In the sub-category of the memoir genre which I refer to as "Addiction/Recovery memoirs", this ranks up there with my favourites- "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey, "More,Now,Again" by Elizabeth Wurtzel, and the great autobiographhically influenced novel with the oh-so stupid title: "Rachel's Holiday" by Marian Keyes. There's something about this genre that really appeals to me, it's not...
more In the sub-category of the memoir genre which I refer to as "Addiction/Recovery memoirs", this ranks up there with my favourites- "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey, "More,Now,Again" by Elizabeth Wurtzel, and the great autobiographhically influenced novel with the oh-so stupid title: "Rachel's Holiday" by Marian Keyes. There's something about this genre that really appeals to me, it's not just for addicts and recovering addicts- these books often describes people on their way down, finally hitting rock bottom, fighting to get back on their feet, relapsing, but trying again, and suceeding. It's very inspirational, I've learned a lot from such literature.
"Dry" is brutally honest, sad, but full of dark humour, and the author, Augusten Burroghs, has two extremely important qualities needed to not only write this kind of literature, but also suceed in life- an ability to see himself and his life, no matter what a dreadful sight it is, with perspective, and he doesn't take himself too seriously- he's able to see the comedy within the tragedy. I've got one of his other books waiting for me to get started on it, and will definitely order everything else he's written- take it from someone who has read A LOT and is picky about what she reads- this is good stuff!
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