Running Scared

Running with Scissors – Augusten Burroughs
There are messed up childhoods and then there are the raised-by-wolves-who-eat-their-young type messed up childhoods. This book concerns the latter. Burroughs gives what one hopes is a somewhat exaggerated telling of what must be one of the more bizarre childhoods ever experienced. Honestly it makes David Sedaris seem like he lived with the Cleaver family who relocated to Mayberry. This is not the sort of book you give your mother for Christmas (just a warning), well that’s not fair, it’s not the sort I’d give my mother anyway. There are drugs, abuse, alcohol, pedophilia, neglect, more abuse, more drugs, adolescent sex, some more drugs, and a smattering of abuse – and then there’s the second chapter. Seriously though, it is a rough read despite the fact that it is well written, occasionally funny, often sad and frequently very engaging. So, all in all, it is a mixed bag. A well written hard to read story.

Rating A- or D+ depending on your ability to deal with the content
Related: David Sedaris is all that comes to mind