| Title | : | Dry |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0312423799 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780312423797 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 293 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2003 |
| Awards | : | Randy Shilts Award (2004) |
Dry Reviews
-
Ever wonder why John Elder Robison (Look me in the Eye) snapped out of his Asperger's as a young adult? Simple.
Booze.
It ran in the family: in all its other members.
It was like ice water on his childishness.
John's half-brother Augusten wrote this book about those old days. Now you know why the name of that sixties song is Days of Wine and Roses...
Cause all Augusten saw (for it ran in the family) were the Roses in the drink, leading him ever on and on...
Until he hit Rock Bottom.
And became Dry by choice.
Alcohol's hook is the Roses. But life's not all fun 'n games.
***
My friend Larry (Proud Father-Confessor of various Friends of Bill W) was defiantly Dry (at least I, not being one of those AA Friends, never heard otherwise):
To the extent that he had lost the unforced joie de vivre of his inner child. His tough coming of age had spawned inner fury.
Enter his green new boss: me. I had 'saved' my inner child at my own violent coming of age: So it now ran roughshod over my life, wreaking rack and ruin: as half a bipolar persona. My dark side I suppressed.
So we were immediately at loggerheads. You see, we were each other's Jungian Shadows: each was the self the other publicly suppressed. At great cost, I might add.
The result? We resolutely forced ourselves to live in our daylight selves.
And while I became more conflicted, strangling my dark side, Larry became more stridently raunchy and belligerent. He reminded me of McMurphy in Cuckoo's Nest.
When we parted at retirement, we were still uneasy buddies, though.
***
Three years ago Larry called me again. He was dying of mouth cancer (he was a lifetime smoker). But there was a different, more human timbre in his voice. It was a sense of peace.
Small wonder, really: he had performed a lifetime of service for Bill W.
He was an eminence grise for so many engineers who had needed his help at work.
He was a lifetime lover of his dear wife and provider for his two kids.
He was a beautiful guy.
And now - at last - his inner child was calling him Home.
***
Yes, and Augusten Burroughs went Dry too.
So by losing he Won.
You know, this memoir is to Die For, it's so good.
And so sadly hilarious and so Downright Brave.
And so Unabashedly, Deucedly Human.
Like my friend Larry at the end.
*****
FIVE HUGE STARS, friends (Count 'em)!
It's so good, and you'll love it. -
4.5 stars
Augusten Burroughs
Augusten Burroughs is an American writer who's perhaps best known for his memoir "Running With Scissors", which documents his strange, abusive childhood. In brief, Augusten's parents divorced when he was young, and his unstable mother gave him to her Massachusetts psychiatrist, Dr. Finch. Augusten lived with crazy people in the doctor's filthy home, never went to school, and became the obsession of a pedophile that lived in a barn behind the house. The book was adapted into a 2006 movie.
Augusten Burrough's first memoir, "Running With Scissors"
Movie poster from the film "Running With Scissors"
"Dry" picks up a decade or so after "Running With Scissors", when Burroughs is a successful twentysomething copywriter in New York City, pulling down a six-figure salary. Burroughs is a talented advertising man but his personal life is a mess. He can't handle responsibility, doesn't pay his bills until they go into collection, and (despite being well off) sometimes loses his phone service and utilities. Burroughs is also a serious drunk who's frequently late to work, and often shows up stinking of alcohol.
After Burroughs misses an important meeting with a client his boss gives him an ultimatum: Go to rehab or get fired. Burroughs decides on rehab, and confides the news to his two closest friends: Jim - an undertaker and drinking buddy who's shocked at the news; and Pigface - a banker and former lover who's glad to hear it.
This kind of story can be grim but Burroughs tells his tale with humor.....and affection for the collection of misfits he meets along the way. 😎🧡
Burroughs (who's gay) chooses to go to rehab at the Pride Institute in Minnesota - a clinic that specializes in treating addiction in the LGBTQ community. Burroughs pictures the facility as resembling an Ian Schrager boutique hotel - with gourmet food, a pool, a spa, etc. Thus the author is brought up short when he arrives and sees a plain setting that assigns three patients to a room and serves fish cakes for lunch.
Therapy at the facility is a regimented affair, with constant meetings: group meetings, individual meetings, affirmation meetings, and so on - all directed at 'sharing.'
During Burroughs first group meeting he hears addicts talk about the harmful results of their drinking: car accidents; facial lacerations; and - worst of all - a paralyzed mother. One of Burroughs' roommates, a psychiatrist (who Burroughs thinks of as Dr. Valium), later admits that he came to the point of stealing ALL his patients' Valium, and replacing it with aspirin. Dr. Valium is now in danger of losing his medical license....and frets that all his expensive education will go to waste.
Burroughs thinks: "I'm DEFINITELY in the wrong place. This is for hard-core alcoholics; rock-bottom, ruined-their-lives alcoholics. I'm an advertising alcoholic, an eccentric mess."
It takes some time for Burroughs to admit he really DOES belong in rehab, that he's had unrelenting substance abuse problems since childhood.....when he started taking pills and drinking wine at Dr. Finch's house. The feeling is reinforced when Burroughs thinks about the current condition of his New York apartment, where "300 empty Dewar's bottles occupy all the floor space not already occupied by a bed or chair." Previously, when Burroughs used to drink beer, he once collected 1,452 beer bottles.
Burroughs does his obligatory 30 days in rehab, which - he makes clear - is the easy part of 'recovery.' The real work begins afterwards, when there's no built-in professional support system and the addict is once again exposed to all the old temptations. In Burroughs' case, this includes friends like Jim the undertaker, who parties hard every night.
Once he's out of rehab - and back in New York - Burroughs is supposed to go to group meetings AND individual meetings for six months, and to attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings EVERY SINGLE DAY for the rest of his life. Of course this is easier said than done, and Augusten immediately begins to make mistakes.
First Augusten develops a relationship with a fellow group therapy patient - a stunningly handsome South Carolinian named Foster - who has a great body, black hair, and blue eyes. Any romantic relationship directly after rehab is discouraged, and hooking up with a fellow addict is verboten - but Augusten can't help himself. On top of that, Augusten takes in a roommate he met at the Pride Institute - an intelligent, British music editor called Hayden, who's addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. Thus, instead of avoiding addicts, Burroughs gets embedded with them.
Worse yet, Pighead - who's the (unacknowledged) love of Augusten's life - tests positive for the HIV virus. Burroughs starts to feel depressed and realizes he misses alcohol, the loss of which "is like dealing with a death in the family."
Burroughs also faces issues at work, where a hostile colleague, Rick, plots to get him drinking again; a 'Nazi-like' German client insists on an ill-advised advertising campaign; and his female work partner, Greer, is resentful of his (supposed) newfound insights about life.
The ensuing drama with Foster, Hayden, Rick, Greer, and the advertising firm - and most especially Pighead's illness - upend Augusten's life. After a prolonged 'hiccupping' illness, Pighead is in a hospital bed hooked up to machines, and Augusten helps to care for him, change his diapers, keep him company, and so on. This takes a great toll.
Burroughs struggles, falls, and eventually recovers, but it's a long hard slog that's well worth reading about....for the insights and the laughs (if you can believe it 🙂).
I should mention that Burroughs acknowledges 'fictionalizing' some elements of the story. He says: "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." The fictionalization doesn't bother me because I think most memoirists do it to some extent.
After reading this book I think I understand addiction - and the stranglehold it gets on people - a little better. I'd highly recommend the memoir to anyone interested in the subject.
You can follow my reviews at
https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.... -
Being a fan of Burroughs after reading Running With Scissors, I picked up a copy of this book and was not disappointed. In it he shares how he became a copywriter in advertising, and how his drinking eventually became very out of control. Eventually his work gave him the option of going to rehab or leaving, and he chose rehab for 30 days. The book is written in his usual funny/sarcastic way, and there is much to think upon between the covers here. It gets quite gritty and real in its look into alcoholism, drug use and other hard subjects and I feel it was well written.
First published on my WordPress blog:
https://wordpress.com/post/bookblog20... -
"Dry." This book I read the next day... couldn't put it down.
The memoir follows Augusten in his success as a mid-20's creative advertiser, which seems like the most appropriate job between Burrough's self-confessed childhood ideal jobs of hairdresser & writer (in "Running w/ Scissors").
This one has a different flavor altogether, kind of like the Truffaut series of Antoine Doinel films. Eccentricity reigned supreme with the bunch of freaks in "Running w/ Scissors". "Dry" finds more misfits in Manhattan. Here, the psychology of Burroughs, his emotions raw & visceral, are on brilliant display. With age, it seems, comes a different mentality altogether... here is testament.
This one has a great, bulky climax: after Burroughs undergoes now-famous rehab... will he relapse? The reader cannot stop reading to find out exactly this.
The central question, and all the near mistakes Augusten makes keeps the suspense going. It is trainwreck drama/memoir!
Burroughs is a great writer, my second favorite Burroughs as a matter of fact. He can give relevance to any bizarre or tragic event unlike mere observers, like ourselves. He is not, it seems, just a spectator, nor is he, despite the fact that he is a rich Manhattanite, mega pretentious. Egads!
Both books are so different that you cannot believe that they occurred to the same individual. Because they did & because this fact means that our OWN lives are unexpectedly complex, sometimes truly symbolic and difficult to get through, it is a book to read. Clearly, it gives some bizarre sense of hope while remaining uber-entertaining. -
This, my second
Augusten Burroughs read, just left me so satiated. His writing oozes charisma, surehandedness — despite the fact that this was only his first memoir, written before Running with Scissors but published second. And having spent weeks with him now, listening to his genial reading voice on my daily commute, I honestly kind of feel like we're bosom buddies at this point.
Inadvertently, I seem to have embarked on a theme of reading addiction memoirs over the past year or so. This genre compellingly lends itself to a dissection of one's most grisly shortcomings and darkest moments of demoralization, which is a motif I can really get behind. Being the addiction-memoir expert that I've now become, I was actually prepared to downgrade Dry a star or two because the beginning really glossed over the horrors of alcohol abuse and withdrawal, and Burroughs' experience of getting sober was just a little too suspiciously pat and enviable for its ease. Thankfully, shit got real by the last third of the book, resulting in an ending that was just sublime and cry-inducing. I hope it really happened just like that.
One of these days I will get back to my real reading. Listening to audiobooks feels like cheating. For the timebeing, I'm going to be happy to forget why I'm in the car and where I'm going (work) every morning as I listen to the next Augusten Burroughs book. -
What do Haruki Murakami (born 1949) and Augusten Burroughs (born 1965) have in common?
Nothing except they both love to drink and they both write stories, novels and memoirs. Everything else about their lives is full of contrasts. Murakami is a Japanese while Burroughs is an American. Murakami interweaves non-human fantasy in his human characters. Burroughs characters are human but they seem to be fantasy. Murakami is straight and very conservative while Burroughs is a flamboyant gay. You know that what you are reading is not true when you read Murakami while when you read the memoirs of Burroughs, you know that they can be true but deceptively true.
But the biggest difference for me is that as you read more and more Murakami books, as you get the same ingredient each time, you’ll get tired of him. Believe me, I’ve read 8 of his works (and have plan of reading the rest but I am taking a rest). My first book of him was Kafka and the Shore and I liked it so much that I read the two other books right away. He started with 4 stars and this last book, a memoir, What We Talk About When We Talk About Running only got 2 stars from me.
On the other hand, it is exactly the opposite with my Burroughs experience. I first read his boyhood memoir Running With Scissors and I gave it a 2-star. This was followed by The Wolf At My Table, about his relationship with his father and You Better Not Cry (2 stars each). But this one, Dry is not hysterical and very subdued. He is still gay and he goes out and makes out with different men, some of them casually, but it talks about more serious and believable matters like serious alcoholism, AIDS and seemingly faithful(translation: more than sex escapades) gay love affairs.
My favorite part is when Burroughs was out in a gay bar and he said to himself: this place is full of naked sad lives. This struck me as poetic and honest. Those gay men in a bar seeking for sex (that hopefully turn into love) are sad people. The music could be bouncy. The men could be good-looking with gorgeous body. They could be rowdy. But in the end, when they go home to their apartments, they can be alone and sad. Gay lives, excuse me if this is demeaning, can be lonelier than straight heterosexual lives.
Burroughs has two affairs here. One of them is Pighead who died of AIDS and the character that made me think that the shrieking gay boy in Running with Scissors is actually a sensitive man who could be lovable and respectable. The other lover is the other alcoholic Forster who is so handsome any gay can go crazy about him. This character brought the human aspect of the gayness of Burroughs. While reading, I told myself that the only difference of him being gay to a straight man is that his lover is another man. All the rest are the same.
Memorable characters that brought out the sensitive logical and probably lovable side of Burroughs. The more you read his works, the more you understand who he is. He could be exaggerating at times but that’s what they call as poetic license. But still, I liked this book. First time that I actually liked Burroughs. So, I expect more from his next book in my tbr pile: Magical Thinking.
Unlike Murakami’s books that you get tired of his style as you read his works one after the other. -
Sharp, candid, and surprisingly poignant...
The fact that I finished this book in one day probably indicates that I enjoyed it. Indeed, the only novels that I recall where I truly laughed my head off were from chick-lits, trivial as that may sound. But, really, Burroughs has managed to be disarmingly droll while being frightfully honest and self-deprecating. I can't attest if that's from being gay, the result of coming from a dysfunctional family, or perhaps from working in advertising (in New York, no less).
What made this story interesting for me was the way he narrated his excruciating battle with alcoholism, that even someone who doesn't suffer from that ailment can actually empathize with him. Definitely he refrained from being too long-winded about it, avoiding the pitfall of letting his story become boring or monotonous--his cracks about himself, his fellow addicts, down to the closet case that is his boss, openly drew chuckles from me. There was enough balance of falling into bouts of introspection as well as allowing the story to progress via the lively dialogues with the equally captivating secondary characters--the tragedy that is Pighead, the complexity and apparent exceptionality that is Foster, and the oddity namely Greer, among others. A guilty enjoyment for me as well was the encounter with the German advertising client who unwittingly provokes the imagination of Augusten to spout Nazi stereotypes.
Unexpected, though, was the striking insight into repressed emotions and the ability of a person to love another despite seemingly insurmountable flaws. Augusten's relationships perfectly capture what I think is a quintessentially urban tendency of people nowadays to tirelessly compensate for what they think they are missing in life. In a way, this novel shows how cheerless that condition is, and, at the same time, be unafraid of what is, after all, a price for being human.
Augusten's narration of what his childhood was, the blatant abandonment he experienced from his parents, the perversion done to him as a teenager, makes the reader in turns awed and morbidly fascinated with the man that he has become. There were times our protagonist was readily aware of his shortcomings--from keeping up with the AA meetings to juggling his relationships with Pighead and Foster--and if those weren't uncomfortable enough, the reader is also made cognizant of his glaring denials about how he was living his life, pre- and post-rehab.
I highly recommend this novel. Whether one is seeking an understanding of alcoholism, or simply in want of a refreshing, entertaining read--granted it's peeking into the "memoirs" of a self-confessed mess--this story will take you from laughs to sadness, hope to sorrow. (and back again). Without a doubt, this work proves that Burroughs is an Original. -
LOVED IT!
-
I got to be Augusten Burrough's escort when he spoke at the Texas Book Festival a few years ago, and he was very soft spoken, low key and ordinary looking. He spoke to a very large, adoring crowd in the senate chambers, and then signed books for quite a long time to an equally adoring snaking line of fans. He was very sweet and humble. He also bolted out of there as quickly as he could, and asked to be taken directly to his hotel, although my friend Kelly and I managed to drive him around Austin a little showing him things. He's sober now, bummer, so we couldn't take him out and get him drunk.
He game me his badge to sell on ebay but I think I stuck it in a box somewhere.
Anyway, this book is amazing, it's almost too confessional; you feel like you can practically feel his pain as he hits rock bottom and tries to claw his way out of addiction. Not nearly as funny as Running with Scissors, but it shouldn't because it's him as an adult, realizing the pain and abuse of his childhood, and the excruciating results of his bad choices and bad behavior. It's an extraordinarily compelling book. I gave it too a young, gay friend of mine who had never heard of him, amazingly enough, and he walked into work after finishing it, just speechless with emotion. It's almost too much, and you can understand why his fans feel like they really know him after reading it.
Intense is all I can say. -
This book is funny. It's funny and it's true and it's real.
I laugh and crack up about what Burroughs is saying, even though he is a mean funny. I say "a mean funny" because he really rips into other people and judges them. Of course, he does the same thing to himself, but I can't help feeling a little guilty about enjoying this book so much. Sometimes he'll be saying something and I'll be laughing and then I'll think, "Should I really be laughing at this?"
Believe me, it's nothing too offensive or disgusting, or I would put the book down. But it is something I notice. Burroughs will always be, for me, the man who I love reading his funny observations but who I'd never want to be friends with in real life.
Burroughs is shallow and vain and foul-mouthed. But he knows that about himself. And because he knows that about himself, he can write very funny books about it.
This book is about Burroughs being a drunk, and his long path to sobriety. It was touching, hilarious, painful and real. I enjoyed following Burroughs on his journey from being forced into rehab, to AA, to flirting with other addicts. Will he get sober? Will he relapse? I was genuinely worried about him at some points, yelling at my book "Don't do it, Augusten!" But of course he can't hear me and he's already made the decision, anyway. And written about it for my amusement and reading pleasure.
I like how at first, Burroughs thinks he's too cool for school. This rehab is lame! I won't go to AA because it is so dweeby! But slowly he starts to realize how much he needs help (a new, hot guy at AA doesn't hurt, either).
The subplot is him watching his good friend and ex-lover die of AIDS. This is very sad and poignant, even with Burroughs's joking and quips.
Burroughs really lets you get into his head - his mixed feelings about the men in his life, his horrific memories of his abusive past, and his need - his love - for alcohol. This book, while humorous, also takes the reader to the very pits of addiction, and brings the filth of having an addiction squatting in your brain into the light. It's not pretty, but it's necessary and eye-opening.
A very deep and funny portrait of a recovering addict.
P.S. He does reference the pedophilia he experienced as a kid growing up. If this bothers you, either don't read the book or skip every section that's in italics.
P.P.S. If you are an addict of any kind and you do not feel like you have a good grip on your sobriety yet, I am warning you that this book can be triggering. Very triggering. So best save it for your one-year-sober anniversary and not the white-knuckling part. -
What more can be said about Augusten Burroughs? He is an amusing mess!
If half of the information in his memoirs is true, I will give him five stars for his survival skills. If his memoirs are later discovered to be false,I will give him five stars for creativity and fantastic story telling.I can't put this book down.
I haven't read their books, but it seems that his mother and brother are capitalizing on family dysfunction as well. They all make me feel extremely boring and sane. -
"The fact is I'm not like other people, I'm like other alcoholics."
This was an audio reread of a book I read in print in 2008. This has long been one of my favorite memoirs and will remain so.
Augusten is a decent narrator except, when speaking as Foster, he sounds more like Forrest Gump than just a guy with a southern accent. Being from the south myself, that threw me off a little. -
By far my favorite Burroughs' novel. This one isn't for the weak of heart, its not the same light feel as some of his other books. This book digs deep and leaves you feeling his hopelessness. Dry is all at once inspirational, depressing, exciting, and frustrating. Immediately after reading his honest and darkly beautiful memoir it immediately made it on my favorite books list.
Burrough's has become a favorite of mine for his seemingly effortless managment of language. He is honest, funny and accessible. The kind of guy you want so desperately to have programed into your cell phone. -
Continuing the memoir trilogy, Augusten Burroughs takes the reader through his struggles with addiction as a young man. Living in New York City, Burroughs is busy with an advertising firm, making six-figures, and having little to rein him in. He recounts how his drinking got in the way of his job, where he would turn up randomly reeking of alcohol. After embarrassing himself and the firm on numerous occasions, Burroughs is offered a choice; go into rehabilitation or lose the job. Struggling to come to terms with his drinking, Burroughs choose rehab, though stands firm that he does not need it. He departs for a facility in Minnesota, where he encounters a number of other addicts as various points in their sobriety journey. In the early stages, Burroughs feels that he can overcome his drinking by choice, the "if I want it, I will do it" attitude. He pushes back against the services offered and program presented, finding them silly and somewhat overbearing. However, he has an epiphany while in treatment and as his thirty days come to an end, he develops a new-found respect for sobriety and its fragility. The true test transpires when he's released, sent back to New York City armed with a small dose of program and the requirement to attend an outpatient facility for six months. Though not mandatory, Alcoholics Anonymous is also recommended, a lifelong support that could only help him stabilise in the outside world. As the memoir continues, Burroughs explores life back in New York, a special someone he meets in his outpatient group, and a lingering connection from his rehab days that tries not only to vie for his attention, but to keep him from falling off the deep end. Highly humerous throughout with strong passages of heartfelt angst, Burroughs serves up a stellar second volume to his memoirs as he forces the reader to think and feel in ways they may not have thought possible.
With a better understanding of both his writing style and approach to the memoir mechanism, Burroughs' second instalment had me captivated from the outset. His use of concrete examples in the narrative combined with flashbacks offers the reader a wonderful combination of fresh material and poignant events that shape the man he became. Burroughs presents a close to seamless story of his struggles and the depths to which he sunk before pulling himself out, only to come crashing back to earth in a moment of weakness. He does offer extensive thanks to those who played a role in his recovery, but does not let the battle facing him go without crediting his own willpower. That he slipped up in numerous ways is not lost on the attentive reader, but this goes more to present Burroughs as a fallible man, rather than portraying an individual who can rise above the fray. Shocking in its honesty and clear in the pathway on which this journey developed, Burroughs provides the reader with insight and hope for a man who came close to losing it all.
Again, a special thank you to Rae Eddy, who recommended the Augusten Burroughs memoirs. She has been a great help as I realise my need to deal with some of the blurry portions of my past to develop stronger and more solid bonds to the present, as I peer into what the future has in store.
Kudos, Mr. Burroughs for this wonderfully raw piece of work. I am curious to see how you tie things off in the final volume of this entertaining memoir.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/ -
"You were spectacular," Hayden tells me afterwards.
"How so?"
"You were so honest and substantive. Just no bullshit," he says, slapping me on the back.
"Really? I seemed normal?" I ask.
"Of course. You were great."
"What a relief. I had no idea what I was saying. I was actually thinking about how my chest hair is growing back after having shaved it all off."
Hayden turns sharply, "What?"
"Well, I thought maybe of bleaching it for the summer. But then I thought how awful it would be to have roots. Chest hair roots. That would be really humiliating. The blond chest hair might look good and natural like I go to the Hamptons on the weekends. but as soon as the roots started to appear, it would be like, 'Oh, that's very sad, he's obviously looking for something and just not finding it.'"
Hayden stares at me with mock horror. Or maybe it's real horror. "You absolutely terrify me. The depth of your shallowness is staggering."
Really, it [the shallowness] was staggering at times. But at least Burroughs wrote about it in an honest, hilarious way. A very fun, open, quick read. Sad too. I liked this more than Running with Scissors. -
La historia de un alcohólico que recae en sus intentos de dejar la bebida, tenia pinta de trágica y aburrida. Los buenos comentarios sobre el libro me hicieron ignorar esa impresión y el resultado fue una lectura amena. El drama toma otro matiz de la mano de Augusten, con un humor a veces negro y siempre brillante, nos relata el proceso: la difícil tarea de reconocerse alcohólico, con sus múltiples justificaciones e intentos de minimizar la situación; el descubrimiento gradual de que la bebida no es realmente el problema, cual punta de iceberg, es solo lo visible que esconde el caos; y las cursilerías, insoportables pero necesarias, que abundan en los grupos de Alcohólicos anónimos; todo agravado por el frívolo mundo de la publicidad. El tratarse de memorias lo hace más interesante, sabemos que nos habla desde lo testimonial y no desde la mera ficción. Adentrase en las vivencias y reflexiones de un alcohólico resulta fascinante, de hecho, debería ser lectura obligada para toda persona que necesite superar adicciones.
-
(Mid March).....Dear Book Cover,
I love you and I'm sorry it had to end this way. Remember when we first met? Remember how I tried to overlook you again and again but finally I broke down and pulled you off the shelf and you asked me to touch you, so I did. I spread my fingers and placed my palm flat across you. And then remember how I used my fingers to push up the palm and drug just my finger tips from the top to the bottom? and of course, the inevitable - the quick pull to the cheeck. The glances from side to side to make sure no one in the bookstore was looking and then, the eyes-closed-full-taking-in of your smooth matteness. Those were good times, I wont deny it - but it's over now.
Dear inside of book,
lets not kid ourselves, it was only a physical attraction and in the end that is never enough.
*I found my brothers real life drug rehab stories to be more compelling (sarah, remember the kid that tried to prove his "recovery" by barking like a dog?)
*the was OK, whatever but I kept getting irritated with Burroughs for over explaining things. i.e. "He's a sex addict, I remember. And suddently, he ceases being a person and takes on the appearance of an anonymous roadside restroom stall." here enters one of the many overstatements that irritated the hell out of me, "The kind used by passing truckers for quick sex with people like Kavi."
Well no shit? was Burroughs afraid if he didnt' tell us what "kind" of stall it was, we might think it was a goat stall (the kind used to house goats)?
After three "no shits"! in a 2 page span - I gave up on the book.
(beginning March).... cool. i wanna be an alcoholic too! -
“I'm lonely. And I'm lonely in some horribly deep way and for a flash of an instant, I can see just how lonely, and how deep this feeling runs. And it scares the shit out of me to be this lonely because it seems catastrophic.”
Wow, I loved this book. Intense, and beautifully written. I was completely caught up in Augusten’s character arc (can we call it that in a memoir?). His internal dialogue throughout this story is profound - and at some points hidden behind humor. I both laughed and cried - Would absolutely recommend. -
Running with Scissors takes a group of messed-up characters and portrays them (mostly) for laughs. Dry takes a group of messed-up characters and shows us how tragic they are. It's deadly serious this time.
Most moving is the way Augusten portrays himself. He's merciless in showing us what he's become, the walls he's put up, the denial he's in. Tough to read and easy to read all at once. Fundamental truths, and possibly his crowning achievement. -
I was immediately smitten with Augusten's playfully sardonic story telling.
Even when he is being a horrible person, in thought or deed, I am still charmed by his wry self awareness.
His roller coaster of emotional reactions to recovery was captivating to me. The supporting cast of his life is well drawn. Augusten's talent as an ad man serves him quite well as an author.
I doubt I would have picked this up if not for book club. Another win for compulsory reading assignments! -
This is the second memoir by Augusten Burroughs, which details his life in his 20s, living in New York City, working as an advertising executive, making tons of money, and slowly killing himself each day by drinking more than seems humanly possible. After years of alcoholism, Augusten checks himself into an in-patient rehab center and begins a life he's never really known...sober.
This man is a great writer! His detailed descriptions of people, places and feelings are so well-written. I was entranced by his story immediately. This was a much easier read for me compared to "Running with Scissors." They were both well-written but this one, at least, was about him as an adult making his own decisions. The most profound part of the book, for me, was the description of Pighead on his deathbed, as it was so painfully similar to my brother's death. The description of his illness was as if I was reading my own journal during the time of Jim's illness. I feel as if I know Auguesten and I truly wish him a wonderful life.
Grade: A -
Why are we all so obsessed with the alcoholic memoir? I read this quick read for book group in under three hours - which was about all the time it deserved. The literary tradition of great intoxicated writers may fascinate those who never studied Beatnik literature or Hemingway in school. But to satisfy the niche of urban hipster- intellectuals who are looking for a step above Lindsay Lohan's faux-glam adventures in US Weekly, this book was just an edited down version of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, which I read on spring break at Canyon Ranch while detoxing from my own underage escapades.
Although Frey was too audacious (and unethical, according to Oprah in 2006 and the recent issue of Vanity Fair...I cannot believe we're still talking about it) in his attempts to be a great memoirist through booz and bold moves, we all know that truth really can be stranger than fiction(whether 100% real or partially embellished); and those who live to tell about it in a well-crafted way deserve credit. The one rule of good writing I learned in school, however, is: keep talk about digestion, bodily fluids, or any other vulgarities people don't want to read about to a minimum. This is drugstore prose.
If we reduce Burrough's memoir to the level of a "quickie" that's as cheaply satisfying as a Danielle Steel novel, then his account of addiction, if well-documented, should read with as much vim and vigor as if we were chain-smoking it. But it doesn't. Subtract all the bloated summary of ingesting, vomiting, or verbal headache, and all we get is flat character development, flat dialogue, and a brief account of rehab/institutionalization that does not even begin to compare with the world described to us in "Girl, Interruped" or "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
This book's literary mediocrity is as cut and dry as a glass of Two Buck Chuck marked up to $14 - which is what I paid for this paperback.
The only part of the memoir that was interesting was the advertising part. How on earth did he survive a meeting with clients at the Met while openly intoxicated? Overcome the real challenge of returning from rehab to a boss who sent him away and then expects him to gush full creative brilliance on a German beer account, when alcohol had seemingly been the tour-de-force behind his sarcastic excess in the first place? Perhaps he blames corporate BS as the cause of his deterioration...but it's probably his messed up parenting - which is clearly the more interesting part of his troubled life, as documented in Running With Scissors. ("Interesting" because it was made into a movie - if we're talking commercial success.)
In the conclusion of Dry, his relationships fizzle, his significant other dies, and we are left with grotesque images of crack-cocaine and death that made me question why I was even bothering to finish this sophomoric and soporific "been there" "done that" Truth or Dare sharing. I felt like I'd forced myself to finish something that was all suds with little sustenance. Or stayed up for a party that was totally not worth it.
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Thank goodness the author acknowledged the criminal behavior of those who were supposed to be responsible adults, but who placed him in situations that no child or even young adult should have faced. In other words, he doesn't simply laugh off his unorthodox upbringing, he acknowledges the fact that the responsible adults got it wrong. Still, he doesn't wallow in it, and regardless of the back story, this is a tale of addiction, recovery and lots of what happens in between. Dry takes a slightly novel approach in that it doesn't spent lots of time in the spiral into the abyss. Instead you spend lots of time in the recovery process. For those who have experienced this process, early success is an ominous sign, and this is no exception. This was a funny, real, and an authentic story.
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Review to come.
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This is a difficult, but worthwhile read. I admired the author's ability to share so openly about his addiction. Most of the time I didn't like him, yet I couldn't put the book down.
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3.5 stars - It was really good.
Great insight into the mind of an addict and the writing has me wanting to pick up his other memoirs; really enjoy his narrative style. Not recommended however for those with delicate sensibilities.
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Favorite Quote: When you have your health, you have everything.
First Sentence: Sometimes when you work in advertising, you'll get a product that is really garbage, and you have to make it seem fantastic, something that is essential to the continued quality of life. -
Brutally honest. Makes you want to close your eyes and run from the room - but you keep reading.
