Running with Scissors: A Memoir

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Synopsis
In this no-holds-barred memoir, the author recounts an adolescence among adults who are both self-absorbed and wildly eccentric, and peers who live almost entirely without limits. When Augusten is twelve his mother, a poet, enters psychiatric treatment with Dr. Finch. When she decides she can no longer handle her son she makes Dr. Finch his legal guardian, and Augusten moves into the eccentric, laissez-faire Finch household. Finch, who looks like Santa Claus and announces his arrival by releasing helium balloons, believes that a person becomes independent at age thirteen. In his care Augusten is free to experiment with smoking, alcohol, drugs, and sex. Burroughs' account raises questions about the boundaries between eccentricity and pathology, between freedom and abuse.
Copyright:
2002

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
338 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780312283704
Publisher:
N/A
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Augusten Burroughs
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Social Studies
Submitted By:
Deborah Kent Stein
Proofread By:
BookLady
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

4 out of 5

By on

It was a very interesting book. Parts of it made you really sympathize with this guy; and parts made you wonder "did this really happen"? Overall, the book was an easy and enjoyable read. Some of these episodes are hysterical, too. But the character, for all of his flaws, is a typical teenager throughout-the reader really loves him and appreciates the strong voice that resonantes throughout.