The #1 New York Times Bestseller
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This is the true story of a boy who wanted to grow up with the Brady Bunch, but ended up living with the Addams Family. Augusten Burroughs's mother gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead ringer for Santa Claus and a certifiable lunatic into the bargain. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients and a sinister man living in the garden shed completed the tableau. The perfect squalor of their dilapidated Victorian house, there were no rules and there was no school. The Christmas tree stayed up until summer and Valium was chomped down like sweets. And when things got a bit slow, there was always the ancient electroshock therapy machine under the stairs...
'This is the Brady Bunch on Viagra... it is impossible not to laugh at all the jokes; to admire the sardonic, fetid tone; to wonder, slack-jawed and agog, at the sheer looniness of the vista he conjures up' -- Rachel Cooke, Observer
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
There were certainly numerous chips in the childhood Burroughs describes: an alcoholic father, an unstable mother who gives him up for adoption to her therapist and an adolescence spent as part of the therapist's eccentric extended family, gobbling prescription medicines and fooling around with both an old electroshock machine and a paedophile who lives in a shed out back. But just as he dreamed of doing with that old table, Burroughs employs a vigorous program of decoration and fervent polishing to a life that many would have simply thrown in a landfill. Despite her abandonment, he never gives up on his increasingly unbalanced mother. And rather than despair about his lot, he glamorises it: planning a "beauty empire" and performing an a cappella version of "You Light Up My Life" at a local mental ward.
Burroughs' perspective achieves a crucial balance for a memoir: 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' survivor mentality will guide him through and that the coffee table will be salvaged after all. --John Moe, Amazon.com
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. This is the story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of grandeur) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead ringer for Santa Claus and a certifiable lunatic into the bargain. Suddenly at the age of 12, Augusten found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian house in perfect squalor. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients and a paedophile living in the garden shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules or school. The Christmas tree stayed up until Summer and valium was chomped down like sweets. When things got a bit slow, there was always the ancient electroshock therapy machine under the stairs. Augusten Burroughs's jaw-dropping memoir, out now in paperback: 'Adrian Mole scripted by Hieronymous Bosch' Fiona Hook, The Times Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781843541516
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9781843541516
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Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Augusten Burroughs's jaw-dropping memoir, out now in paperback: 'Adrian Mole scripted by Hieronymous Bosch' Fiona Hook, The Times. Seller Inventory # B9781843541516
Book Description Condition: New. Augusten Burroughs's jaw-dropping memoir, out now in paperback: 'Adrian Mole scripted by Hieronymous Bosch' Fiona Hook, The Times Num Pages: 320 pages. BIC Classification: 1KBB; 2AB; BGA; DSBH; DSK. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 130 x 25. Weight in Grams: 260. . 2004. Main. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9781843541516