You may have heard of Augusten Burroughs since his memoir Running with Scissors sold millions of copies and was even made into a Golden Globe nominated film with Gwyneth Paltrow and Alec Baldwin. While Running with Scissors is still my favorite, I have enjoyed all of his other books, including Possible Side Effects, a collection of short stories.
If Augusten Burroughs weren't such an incredibly talented writer, I'm sure he could also make it as a stand-up comedian. He is, however, such an entertaining writer that I don't think he'll ever have to consider a change of career. I have every book he has ever written and even went to hear him speak at a sold-out book-signing. I am, I just realized, a huge fan. I have also realized, through my book review blog, that I tend to enjoy memoirs or biographies slightly more than fiction. I'm not sure when this happened, but I guess it is because human nature is fascinating and it seems like a privilege to get to see into someone's life or get a peek at what they feel and think.
If you also like to read about other people and the way they operate, Possible Side Effects is a good place to start. His life is, to me, just about as interesting and entertaining as a memoir could be. I'm not sure how to describe his tone, exactly. Maybe a mix of sarcasm, wit, and disbelief. He is a storyteller with an impeccable sense of humor.
His stories about his childhood are particularly fun to read since he was an odd child. "What I loved about Wonder Bread was that if you peeled off the crusts and fed them to the dog, you could compress the remaining bread into a dense mass, then roll it in your palm to create a prefect sphere." His tales from working as a copywriter for an ad agency are priceless. "It was a low point in my career when I fund myself as the sole copywriter on the Junior Mints account," he writes. There are also more recent stories, like the account of the less-than-perfect bed and breakfast he visits with his partner, Dennis. "Standing there in the foyer, on the inch-thick maroon carpeting, I stared directly at a human baby girl doll, seated in a high chair. Now maybe I'm just ultrajudgemental, but I really feel that only two groups of people have any business collecting dolls: little girls and grown women who lost all their children in fiery car accidents."
Possible Side Effects covers a lot of territory and I was certainly never bored. His sense of humor is one that I have never experienced before and have never been able to find another author capable of replicating.
www.augusten.com
April 29, 2008 Release of new memoir A Wolf at the Table, which focuses on his father
2 comments:
I wanted to add, I love that you looked up the word Lacuna.. I know that's from Eternal Sunshine and that is another one of my *favorite* movies! I don't know why sad movies/stories are sooo good....
have you seen Vanilla Sky? Another similarly sad story... it's definitely my favorite movie.
I loved Running With Scissors (the movie-not so much.) Thanks for writing the interesting little review of another book by Burroughs. I have not read any of his other stuff, but now I may have to!
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