augusten burroughs' running with scissors
this is like the polar opposite of the other memoir i finished today. although there is some dark (very dark) humor, on the whole this is a pretty depressing read, b/c burroughs had a mightily fucked up childhood. if reading about fucked up childhoods are your thing, then this is the book for you. although it was well-written and moving, reading about fucked up childhoods is not really my thing, so i'm glad to be done with it.
at some point it seemed like it was SO way out, how could it be real?
ReplyDeletei found it depressing. his book "sellovision" (I think that was the title) is quite funny, though. i haven't read any others.
yeah, the thought of anyone growing up like that just upset me. why didn't some other grownup take him out of that situation? didn't he have other relatives? now i'm hoping it was fictionalized for effect or something.
ReplyDeletemaybe i'll check out the one you say is funny, but i'm not really in a hurry to read anything else by him. :)
I loved this book! I didn't find it depressing because it was very obvious that Burroughs was dealing with the fucked-upness. I mean, it's depressing when a fucked-up childhood really cripples someone ... but Burroughs really handles it in a healthy way by accepting that it was an abnormal childhood. I think he's a pretty amazing person--he ranks with John Waters and a couple of others as one of the famous people I'd actually like to meet. (Most of 'em I wouldn't).
ReplyDeletejohn waters is totally awesome!
ReplyDeleteeven though i agree that burroughs seems to have escaped mostly unscathed from this insane childhood (whcih is a relief, honestly), i still found it to be depressing, partly b/c of all the other kids, most of whom didn't get through it (as far as i know).