Book Club: April - Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

[abbey]

Discuss the book here!

Rules:
You don't have to be finished reading the book to comment on it.
Make sure to tag and label your spoilers.
Say what chapter you're talking about even if you don't have spoilers in your post.
CONTRIBUTE. If you just post something like "I'm liking the book so far" and that's all, you're going to get a Time Out. Either comment on something you think should be discussed, or talk about what someone else has said.
All other forum rules apply. Read them if you haven't.

And that's it!

[ToastmasterAlpha]

Hey wow I was just talking about this book with a friend of mine at school today. I'll have to steal it from her and get reading, since by the time I finished Slaughterhouse-Five last month, the thread had already reached philosophical levels reminiscent of my painful AP English class.

[NVM]

I was going to skip this month(like it seems other people are doing) because I couldn't find it anywhere and it didn't seem to warrant a buy(Slaughterhouse-Five defiantly did though). But I saw this girl in school reading it and I decided that I might as well read it. I'm not very far yet but,

Chapter 1

Seems pretty good so far, and pretty well written for a memoir. The descriptions are pretty vivid but it's good overall.

[NVM]

Chapter 2:

I had no idea this was about some gay kid. I'm thinking about saying "Fuck this".
I'm not even homophobic, but screw this.

[Matt]

You changed your mind when you found out he was gay. Yep, not homophobic at all.

[NVM]

You changed your mind when you found out he was gay. Yep, not homophobic at all.

Well I guess it's just a wee little bit homophobic. Then I noticed that it clearly says it in the description. Not so much that he's gay, but to the extent that it goes into detail.

[stupidpuppet]

Of course it goes into detail about him being gay. In case you hadn't noticed, it goes into detail about a lot of other things as well. Maybe the reason people are "just a wee bit" homophobic is because they never really have taken the time to get to know someone who IS gay, in real life or in this case in print. Sad, especially in this case because you'd be missing a really great (if not somewhat unusual) book.

All that being said... I read this book quite awhile back, and the thing that stood out the most was that his truth is so much stranger than fiction. I have no reason to doubt the author, it's his life, but it was hard to wrap my brain around his new "family." The masturbratorium, mom eating kibble, impromptu skylights in the kitchen, and the living conditions in the house in general... Augusten had quite the childhood, and while it's easy to laugh at the absurdness of it all, you have to feel a little sorry for the kid growing up with zero stability. I think that's what makes it such an interesting book, but at the same time difficult to relate to for someone who had a "normal" childhood.

To sum it up, great book. If you like it, might I suggest Sellevision by Augusten as well. I beleive it's his only fiction novel, and it centers around a home shopping network. Check out his other books as well, and you won't be disappointed.

[History]

NVM, in the book review I'm pretty sure that it explicitly states that he is gay

Spoiler: Chapter 3 or 4 "Imagine My Shock

I cannot get over the filthiness of the house. The cockroaches in the kitchen make my skin crawl. I find it very disturbing, being a messy person myself, I could never ever live in that kind of grime. I have been to friends houses before that were pretty bad, and refused to crash on their couch because of it (if I wasn't too drunk to not care). I don't know how this guy did it, I wouldn't be able to sleep at all, without some heavy sedatives.
I can't help but wondering to what extent he is exaggerating, if at all. I am not saying that I don't believe it, but in the name of creative writing I'm sure some of it has to be embellishment.

[oYo]

Chapters 3 and 4

History, I agree. It sounds AWFUL. But I think it's some great writing by Burroughs. His description seems almost surreal in its filth, but you definitely get a mental image of what it would have been like to spend time in that house. Some of the things described (like the child crapping under the piano) made me feel ill as I read them. However, it's definitely got my attention and I am interested to continue reading and discover more about this crazy lifestyle, and how on earth this guy got his medical license!

[megynn]

Chapters 5 and 6, maybe? 200 pages into book.

It's hard to tell which chapters I've read since they aren't numbered. I'm about 2/3 of the way finished, and I'm just astonished at the things this kid has gone through. Dr. Finch seems to be slipping more and more into insanity as the chapters progress. The whole part about fishing the poop out of the toilet to dry outside on the picnic table was enough to make me put the book down.

It seems difficult to come up with things to discuss with this book because it's so shocking. There doesn't seem to be any symbolism, but a very strong case of the crazies for almost every character. The oldest sister (Kate?) is the only normal character so far.

History & oYo, I too have been wondering if there might be a bit of embellishment. It brings to mind A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It seems just too off the wall to be completely true.

[oYo]

Whole book

I would love to meet this family. I want to know what they look like.

I also have no idea how Augusten ended up being well adjusted enough to write a book. You'd think this would be the sort of stuff that would scar a child so badly that he would never be a fully functioning adult. Same with Natalie. I did think it was sweet that both of them kind of realised their dreams though.

[Nexus]

Whole book

I would love to meet this family. I want to know what they look like.

I also have no idea how Augusten ended up being well adjusted enough to write a book. You'd think this would be the sort of stuff that would scar a child so badly that he would never be a fully functioning adult. Same with Natalie. I did think it was sweet that both of them kind of realised their dreams though.

Indeed, quite an event dinner with the Burroughs/Finch family would be.

Well adjusted author he is not, how many authors are well adjusted? And are any of us truly well adjusted adults?

As for the book, it was good, not great. I've never been one for Autobiographies or Biographies, however I did enjoy this book. Burroughs style easily creates vivid imageries that hold you captive in his crazy world.

Thanks guys, I would never have read this book otherwise. I'm keen to see the film now.

[tunacake]

11 replies for the whole month. I hope Bus Driver is more successful.

[Idioteque]

After reading this book I seriously doubted it was real Not only is his life just so over the top absurd, but it seems to be written in a style I have not seen used to in memoirs. Reads almost like a fiction novel.

[History]

I agree with you Idioteque, but I feel like some of it has to be true. My main problem the entire time was separating the truth from the over-embellishment. It seems too fantastic to be entirely made up. I wikipedia'd the book, and apparently the "real" Finch family sued him for making things, and defamation of character, etc. Burroughs denied this and didn't change anything in the book, except some word choice in the acknowledgements. If the story had taken place in the present, I wouldn't believe a word of it, but since it was a couple decades ago, I'm not sure what to think.