Customer Reviews
Haha! - By: Ayn Rand, 08 Nov 2008 
An original account of Burroughs' insane childhood. Some parts made me wonder if/how much he was was exaggerating but a hilarious read nonetheless. Highly recommended.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. - By: Leeds lass, 05 Apr 2008 
I am surprised at some of the reviews on this book. I know we all have different tastes but i found it absolutely compelling, sadder than sad, yet at the same time, funny. An unusual book with so much going on...i couldn`t put it down. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed it too. One reviewer does not believe it all happened - i wonder why..?
A book worth buyingin my opinion, & definately worth reading.
Not to be missed - By: Ms. N. A. De Milne, 20 Feb 2008 I'd never heard of Augusten Burroughs & it was purely by chance that I picked up his book & took it on holiday with me. What a find. I couldn't put it down & on the way back via Miami airport I found myselfin Borders searching for other books of his. I bought Possible Side Effects thinking it was his only other book & didn't sleep on the plane back as couldn't put it down. Imagine my happiness when I discovered he's written others! I bought Dry (superb) & Sellevision (pretty good) & didn't leave the house that weekend. Fair to say I'm hooked & eagerly awaiting the next!
Great book! - By: Can-do woman of the 90s, 30 Oct 2007 In the same category as McCrae's Katzenjammer & Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty, Running With Scissors is at once frightening & thrilling. Some will not warm to the antics of one more than slightly insane psychiatrist, but if you've ever been to one, you know how insane they can be. And the onein this book is tops. Trials & tribulations aboundin this laugh-out-loud funny & harrowing tale of survival. My only hesitation with the book was that I wish it had been longer. Still, you have to remember that this is a memoir & not a novel. If you liked Christopher Moore's works, or those of Jackson McCrae or David Sedaris, this one will work for you. It did for me.
Compelling, comedic account of a truly shocking childhood. - By: H. Eaton, 05 Oct 2007 Because this book is so funny you can easily forget to be horrified by the absolutely horrendous childhood being recounted. As this is an account of many & varied cruelties endured by the author, Augusten Burroughs, as a child it is difficult to imagine how the book could be anything but a self-involved traumatic read. But it's not!
Burroughs tells his talein a humorous way, recounting the bizarre incidents of his childhoodin almost a light fashion - but the innocence of the narrative is exceptionally poignant. Of course, children often can't yet tell what is normal, what's not & may even find it difficult to recognise cruelty when there's no reliable adult to guide them. The story is told through the eyes of the author when he was a boy & this is what makes it so engaging & captivating. As adults reading it, we can see he needs love & nurturing & we want to scream at the peoplein his life who are so messed up & self-absorbed that they cannot see what he needs.
In essence, the story centres around the boy's relationship with his mother - it's not good. She doesn't really have spacein her life for a son - she's too busy with her own affairs & sorting out her own life. So she sends him to stay with her psychiatrist & his family. The psychiatrist & his family have their own problems - to put it mildly - but at least Augusten has a place to stay. Along comes a family friend - a man much older than Augusten - who proceeds to sexually abuse Augusten over a period of time. Clearly, Augusten is describing an insidious type of child abuse, where the abuser seems to delude himself into thinking they are boyfriends. This portion of the book makes for very uncomfortable reading.
You see? I said it would be difficult to imagine that this could be a comic memoir - but it is! It's very well written & a really great read. You won't want to put it down till you've finished!
