Dry: A Memoir
by Augusten Burroughs
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Book Reviews of Dry: A Memoir
Book Review: Great follow-up to Running with Scissors
Summary: 5 Stars
Alcoholism is a serious disease contrary to what many people think, and Burroughs makes this point abundantly clear in his follow-up to Running with Scissors. In his first memoir, Burroughs recalls his extraordinarily bizarre childhood amongst a bipolar mother, his mother's crazy psychiatrist, a pedophile, and other strange characters. In this more poignant memoir, Burroughs recounts his adult struggle with alcoholism. We discover in the beginning the book, that Burroughs has become a successful advertising executive, but his success is threatened by the fact that he is a raging alcoholic. After missing several important meetings and repeatedly interacting with clients and coworkers with alcohol on his breath, he is finally sentenced to rehab. This is where Burroughs' memoir really picks up. His descriptions of the rehab facility, the seemingly inane activities he endures, and the relationships he develops with fellow patients are priceless. He makes it through rehab only to discover that the difficult struggle to remain sober requires a bit more than he bargained for. He does relapse for a period of time but stays dry as the title of his memoir suggests.
What makes Burroughs' memoir especially poignant is the subplot involving his best friend Pighead, an HIV positive man on the downward spiral. Burroughs loves Pighead, but the combination of his alcoholism and denial eventually lead to the book's very emotional ending.
I can't say enough about this book. It is brutally honest and touching and deals with many issues that many will find difficult to deal with e.g. alcoholism, homosexuality, AIDS. If you liked Running with Scissors, you'll like this more mature memoir better. Highly recommended.
Book Review: Depressingly Funny
Summary: 5 Stars
Augusten Burroughs lead a pretty hopeless and pathetic life during his first memoir, Running with Scissors. He left fans to figure out where was he now and how was he caring on? He answers all our questions in this second memoir highlighting a period of 10 years where drugs, alcohol, and sex dominated his daily life. Everynight he was out at a bar becoming drunk and then going to work in the morning still a little dazed from the night before putting colonge on his toungue to hide the scent of alcohol. His work partners worry about his state and condition and offer Augusten to go to rehab. He accepts thinking of it as a fun experience but what he finds is more than he bargained for. The section of the book where he is in rehab is possibly the funniest moment in either of his two memoirs. The reality and the people there are all real and sadly hilarious in their own pathetic attempts at leading a better life. They use stuffed animals to help them cope with reality and child-like games which are performed everyday like rituals. Finally Augusten leaves and takes a brit along with him as a roommate so they can help eachother on their way to a permanent sober life. Augusten along the way is distracted by a broken gay man with georgeous actor-like body features and stunning good-looks. He remains sober until his life is at the darkest of times where HIV-positive best friend Pighead dies and his only hope at remaining sober moves back to Britain. This is an hilarious and witty look at the harrowing and also funny reality of drug and alcohol addictions. Burroughs moves the story smoothly making mockery of a sad situation forcing you into a smile about the depressing state and chaos that the book revolves around.Book Review: No Running with Scissors
Summary: 3 Stars
I picked up this book because, like many, I was a big fan of Augie's first book-Running with Scissors. His second novel falls far short of his previous work. It may also be the case that his first novel reached such epic levels not because Augie is an incredible writer, but more because his childhood was so bizarre and fascinating in a non-fiction sense. Dry is okay, but I thought it really got kinda boring and redundant in the middle. I think he should have lengthened the beginning and added more of his alcoholic exploits pre-rehab rather than just jumping into the rehab portion so quickly. Then he's out of rehab pretty fast too, which is unfortunate because this was another entertaining part of the book. When he returns to work and begins his life without alcohol is when the book kind of stumbles. It's not like this information wasn't important and necessary, it's just that he meanders on this time period for way too long and you begin to wonder while reading these chapters..."when the hell is this guy gonna relapse so this book gets interesting again?" I know that sounds awful, but it's the truth. And, coincidentally, when he does relapse the book once again gains momentum. In order to keep a book like this interesting you need to flood it with sordid details and events typical of a lifestyle quite atypical for non-alcoholics. Just like Running with Scissors, the key ingredient is the actual events and the details. If Augie's childhood had been normal Scissors would have stunk, and when Dry gets too caught up in Augie's sober work/social life you kind of lose interest because, like work, it just becomes the same old same old.Book Review: 1 Star for Memoir 3 for Fiction Lite
Summary: 1 Stars
I started to suspect something was wrong with this book about 15 pages in. It didn't read like a memoir--the story though entertaining felt really contrived, fake. So I scanned back to the introductory pages and there it was, the Author's Note: "This memoir is based on my experiences over a ten-year period. Names have been changed, characters combined, and events compressed. Certain episodes are imaginative re-creation, and those episodes are not intended to portray actual events."
This book is not a memoir. It's a fictional story strung together from some real life inspiration. In his attempt to entertain and keep this story at a nice clip, Burroughs barely dips below the surface of what kind of emotional issues he's dealing with. We all know about his insane childhood from "running with scissors" which he re-caps, and he mentions his loneliness here and there, but that's about it. There's isn't anything revelatory about any of it, how he's coping with his past emotional trauma but through drinking and his stint in rehab.
He's pretty cheeky all the way through the narrative. But it's lacking in the honesty of a memoir, b/c it's so very obvious he's made up a lot of scenarios in the book. So I don't trust him, I'm skeptical of how much he's exaggerated and stretched even seemingly honest moments because I don't trust him and I don't like feeling duped into some story someone is making up under the auspicious of memoir.
It's fiction lite. It's "Leaving Las Vegas" with some self-deprecating humor, i'll give it 3 stars for that.
Book Review: The end of happy hour
Summary: 5 Stars
"Dry" picks up shortly after author Augusten Burroughs's memoir "Running with Scissors" left off. After escaping the childhood from hell and relocating to New York City, Augusten lands a posh job at an advertising agency where he excels at his craft and earns a six-figure salary. However, despite his professional success, Augusten's personal life is one of loneliness and drunken despair. He stays out drinking until the wee hours of the morning, and his alcoholism eventually begins affecting his performance at work. Augusten's coworkers finally intervene and force him to admit himself into a gay rehabilitation center. "Dry" chronicles Augusten's experience in rehab and his struggle to remain sober once he returns to the outside world. This memoir also chronicles Augusten's challenging relationships with various friends and lovers (including a sexy, rich crack addict), and Augusten discovers additional weaknesses and fears that he has yet to come to terms with.
I love Augusten's blunt honesty and sarcastic sense of humor. His story isn't a happy one by any stretch of the imagination, but he always manages to find dry humor in just about everything and isn't afraid to make fun of himself. (I love his crazy rehab stories most of all. The bit with the "Monkey Wonkey" song is hilarious! However, isn't the rule supposed to be that "what happens in rehab stays in rehab?" I guess not, or at least not in this case. Ha!) However, all jokes aside, "Dry" is also a very poignant story about alcoholism, friendship, and love. I recommend this book to everyone.