Running with Scissors - Supernormal Reads

audio cd

English language

Published by Audio Renaissance.

ISBN:: 978-1-59397-781-8

(1 review)

"Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead ringer for Santa and a lunatic in the bargain. Suddenly, at age twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian in perfect squalor. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients, and a pedophile living in the backyard shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules; there was no school.

The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, and Valium was eaten like Pez. And when things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock-therapy machine under the stairs..."--BOOK JACKET.

17 editions

ralentina reviewed Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

The relative value of shocking life accounts

3 stars

An (allegedly inaccurate) memoir about the author's broken childhood.The advantage of reading hyped-up books 15 years after they come out is that the hype is gone - usually turned into nasty (envy-fed?) criticism. I was warned that the author seems to have made up a lot of things. It didn't bother me particularly: I am not charmed by 'look-how-messed-up-I-am' narratives, but what brought the book to life where the disturbing details, and the well-rounded, oh-so-disturbing characters. If he made either of those up, hats off to him.

Subjects

Childhood Memoir
Personal Memoirs
Biography And Autobiography
Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography
Biography & Autobiography
Novelists, American
Biography/Autobiography
Literary
Biography & Autobiography / General
Audio - Nonfiction (Unabridged)
Social life and customs
20th century
Amherst (Mass.)
Audiobooks
Biography