Running with Scissors: A Memoir (Unabridged)

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: Compulsive
Review: You really can't put this book down. It reads much like a humor column in a newspaper, and the more you read it, the more you have to keep reading it. It's sub-titled "A Memoir", and it is, although it is also a borderline "Confessional", those ubiquitous books that disguise themselves as "A Memoir", with their zippy titles like "I Was A Teenage Drunkard". Confessionals are flat, one-themed stories, memoirs are three dimensional and multi-faceted. And this book has just barely enough multi-faceting to qualify as a true memoir. It is frankly hilarious, and highly entertaining, and will quickly dispel any sort of self-pity that one might have for one's own family upbringing. The narrator is breezy and light throughout, which is kind of amazing considering the drama that is unfolding around him. While this is part of the writer's style, I think the story could have been strengthened with a little more emotional insight, especially at the end. But I was sad when it did end. I kept flipping through the pages, wanting more.