Running with Scissors: A Memoir (Unabridged)

Rating:
Summary: The Finches = Addams Family Dysfunction?
Review:
Dear Reader:

If you've never heard of this book, and feel like really laughing -- then "Running With Scissors" is definitely the book for you. It's the story of a broken family and a nutty, terminally-selfish mother who, following her divorce, allows her son to take up permanent residence in her shrink's house, a family in total chaos, where no boundaries are established and everyone is allowed to run amok.

Yes, at one point I thought I was back, watching the once popular 60s TV series The Addams Family. Sing along now:...the Finches..."they're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, all together oooky...the Finches, er Ad-dams Fa-mi-lee!..."

"BUT IT'S SO DISTURBING!"

Is this book disturbing, as other reviewers have mentioned? Not really. I didn't find it "disturbing" at all because it was told in such a cartoonish and comic way -- it would be like getting upset over a Roadrunner cartoon in which the coyote keeps dropping off a cliff or getting his face blackened after a back-fired explosion. ("That poor coyote!" Pass me a valium.)

No, this book is NOT recommended for members of the Christian Coalition. If you're easily shocked then defer to the latest Oprah pick instead. There's mention of gay sex (EGAD!), parental lesbianism (guess that would fall under "gay sex"), mentions of fortune-telling turds, home wrecking, and infidelity, even yeast infections and pedophilia! Basically, this book throws everything at you but the kitchen sink. There's a "holy sh*t!" to be uttered on every page: the surprises never stop coming.

"Running With Scissors" is truly a fun and lively and very bouncy book. Like many, I doubt the "truth" of this boyhood account (so-called memoir [...yawn!]), but find it very enjoyable, one of the best books I've read so far this year, but try it for yourself! Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- completely unrelated to Burroughs, but very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez -- another exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.

Thank you for your time,

Your humble reviewer.


Rating:
Summary: An Insanely Entertaining But Also Disturbing Memoir
Review:
This is just an insanely entertaining memoir. Running with Scissors is the tale of a crazy, wacky, wild, unbelievable and unenviable childhood. It is beautifully written and hard to set down after you pick it up.

For me, at least, this was a laugh-out-loud kind of biography. It can also be disturbing, so much so that during a couple of moments while reading the book, I stopped to think, "My God, can anyone see me reading this?" It can be that shocking. After reading it, I wanted to give it to others so I could get their feedback and talk about how crazy the book actually is. While reading it, I often thought to myself, "Are there really people in the world who are this weird?"

The book is exceptionally easy to read and is full of details that help the reader identify with the subject, his surroundings and experiences. I read this in a few hours, but felt as if I had been taken on an adventure that lasted much longer. In some ways, the book reminded me a bit of "A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius." But Running with Scissors is lighter, more fun and funnier. There is nothing slow about this book. It never gets bogged down. It will sweep you off your feet and keep you flying until the end, when you wonder how this kid ever managed to survive it all. It was a joy to read and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

One minor caveat: If you are fainthearted or feel uncomfortable when reading descriptive scenes that portray odd or uncommon human behavior, you might want to think twice about reading this. Along with Running With Scissors, another Amazon quick-pick I recommend is The Losers Club: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez


Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and Startling
Review:
Within the 288 pages of this non-fiction book we read about the upbringing of Augusten Burroughs. From his early days of living with his eccentric mother and alcoholic father, to the period of time she separates from his father - comes `out' as a lesbian, and places him within the care of her psychiatrist. The reader is presented with details of situations, emotions exhibited, and the effects it had on Augusten Burroughs.

Descriptions within this book inspire thought, and allow you to capture the atmosphere, moods, and happenstance of each occurrence described. Even the explanatory observance/involvement this boy has while watching his mother pamper herself is shared carefully. The detail of the hairdryer ticking as it cools down, his comparison of that to the noise of all things that become hot and go through the cool down period - allows the reader to be pulled into the story. This author inputs captivation of the sensory by mentioning fragrance (smells), sight, and feelings. I enjoyed this element during portions of the book, because it engages interest. Moments like this I found myself drawn into the text and thinking about how much this boy seemed to admire his self-absorbed mother.

Augusten Burroughs takes his bizarre upbringing, puts it into print, and allows lessons to shine forth. I feel that this author did a fine job on this sharing and it was perhaps the manner he presented the material that allowed me to partake the read. Certainly it packs power to allow most dysfunctional situations to seem... well... normal? This is truly an engrossing book. Other suggested titles (recent purchases, for me) Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris and The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez.


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: Perfect Title
Review: "Running With Scissors" is the perfect title for this memoir. It is exactly how the author feels...as though playing rush and roulette with your own life. The book is an excellent read. Explains much about addictions and the courage it takes to overcome.
Also recommend: Nightmares Echo and Dry

Rating:
Summary: A Quick and Enjoyable Book
Review: A quirky little book told in a scattered almost stream of conciousness style. All in all it is a captivating book, and a quick read. I finished it in two days. There are moments that might be somewhat overly graphic for some tastes, but they are brief and not without purpose. Not as good as his sequel "Dry" which shows more polish, but still an excellent book. Readers will notice a similarity in writing tone and subject matter to "My Fractured Life", especially concerning the mother characters. Readers who liked "Dry" and "My Fractured Life" should like "Running With Scissors" too.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing, painfully funny, chocolate for your brain
Review: As a previous reviewer stated, I also was able to consume this book in just a few sittings. The ability of the author to place the reader into his bizarre childhood shoes is amazing. As I lapped up the last morsels of this book, I was already planning my purchase of the sequel.

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: Obviously Fiction
Review: Burroughs has cobbled together here an imaginative piece of fiction. While it is not well written, it is, at times, funny. Most of the "humor" however is not funny, but only shocking. Burroughs claims to have been a captive of some kind in the home of his psychiatrist, to have been raped by a 35 year old man, and to have witnessed bizarre and insane behavior by the family that took him in. Reviewer after reviewer expresses sympathy for Burroughs. But, how can this story be true? Burroughs, if we are to believe him, attended public schools, was hospitalized at the state mental hospital, and, if his other work "Dry" is any indication, stumbled through the rest of his life and yet, only now does a rape and his claimed victimization at the hands of a crazy psychiatrist come to light? Nobody at the State Mental Hospital unearthed these goings on? No school official, no police officer, no social worker ever discovered the claimed antics of a psychiatrist and his family? No neighbor summonsed the police? How can this be? And, if the story is not true, the book loses its appeal, becoming just another piece of mediocre fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Spin that Agile Writing Web, You
Review: GOOD GOD, Augusten: I get the sense we are "soul sisters" as a Finch might say...except that I'm not gay, or a man, nor do I have an exceptional gift for writing.
This book, with which readers will become immediately and thoroughly obsessed with and engrossed in...I mean, that readers will enjoy immensely, is the literary equivalent of a circus performer's "death-defying" feat. Recounting his childhood experiences in a frank and genuine way, Burroughs manages to completely elude the potential "train wreck" factor; I chalk this up to a lack of self-censorship/editing which is both refreshingly skillful in execution and lending of an authenticity somewhat absent in many memoirs.
I read this book and I didn't want it to end. A bond was formed. A masterful teller of the true tale spun his agile writing web over me and I Am Thoroughly Impressed.