Running With Scissors
(Augusten Burroughs)
Augusten Burroughs is a pseudonym of a writer whose childhood in
western Massachusetts, in the 1970?s, was made unpleasant by his
parents? divorce. His father breaks severs all contact and his neurotic
mother assigns the custody over him to her psychiatrist, a dictatorial
patriarch of a crazy family living in an old wooden house.When
his parents separate, Augusten wishes that his life would be made of
the fabric-softener, tuna-salad-on-white, and PTA meetings quality. He
likens the psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, to Santa Claus who keeps a secret
waiting room called Masturbatorium, who sold his daughter to a
41-year-old killer who beats her. The memoir?s narrative
appears transparent, and behind it, the author sometimes can be
perceived as barely likeable, indifferent and irresponsible, almost
wishing for some authoritative figure to have stopped him in the middle
of an audacious tantrum. However, his life happens, and is so
unquestionably different from his audience that a reader is left to
shake his head in amazement.The book is built of carefully
and artfully woven lattice. With each weave, the writer clarifies one
more persona while making readers laugh. Sometimes this comedy through
tears narrative, with situations bordering on bizarre and absurd makes
the book seem both implausible and interesting. The book?s
odd humor is a well-polished art, and it is maintained throughout the
book, which is quite an achievement. At times, the absurdity of the
narrator?s inner world, the well-portrayed contrast between the poverty
and the dreams he dares to dream, is exhausting s well as
refreshing. Augusten
Burroughs?s narration is simplistic, sentence structure is
straightforward and unpretentious, which is likely to garner favor with
reader who prefer their action linear and what-you-see-is-what-you-get.
The ending may leave readers hanging, as if in the middle of climax,
but this may mean that Running With Scissors is a good book.
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