Running With Scissors: A Memoir

Burroughs, Augusten

ISBN 10: 1427200718 ISBN 13: 9781427200716

Synopsis

The #1 New York Times Bestseller

An Entertainment Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year

Now a Major Motion Picture

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 unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor's bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock- therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Running with Scissors Acknowledgments
Gratitude doesn't begin to describe it: Jennifer Enderlin, Christopher Schelling, John Murphy, Gregg Sullivan, Kim Cardascia, Michael Storrings, and everyone at St. Martin's Press. Thank you: Lawrence David, Suzanne Finnamore, Robert Rodi, Bret Easton Ellis, Jon Pepoon, Lee Lodes, Jeff Soares, Kevin Weidenbacher, Lynda Pearson, Lona Walburn, Lori Greenburg, John DePretis, and Sheila Cobb. I would also like to express my appreciation to my mother and father for, no matter how inadvertently, giving me such a memorable childhood. Additionally, I would like to thank the real-life members of the family portrayed in this book for taking me into their home and accepting me as one of their own. I recognize that their memories of the events described in this book are different than my own. They are each fine, decent, and hard-working people. The book was not intended to hurt the family. Both my publisher and I regret any unintentional harm resulting from the publishing and marketing of Running with Scissors. Most of all, I would like to thank my brother for demonstrating, by example, the importance of being wholly unique.

About this title

Review

There is a passage early in Augusten Burroughs's harrowing and highly entertaining memoir Running with Scissors that speaks volumes about the author. While going to the garbage dump with his father, young Augusten spots a chipped glass-top coffee table that he longs to bring home. "I knew I could hide the chip by fanning a display of magazines on the surface, like in a doctor's office," he writes, "And it certainly wouldn't be dirty after I polished it with Windex for three hours."

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

Review

" I just finished reading the most amazing book. Running with Scissors is hilarious, freaky-deaky, berserk, controlled, transcendent, touching, affectionate, vengeful, all-embracing....It makes a good run at blowing every other [memoir] out of the water." -- Carolyn See, "The Washington Post"
" Funny and rich with child's eye details of adults who have gone off the rails." -- "The New York Times Book Review"
" It is as funny as it is twisted." -- "GQ"
" A hilarious and horrifying memoir." -- "Los Angeles Times"
" Harrowing and hilarious. I haven't laughed this much since David Sedaris's last book." -- Haven Kimmel, author of "A Girl Named Zippy"
" "Running with Scissors" is a cut above...compelling...the book celebrates Burroughs' resilient, upbeat spirit, which helps him surmount one of the weirder childhoods on record." -- "USA Today"
" The anecdotes can be so flippant, and so insanely funny (quite literally), that the effect is that of a William Burroughs situation comedy." -- "The New York Times"
" Burroughs defies the ' woe is me' stigma of modern memoir with a raucous recounting of his loony teenage years." -- "Entertainment Weekly"
" I was reminded of Roald Dahl's "Boy "and "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," Augusten Burroughs has produced a memoir that's funny and sharp but also humane, as charming as it is revealing." -- Kurt Andersen, author of "Turn of the Century"
" A memoir that is both horrifying and mordantlyfunny." -- "San Francisco Chronicle"
" Burroughs has memorialized his bizarre childhood showing off a dark wit that often rivals that 0of David Sedaris-- while telling a true story that would make even Sedaris cringe." -- "New York Magazine"
" Burroughs tempers the pathos with sharp riotous humor... Edgier, but reminiscent of Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," this is a survival story readers won't forget." -- "Booklist"
"I just finished reading the most amazing book. Running with Scissors is hilarious, freaky-deaky, berserk, controlled, transcendent, touching, affectionate, vengeful, all-embracing....It makes a good run at blowing every other [memoir] out of the water." --Carolyn See, "The Washington Post"
"Funny and rich with child's eye details of adults who have gone off the rails." --"The New York Times Book Review"
"It is as funny as it is twisted." --"GQ"
"A hilarious and horrifying memoir." --"Los Angeles Times"
"Harrowing and hilarious. I haven't laughed this much since David Sedaris's last book." --Haven Kimmel, author of "A Girl Named Zippy"
""Running with Scissors" is a cut above...compelling...the book celebrates Burroughs' resilient, upbeat spirit, which helps him surmount one of the weirder childhoods on record." --"USA Today"
"The anecdotes can be so flippant, and so insanely funny (quite literally), that the effect is that of a William Burroughs situation comedy." --"The New York Times"
"Burroughs defies the 'woe is me' stigma of modern memoir with a raucous recounting of his loony teenage years." --"Entertainment Weekly"
"I was reminded of Roald Dahl's "Boy "and "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Augusten Burroughs has produced a memoir that's funny and sharp but also humane, as charming as it is revealing." --Kurt Andersen, author of "Turn of the Century"
"A memoir that is both horrifying and mordantly funny." --"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Burroughs has memorialized his bizarre childhood showing off a dark wit that often rivals that 0of David Sedaris--while telling a true story that would make even Sedaris cringe." --"New York Magazine"
"Burroughs tempers the pathos with sharp riotous humor... Edgier, but reminiscent of Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," this is a survival story readers won't forget." --"Booklist"

I just finished reading the most amazing book. Running with Scissors is hilarious, freaky-deaky, berserk, controlled, transcendent, touching, affectionate, vengeful, all-embracing....It makes a good run at blowing every other [memoir] out of the water. "Carolyn See, The Washington Post"

Funny and rich with child's eye details of adults who have gone off the rails. "The New York Times Book Review"

It is as funny as it is twisted. "GQ"

A hilarious and horrifying memoir. "Los Angeles Times"

Harrowing and hilarious. I haven't laughed this much since David Sedaris's last book. "Haven Kimmel, author of A Girl Named Zippy"

"Running with Scissors" is a cut above...compelling...the book celebrates Burroughs' resilient, upbeat spirit, which helps him surmount one of the weirder childhoods on record. "USA Today"

The anecdotes can be so flippant, and so insanely funny (quite literally), that the effect is that of a William Burroughs situation comedy. "The New York Times"

Burroughs defies the woe is me' stigma of modern memoir with a raucous recounting of his loony teenage years. "Entertainment Weekly"

I was reminded of Roald Dahl's "Boy "and "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Augusten Burroughs has produced a memoir that's funny and sharp but also humane, as charming as it is revealing. "Kurt Andersen, author of Turn of the Century"

A memoir that is both horrifying and mordantly funny. "San Francisco Chronicle"

Burroughs has memorialized his bizarre childhood showing off a dark wit that often rivals that 0of David Sedaris--while telling a true story that would make even Sedaris cringe. "New York Magazine"

Burroughs tempers the pathos with sharp riotous humor... Edgier, but reminiscent of Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," this is a survival story readers won't forget. "Booklist""

"I just finished reading the most amazing book. Running with Scissors is hilarious, freaky-deaky, berserk, controlled, transcendent, touching, affectionate, vengeful, all-embracing....It makes a good run at blowing every other [memoir] out of the water." --Carolyn See, The Washington Post

"Funny and rich with child's eye details of adults who have gone off the rails." --The New York Times Book Review

"It is as funny as it is twisted." --GQ

"A hilarious and horrifying memoir." --Los Angeles Times

"Harrowing and hilarious. I haven't laughed this much since David Sedaris's last book." --Haven Kimmel, author of A Girl Named Zippy

"Running with Scissors is a cut above...compelling...the book celebrates Burroughs' resilient, upbeat spirit, which helps him surmount one of the weirder childhoods on record." --USA Today

"The anecdotes can be so flippant, and so insanely funny (quite literally), that the effect is that of a William Burroughs situation comedy." --The New York Times

"Burroughs defies the 'woe is me' stigma of modern memoir with a raucous recounting of his loony teenage years." --Entertainment Weekly

"I was reminded of Roald Dahl's Boy and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Augusten Burroughs has produced a memoir that's funny and sharp but also humane, as charming as it is revealing." --Kurt Andersen, author of Turn of the Century

"A memoir that is both horrifying and mordantly funny." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Burroughs has memorialized his bizarre childhood showing off a dark wit that often rivals that 0of David Sedaris--while telling a true story that would make even Sedaris cringe." --New York Magazine

"Burroughs tempers the pathos with sharp riotous humor... Edgier, but reminiscent of Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, this is a survival story readers won't forget." --Booklist

-I just finished reading the most amazing book. Running with Scissors is hilarious, freaky-deaky, berserk, controlled, transcendent, touching, affectionate, vengeful, all-embracing....It makes a good run at blowing every other [memoir] out of the water.- --Carolyn See, The Washington Post

-Funny and rich with child's eye details of adults who have gone off the rails.- --The New York Times Book Review

-It is as funny as it is twisted.- --GQ

-A hilarious and horrifying memoir.- --Los Angeles Times

-Harrowing and hilarious. I haven't laughed this much since David Sedaris's last book.- --Haven Kimmel, author of A Girl Named Zippy

-Running with Scissors is a cut above...compelling...the book celebrates Burroughs' resilient, upbeat spirit, which helps him surmount one of the weirder childhoods on record.- --USA Today

-The anecdotes can be so flippant, and so insanely funny (quite literally), that the effect is that of a William Burroughs situation comedy.- --The New York Times

-Burroughs defies the 'woe is me' stigma of modern memoir with a raucous recounting of his loony teenage years.- --Entertainment Weekly

-I was reminded of Roald Dahl's Boy and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Augusten Burroughs has produced a memoir that's funny and sharp but also humane, as charming as it is revealing.- --Kurt Andersen, author of Turn of the Century

-A memoir that is both horrifying and mordantly funny.- --San Francisco Chronicle

-Burroughs has memorialized his bizarre childhood showing off a dark wit that often rivals that 0of David Sedaris--while telling a true story that would make even Sedaris cringe.- --New York Magazine

-Burroughs tempers the pathos with sharp riotous humor... Edgier, but reminiscent of Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, this is a survival story readers won't forget.- --Booklist

Edition details

• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1427200718
• ISBN 13: 9781427200716
• Binding: Audio CD