illuminating - and really, really interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I was surprised and saddened to read so many negative reviews from customer's about this book. If you are expecting a nice, sweet memoir, told about a boy with an odd family, then don't read it. This book is scathing and somewhat disturbing, but constantly entertaining. If you are familiar with filmmaker John Water's films, you have an idea of what this book is like. But this one is true. I also felt that, even though Burroughs presents sex, child abuse/neglect, and pure chaos in the life of a child, remember this is TRUE and how it happened. Yes, it will upset some, and you know who you are before going into it (the blurb and reviews on the book are enough info), so just stay away. But if you are looking for an original, slightly disturbing, darkly comic, and truly touching novel with an uplifting message in the end, well, what are you waiting for?

Rating:
Summary: This one will make you laugh outloud
Review: This book is the first book that made me laugh outloud in a really long time. It also made me feel things all the way to my bones. You won't be disappointed. I stayed up well into the night reading. Also, if you think your adolescence was scary, you will find an odd comfort in knowing that Augusten's was even crazier, and that he survived by writing all the time and by injecting his world with a unique sense of humor.

Rating:
Summary: You Could Call it Fun
Review: "Running With Scissors" is an amazing memoir that has all the same 'you've got to be kidding' insane elements as "My Fractured Life." It will have your eyes popping out of your head and your jaw dropping to the ground. Dizzying and amazing.

Rating:
Summary: What do you want to be, when YOU grow up
Review: I read this book in two sittings. When I read the notes, I wanted it to be a biography, not fiction, well I must not have read close enough. Because it is as real as it is troubling and hilarious. Augusten Burrough's boyhood unraveled for all to see. I was impressed by not only the story, which is a classic, but Burroughs style and pacing. For all the heavy topics, he seems to be able to write it as he experienced it -- a troubled maybe, but seemingly optimistic, boy. From the beginning you identify with Burroughs. He brings out those generic memories long forgotten, like waiting for dad to get home and hearing the gravel pop under the wheels of the tires. But within that you start to sense a pattern of disturbance. And even if you can't identify with his fixation for shiny objects and desire to market hair products, or play a doctor on TV. You can identify with the fear and uncertainty of a young boy growing up without the normal anchors and boundaries. Uncertain about himself, his future and his family. This is a heroic work. It is sad and painful at times but up beat and uplfiting in the end. It is not without uncertainty and sorrow, but peppered also with humor and insight. In short it is a damn good slice of a boy's life.

Rating:
Summary: Outrageous and Graphic
Review: I read this book over a four day period and found it hiliarous and overly graphic. It is hard to imagine any child growing up in this type of atmosphere, so hard in fact that if I didn't know that it was nonfiction upon starting the book then I would have never believed it to be so. I highly recommend this book.
I have started the second part of his book 'Dry' shortly after with high hopes that it would be as fun and outrageous.

Rating:
Summary: A Crazy World WE Live in
Review: I have just finished reading Augusten Burrough's "Running with Scissors," and I have to say it was fantastic. I Live in the western MA area, and I enjoyed how Burrough's picked areas in Northampton where I have been myself. After reading, I gathered that Augusten wanted a "normal" life, as opposed to the TWO families he lived with, or the many strange situations he has encountered. BUT overall, normal is an oxymoron. Many of my friends, and myself, have gone though unusual circumstances, and we all have come out allright. Strange things is just a part of life. I would rank Burroughs with David Sedaris, one of my favorite writers. I have also picked up "Dry" and plan to read it next. Burroughs is a very gifted writer and look forward to his others works.

Rating:
Summary: Forgettable
Review: Augusten Burroughs has an interesting story to tell, but is incapable of telling it interestingly. He is a poor writer and has only his material to work with; if not for the facts of his childhood he wouldn't ever have written a book. His sentences are simplistic, childish, he has no distinct style to speak of at all and his imagination is utterly impoverished. I was taken in by all the hype. It's no wonder he's compared to Sedaris; neither writer has an edge. Reading them both is like shaving with a dull razor.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I had hoped
Review: Very disappointed with this book, expecially after all they hype I've heard. Nothing but a compilation of events, with a few strings holding the entire story together. There is absolutely no imagery or wit in this book to emotionally magnify or detract from the squalor in which virtually every awful character lives. The author's attempt at wry humor, shock, and sarcasm don't convince me for a minute that this book is clever. Don't waste precious summer time on this read.

Rating:
Summary: Wild
Review: This is that wild kind of life that you almost forget isn't fiction. It's in that same genre as Dry and My Fractured Life. You'll have a lot of fun.