Review #4: Memoir

Burroughs, Augusten.
Running with Scissors, a memoir.
New York: Picador, 2002.

Augusten Burroughs is nine years old when he realizes his perfect mother might be a little crazy. Augusten is twelve when he knows she's crazy. He is thirteen when she abandons him with a family that is even more crazy than she is. How could anyone possibly turn out to be a well-adjusted adult in a world like his?

Justification for Nomination:

This book will make you laugh til' you cry and then cry til' you laugh. Augusten Burroughs has recorded his memories with vivid distinction and almost morbid humor. Both teens and adults will find comfort in not having lived his life, and inspiration in his remarkable ability to overcome it all. Burroughs starts his memoir out at the age of nine, recalling very specific memories and at the same time showing us in summation all of the social and media influences that are shaping his development. Later, around the age of twelve, Augusten is abandoned my his mother and asked to live with her psychologist. It is with the Finches that Augusten begins to realize his mother is not the perfect woman he once thought her to be, and begins to connect with the other children in the house, shifting his developmental influences from his parents to his peers. Throughout the next several years, Augusten tries to rationalize his issues with abandonment, homosexuality, psychosis, and gravitation toward anyting exotic.

Although Burroughs accurately identifies his experiences within the spectrum of adolescent development, he does not leave us in want of entertainment. In addition to dealing with the universal root issues of being a teen, he must also adjust to a home and family that frequently steps outside the boundaries of "sanity." There is a room in the house called the Masturbatorium. They eat dog food just for fun. There is an "obsessive compulsive neurotic" woman who has locked herself in a room upstairs. They based their daily decisions on "bible dips" and "psychic" readings of human excrement carefully placed on the backyard picnic table to dry. Burroughs exquisitely interweaves his wit and humor with his deep confusion and feelings of teenage angst.

The narrative quality and readability is lively and well-paced. Burroughs incorporates a good deal of slang and pop culture, but also surprises his reader with clever vocabulary. The Finch children have a tendency to throw around psychological terms with dramatic flair, and Augusten tries his hand at becoming a writer.

The book ends when Augusten is seventeen, on his own and wondering if he would survive in New York City. Although he hasn't graduated high school or quite figured life out yet, he leaves his reader with a feeling of joyful hope. Despite the obscurity of his upbringing, Augusten still believes in himself; and if he can survive that life and still be fairly well-adjusted, then there is hope for anyone.

Genre: Memoir, Realistic/Edgy/Problem Novel