Man! I finished Augusten Burroughs' memoir, Running with Scissors more than a week ago. And, since then, I've tried to write about it a dozen times. I have yet to get past a single paragraph.
Burroughs is, apparently, one of the "funniest people" in America. And it's not that I disagree. There were a number of times I found myself laughing out loud at the craziness Burroughs describes.
But the content is extremely sad. With each additional chapter, I found myself more and more depressed. While my mother never had manic episodes, I certainly spent more than my fair share of time with therapists in my youth. My mom was depressed, and sometimes that meant that I must have something I needed to work out as well.
But far more than sadness at my own situation, I felt desperately sad for young Augusten. Between his lack of parental figures, his abusive relationship with his far-too-old first boyfriend and the realization that his mother's "healer" was actually her abuser, I felt like the pain was overwhelming.
I have always been a firm believer that there is nothing so sacred that we shouldn't laugh about it. When it comes to my own life, I live by that policy.
But looking in on someone else's trainwreck, it was much harder for me to laugh at all the jokes.
I don't know that I would particularly recommend the book, but I'm certainly glad I read it and would definitely read Burroughs' other books.
I know, can you believe that was actually his life? And that he's managed to pull himself out of it?
I felt the same way as you, happy that I read it, and I thought it was remarkable, but I don't know that I would say "enjoyed" it. It's a hard one to recommend simply because the content is so rough, but geez, so well written!
Oh, and I thought of another book for you...have you read The Kite Runner? If not, you MUST. Seriously, go pick it up now.
Posted by: chatty cricket at February 27, 2007 08:59 AM
I couldn't finish it. Life is too short to endure all that and to what end? For me, that is. I didn't like Kite Runner either, but a friend whose opinion I value loved it. So there you go....
Posted by: By Jane at March 2, 2007 05:44 PM
I loved Running with Scissors, although, I did find it disturbing. I had a normal childhood with no life-altering tramas, and I found his story to be completely hard to believe. I saw the movie as well, and the book was much much better. Like Sarah said, I read Dry by A.B. and found it less entertaining. Dry was about his adult struggle with alcohol addiction and his ongoing battle with self-hate caused from his fucked up childhood. It was an okay book, not as shocking as Running was though.
Posted by: Jenny at March 9, 2007 02:58 PM
Jenny read dry by the same author but said it was not as good.
I enjoyed the book but at some parts it really stopped being funny and just became sad.
Posted by: sarah at February 27, 2007 08:57 AM