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What are readers saying about Running With Scissors A Memoir?
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-22 11:25:43.
(Language: English)
  
Do you think your childhood was messed up? Get a new view of it and read Augusten´s true memoir of his early years. A psychotic mum and a ice cold dad leaves him to stay with thiere psychiatrist. Not the kind of normal doctor though, but one who lives in a family where cleaning is foreign, one can predict the future from poo-poo and in a house which is filled with other mysterious patiens. Augusten himself dreams of becoming a famous hair dresser but commit a fake suicade attempt to get rid of school (with help from the psychiatrist himself). In the world of crazyness this boy grews up to become a writer, and thanks to that we can all enjoy this piece of a REALLY screwed up background.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-09-15 07:15:12.
(Language: English)
Okay, I missed the last two chapters due to disk damage, so I have no closure. But aside from that this is a REALLY good book if you like character based fiction, especially nearly insane characters. There's a huge question on who is madder than whom in this novel, which never really got answered for me, but despite who is the worst (the mother or the adpoted father) the implications of raising the narrator as they do are left to the audience. Hard to get into at first, but well worth the attempt once the characters become real to the reader. Wish I had the time to get the other two chapters as I'm sure this ended on an interesting note.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-06-19 02:40:51.
(Language: English)
You know, I had high hopes for this book because I heard from so many people that it was amazing, and all the reviews said the same thing. Well, that's true about the writing, that's for sure. Augusten Burroughs has an amazing talent for writing in his ability to make the reader feel something... beit humor, discomfort, or disgust. It was uncomfortable to read this memoir, but it was a good uncomfortable because it brought his memoir to life... I felt like I was experiencing everything that he was discussing. And, that right there is the problem. I seriously only made it maybe 110 pages into the book when I realized that I did not want to be further exposed to the explicitly sexual things he discussed. He was so graphic and there was an attempt at humor, but it was lost on me and I was left... honestly, feeling violated and exposed. That's not funny. I'm disgusted with this book and I caution anyone who is considering to read this book to think otherwise.
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Amie posted a review at 2010-08-03 09:45:54.
(Language: English)
Reading this book was like passing a car accident on the highway, you don't want to look but you can't pull your eyes away. This book was horrifying, disturbing, disgusting, and unbelievable. Burroughs writes honestly, with great candor, clearly and incisively. While his writing is to be praised, the content of this book made it incredibly difficult and uncomfortable to read - especially keeping in mind that it is all true. I caution potential readers to the maturity of the content. It was not humorous as I thought and heard it would be. Instead, I found this book incredibly sad, but celebrate with Burroughs the seemingly insurmountable odds that he has overcome.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-10 03:04:48.
(Language: English)
A coworker loaned this to me because she wanted to know if it was just her. It wasn't. Despite the reviews, I did not find this book hysterical. I laughed at a few places, but it was mostly uncomfortable laughter. To me, this book was horrifying. It's a memoir of a dysfunctional family--shocking--but this one is special. Augusten's mom is crazy, his dad won't even return phone calls after the divorce, and so Augusten is sent to live with his mom's shrink. Their house is scary. On Augusten's first day there, the grandson of the shrink takes a dump in the living room, right under the piano. And nobody cleans it up. I'm still wondering how long it took before someone did something about it. No rules in a house apparently means, to this family, that literally anything is okay. The wife eats dog food. On purpose. There's a woman afraid of dirt that lives locked in a second-floor room. And Augusten is basically molested by another patient who sometimes shows up. And I'm left wondering how the hell this man became a shrink. It's well written, and rather like a train wreck--I couldn't stop reading. But I'm not planning on picking up any more of his books.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-03-31 07:30:48.
(Language: English)
Compellingly written with a very dark perspective on life, but a life that is experienced and is dark. Keep reading hoping for light and never find it, but this is a real perspective for some people. Reality without wholeness is still their reality.
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Melanie posted a review at 2009-07-25 10:03:57.
(Language: English)
So, there are several reviews of this book that use the words "funny" and "hilarious", some say "entertaining". Ummmm . . . . no. I found myself disgusted (first time I've ever gagged while READING), angered, shocked and perplexed, but never once was I amused, nor "entertained". It is, however, a compelling read. I finished the book very quickly and read it cover to cover, so I had to admit it kept my interest. I could not imagine coming out the other side of these experiences. This child was first neglected, then abandoned by his parents and turned over to a crazy doctor, who ran an even crazier household. It is very graphic, has quite a bit of profane language and explicit sex scenes.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-31 10:23:03.
(Language: English)
This was a great read and a disappointing read at the same time. I felt there were large gaps of unexplained time in his memoir, but there were also wonderful moments I throughly enjoyed reading. Whether or not it's a true account of his life doesn't bother me a bit (and I sincerely want to believe it is). The overall flavor of his memoir was that it was still in the developmental stages and was, for reasons unknown to me, rushed to be published before it was ready. There were several rough patches that needed to be cleaned up. I was especially disappointed with the way he ended his memoir with a poor excuse of an "epilogue" that merely listed what happened to a small group of the key people in his life. An EXTREMELY lazy and silly choice. I do not plan to read any of his other books because this one proved to be an unpolished work with potential that the author was too lazy to actualize.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-24 10:43:34.
(Language: English)
I picked this book up remembering hearing the title and after reading the "extraordinary praises" on the back cover. I didn't quite seem to find the humor those praises stated. To me it was sad story of a child left on his own growing up with adults that were too out of touch with reality to provide true guidance and allowing a 14 year old child to have a gay sexual relationship with a 33 year old man. The memoir could have definitely done without the explicit sexual descriptions and for that reason it is given the rating of 1 star and Not Recommended.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-30 04:04:42.
(Language: English)
Yikes. It is hard to believe this book has been made into a movie. This book is not "hysterical," as is written on the back of the book. The book was sad. Sad that Augusten had to experience such an upbringing, or lack there of. Sad that there is not the redeeming silver lining at the end of the book. What has he added to society by telling his story? The books ends without his pulling together the facts of his life story with the facts of what he became despite his life story. However, I did learn quite a bit about gay anal sex. Am I to be happy about that?
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-28 03:14:04.
(Language: English)
"That evening when the doctor was sitting in the TV room and Hope was still downstairs in the basement with the cat in the laundry hamper, we explained the situation to Finch. He listened carefully, nodding and saying, "Yes," and "I see." I have to admit, I was impressed with his professionalism. He looked and sounded exactly like a real psychiatrist. Until he opened his mouth. 'Let's ask God,' he said." - Burroughs "Emotional but not self-involved, observant but not clinical, funny but not deliberately comic. And it's ultimately a feel-good story: as he steers through a challenging childhood, there's always a sense that Burroughs's survivor mentality will guide him through." --John Moe
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-08 11:54:18.
(Language: English)
I have no idea what to say about this book. If just a fraction of the stuff claimed in the book is true, then ... just wow! The book had plenty of laugh out loud moments, but I wasn't always comfortable with the laughs because child molestation, psychological abuse of children, child endangerment, and child abandonment are inherently unfunny. Burroughs sure is a deft writer to tickle funny bones over and past the dregs of repulsion. A very guilty pleasure to have enjoyed this literary peek into his horrid past, though no retelling probably can do such a childhood justice.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-03-02 08:39:29.
(Language: English)
In Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs’ mother sent him to live with her psychiatrist at age 13 after their tragic, unhealthy family life finally collapses in on itself. But even then, the new household contains some bizarre dysfunctions of its very own — including pedophiliac encounters with another adopted son twice Burroughs’ age. His mother takes narcissistic behavior to new heights, and becomes the Evil Queen mother. Burroughs' is eventually "reared" by a different family entirely. Psychology buffs with an interest in the nature versus nurture debate will particularly find his narrative fascinating.
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Carly posted a review at 2007-07-23 08:10:34.
(Language: English)
Ok... The quirkiness and raw honesty in this book is actually quite fascinating, but, for me, any good element of it is definitely overshadowed by the extreme current of gay sex running through it. You almost have to be a left-handed, cock-eyed liberal to enjoy this book (or else, you just have to be a very...um, open sort of person). Conservatives should run screaming. Not that this book has anything to do with politics, but that line in this novel is even easy to see for a blind person. That being said, I liked it. I also hated it. Read it, and I think you'll know what I'm talking about. "Running With Scissors" is a memoir chronicling much of Augusten Burroughs' adolescent life and the kind of laid-back approach he takes to normal, everyday obstacles that life throws at him - things like: having to live with his mother's shrink while she runs off to have a homosexual affair with the preacher's wife. Or (setting aside the facetiousness) his own homosexual feelings and a relationship with a man decades his elder. It's all very interesting and Burroughs makes his readers want to turn the page, but I cant seem to imagine a person's life being as completely and totally off-the-wall as his own. The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking, "There is absolutely no way this is true", which is why I practically couldn't put it down, but the content can be quite disturbing. There were many times where I simply had to put down the book because I just couldn't stomach what I was reading. I've heard of other people having to do the same thing. But perhaps that is what makes this book a must for fans of modern literature. Reading "Running With Scissors" , I suppose, can be comparable to a Texan eating escargot for the first time. Try it. See if you like it. And don't worry - you can choose to stop in the middle... but it will defiinitely leave a squirmy taste in your mouth.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-26 06:40:11.
(Language: English)
Wow. I can't decide whether I'm disturbed or disgusted with this book. It is definitely not what I believed it was going to be. I knew it was a biography, and that it had been made into a movie, but now I know I definitely do not want to see the movie. It is a memoir by the author Augusten Burroughs about his demented childhood. Living with a crazy mother and a neglectful father, life with fights every night is pretty much commonplace for him. They try to work things out with a psychiatrist named Dr. Finch. After his parents get divorced, his mother sinks further into her psychosis and eventually he goes to live with Dr. Finch and is later under his care when he becomes his legal guardian. The Finch house, to put it simply, is full of crazy people as well. They analyze turds, use the bible as a magic eight ball, and never clean. The kids are allowed to systematically destroy the house with no problem. Here is taken up by a thirty-three year old man, also gay like the author, and starts a relationship. And no one has a problem with this. In addition, he starts smoking, and quits school. At the age of thirteen all characters are considered grown up and they can do what they want. His story goes until he moves out with one of the daughters and attends college at seventeen. Finding it not to his liking, he sets out for the big city of New York. While I understand this is Burroughs telling of his own story, I simply cannot see what people call hilarious or funny about it. Yes he may arrange the words in a clever way, but the subject matter he handles is simply not funny. He was an abused child! I kind of wonder if maybe he elaborated a bit on the story and that's why people don't take it as serious. It seems strange that this doctor's house could be in the middle of a well to do neighborhood yet no one reports the goings on there. Also, with so many interactions with the public, how can these people not be taken as crazy? It goes beyond imagining for me. Looking aside from the subject matter, I don't like Burroughs style of writing. It is too choppy for me and seems rather like a constant thought stream than an actual telling of a story. I'd heard so many good things about this book but its definitely very low on the list for me. I will not be reading any of his other works probably. Running With Scissors Copyright 2002 302 pages
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-18 01:03:54.
(Language: English)
Mr. Burroughs is a fine and careful writer who has experienced much in life. His work should be helpful to those who feel like they are alone in their troubles.Readers without a background in abnormal psychology or advanced management training should be prepared to fasten their seat belts before jumping into this fast moving read about a 'family' living in a cyclone of relationships created by the head of household who just happened to be an MD/Shrink who himself badly needed 90 days in city jail every year or so. A chuckle here and there is provided by the author so the reader won't become accustomed to the behavioral revelations of adults and a few children who are chock full of nuts. Highly recommended.Look for the ridiculous in everything and you will find it.~Jules Renard~ 1890. As quoted in Running with Scissors.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-29 02:04:28.
(Language: English)
I read this in one sitting, the writing style really sucked me in and made it fly by. I've wanted to read this for a long time and wasn't disappointed. It's sharp and honest-- his ho-hum attitude toward most of the insanity in his life really sold it for me. If you have a fucked up family, you will probably dig this book. Unfortunately, I saw the movie first, which is always a bad idea. It's insane how much they sapped up this story to make it into a film. They also made really slight and pointless cosmetic and emotional changes to a lot of the characters when they made the movie. Still his writing is so strong that the actors who played these people in the movie weren't stuck in my head when I read the book. That's big for me. The description this ireaders thing gives is really inaccurate and kind of pissed me off. They took some tiny details that were barely touched upon and tried to juice them up to oversell people. There's no need to do that. The truth is enough. This kid goes through some serious fucked up shit, but writes about in such a straightforward, personal way that how bizarre it is becomes kind of secondary to what he has to say about it. I was really into this book, the style and the story are sticking with me.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-27 01:50:22.
(Language: English)
Copied from my livejournal. Not really a review, just some thoughts on the book and its reception. "Running with Scissors" is a memoir detailing Burroughs's truly bizarre childhood living with his mother's disturbed psychiatrist. The book is both hilarious and disturbing, often at the same time. I've found some of the negative reviews on Amazon to be quite interesting. A lot of the reviewers are disgusted by the descriptions of Burroughs' "relationship" at age thirteen with his psychiatrist's adopted son who was twice his age. The interesting thing is that a lot of the reviewers seem to be angered by Burroughs depiction of his own abuse and neglect, specifically, that he trivialises it treating it with humour. What gives these people the right to dictate how one should present their own life, particularly when it involves abuse? A lot of them express no sympathy for Burroughs, in fact, most of them accuse him of making up the events in the book in order to make it a bestseller. One reviewer even complains that the book is "not vulnerable enough". So not only is Burroughs not allowed to write about his childhood with humour he also should have been weaker, more of a victim? Maybe this will make me sound like a snobbish English student, but some of the reviewers seem naive about memoir writing. They criticise the book for having dialogue which seems to be remembered too perfectly and for the child protagonist having thoughts that seem too mature and sophisticated for someone his age. These are criticisms that can be made about any autobiographical text. But a memoir is really a subgenre or type of autobiography. It has a stronger fictional element which allows the author more freedom in the retelling of events, such as filling out fragmented memories of conversations. It is not an attempt to accurately reconstruct every minute detail of past events, but rather to interpret the significance these events. I suspect these criticisms are more a result of the reviewers disapproval of the subject matter than Burroughs' writing style itself. Would these perceived problems be more forgivable if the subject matter was more palatable?
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-24 12:49:45.
(Language: English)
I guess this is a true story of this author's life, so it's kind of hard to rip on someone's memoir because that's like saying bad things about their life and upbringing which they had no control over. So, having said that, I guess I'd say this book was OK - funny in a couple spots, weird, crazy, and sometimes downright disturbing. If all this stuff really happened, probably one of the weirdest childhoods ever imaginable for this kid. Not sure how they are making it into a movie. The book seemed to end sort of abruptly. I guess there's room for a sequel memoir beginning when the author leaves the area to seek out something better in NYC. I guess I just kept looking for a moral to the story or an enlightening which just isn't there. Maybe I just expect too much though.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-02 07:16:12.
(Language: English)
I generally avoid the "memoir" genre entirely; my best friend highly recommended this book to me, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It reads like twisted fiction: A teenage boy's coming of age-grappling-with-his-sexuality-while-everyone-around-him-is-crazy kind of story. (After reading this book and looking at some of these reviews, evidently parts his "memoir" are indeed things Augusten Burroughs made up). If you read for its memoir-like qualities, you probably won't get much out of it unless you are a gay male and are looking for an empathetic voice. If you just ditch the "memoir" tag and read it for its story-telling qualities, "Running With Scissors" is quite terrific. Burroughs really has an apt way of using the English language to put the reader in the midst of the action, and that's no small feat.
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Jenny posted a review at 2008-07-11 08:03:17.
(Language: English)
A coworker loaned this to me because she wanted to know if it was just her. It wasn't. Despite the reviews, I did not find this book hysterical. I laughed at a few places, but it was mostly uncomfortable laughter. To me, this book was horrifying. It's a memoir of a dysfunctional family--shocking--but this one is special. Augusten's mom is crazy, his dad won't even return phone calls after the divorce, and so Augusten is sent to live with his mom's shrink. Their house is scary. On Augusten's first day there, the grandson of the shrink takes a dump in the living room, right under the piano. And nobody cleans it up. I'm still wondering how long it took before someone did something about it. No rules in a house apparently means, to this family, that literally anything is okay. The wife eats dog food. On purpose. There's a woman afraid of dirt that lives locked in a second-floor room. And Augusten is basically molested by another patient who sometimes shows up. And I'm left wondering how the hell this man became a shrink. It's well written, and rather like a train wreck--I couldn't stop reading. But I'm not planning on picking up any more of his books.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-09-11 09:53:51.
(Language: English)
I have to disagree with some other reviewers. You don't have to be super liberal to read and enjoy this book. The fact that he was willing to share his crazy family and life with the rest of the world should be commended. The fact that he seems to have pulled it together and made a somewhat normal life for himself is more impressive because of how he lived as a teenager. Most people would be curled up under their desks refusing to face the world. I know I would be if I had lived like that. I consider this 10% fiction, 90% "holy crap, he REALLY lived through this!?!". Yeah, it probably isn't for anyone and you can watch the movie, which is a somewhat lighter version of the book, if you want to see where the author is coming from.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-08 08:15:46.
(Language: English)
“Running with Scissors" is sheer delightful insanity. Augusten's story begins as a very young grade-school lad, coinciding with the time he underwent the deterioration of his parents' relationship. Just when you thought your life was messed up (you poor thing), this story will at once disturb and console you that you're not the only one on the planet who was raised by a mother of somewhat dubious sanity. Augusten's mother, convinced of her own mental instability, spends frequent hours in the office of a psychologist who uses non-traditional (to say the least) therapy techniques--a man whom Augusten will eventually come to know a little too well. The true story then gets shockingly worse when Augusten's mother comes to the "eureka!" realization that she's too bonkers to care for him herself. She agrees with her therapist--who is the spittin' image of Santa Claus, by the way--that the best course of action would be to turn her son over to him for a short period of time while she recovers. At this point, Augusten is a budding teenager when he realizes that "a short while" will turn into something far more significant--like, years. That would have been fine if his new digs in any way resembled a normal household. But normal is not even in the same country of what mostly resembles a cult-leader and his madcap followers. The quirky characters, mostly real family members of Dr. Finch, are richly developed by Augusten, who had the precocious penchant to journal everything he saw during this nutty time period. The stuff he endures--a young child who eats his own poop, Dr. Finch’s dog-chow-snacking wife, his mother's lesbian trysts, and a pedophile who eventually becomes his "lover"--seem too improbable, but the absurdities make for outstanding reading. All this just scratches the surface of the most insanely funny story I've ever read. Put down your David Sedaris and read this book because the movie version does it no justice.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-06 11:49:10.
(Language: English)
A startling, horrifying memoir with incidents too bizarre to be fiction. The wonder is Burroughs survived these years from ages nine to seventeen of abandonment, abuse, filth, betrayal, and a total lack of guidance, stability, or role models other than Vidal Sassoon on TV ads. When the person who cares the most about a kid is a 34-year old pedophile who abuses him, is abused by him, and disappears forever when he goes out for some film at 2 a.m., one can only be in awe of the kid’s resilience. And be bewildered how the social safety net in Amherst/Northampton Massachusetts in the 1980s could be so completely evaded and/or subverted. Luckily for Burroughs and for us, his salvation appears to be his writing. Brutally honest, disturbing, and exhilarating, Running with Scissors is a tour de force.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-10 04:34:40.
(Language: English)
Books like these makes me think of the idea of warning on the outside of books to explain the level of gross you have to deal with. I would NOT recomend this book to anyone who couldn't handle it. And I don't know many people that could. I just know I have had people look at me from my very loud "ewww oh common!" outbursts reading this thing. I will ruin it a bit and say there is an entire chapter dedicated to poop, and I wish I could tell you that was the worst of it. It is rather easy to read and not really that boring but after reading it you might feel like you have to take a shower. It does rather feel like he is showing off how quirky and demented his life was more than making it a cohesive (or even interesting) plotline. But it isn't boring and it isn't hard and sometimes it is actually funny. I wouldn't recomend reading it while eating though.
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