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A Wolf at the Table  By  cover art

A Wolf at the Table

By: Augusten Burroughs
Narrated by: Augusten Burroughs
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Publisher's summary

Nominated for the 2009 Audiobook of the Year

"As a little boy, I had a dream that my father had taken me to the woods where there was a dead body. He buried it and told me I must never tell. It was the only thing we'd ever done together as father and son, and I promised not to tell. But unlike most dreams, the memory of this one never left me. And sometimes…I wasn't altogether sure about one thing: was it just a dream?"

When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to unfurl. Something dark and secretive that could not be named.

Betrayal after shocking betrayal ensued, and Augusten's childhood was over. The kind of father he wanted didn't exist for him. This father was distant, aloof, uninterested…

And then the "games" began.

With A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs makes a quantum leap into untapped emotional terrain: the radical pendulum swing between love and hate, the unspeakably terrifying relationship between father and son. Told with scorching honesty and penetrating insight, it is a story for anyone who has ever longed for unconditional love from a parent. Though harrowing and brutal, A Wolf at the Table will ultimately leave you buoyed with the profound joy of simply being alive. It's a memoir of stunning psychological cruelty and the redemptive power of hope.

©2008 Island Road, LLC (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"There are books that were born for bells and whistles, and Augusten Burroughs's A Wolf at the Table is one....This fifth memoir of abuse and excess is read, bleated, rumbled and, at times, tearfully shouted by the author himself. The audio book...breaks new ground by presenting four songs written expressly for the production." ( The Washington Post)
"Intense, sincere, and passionate, Burroughs offers a deeply felt, intimate portrait of the most disastrous period in his life. He holds nothing back, and in fully giving voice to his emotions, he makes each moment immediate for the listener." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about A Wolf at the Table

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

This book should come with a Warning

I couldn't get through it and got stuck at the horror show of his pet experience. No need to terrorize yourself if you are a lover of animals and small children.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Embarrassingly Bad

As someone who has read all of Augusten Burroughs books and loved his style and wry observations, this mess came as a shock. It's bad beyond belief, and seems to be written by someone other than the careful and witty author we've come to know. Mr. Burrough's self-pitying has lost its charm. Perhaps he's tapped dry his own life as his major source of literary acumen. He definitely needs to get a grip. Hopefully, he will move on to greener fields. His sharp sense of human frailties needs new targets. His family deserves a rest.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Egad

I've enjoyed his writing style and comedic take on a painful upbringing - up til now. This is apparently his memories from being the most embellishing, whining child on earth. it doesn't feel as if there's any humanity or understanding just the view of a child who by all description isn't very likable or seeing the whole truth. Self pitying. whining. And I have to say, sadly disappointing perhaps because it's through his own voice that it feels disingenuous. Not something that truly presents the "monster" or the "victim" of a cruel childhood - just a lot of words.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

perfect

this book is perfect, beautiful...i had a hard time with the first few minutes because it's not what i expected - but, i continued on an was mesmerized.

try his brother's book: "look me in the eye" if you liked "wolf at the table". it will fill some of the gaps.

i hope that if the author himself reads any of these reviews he can see that he has at least touched one reader with the audio version, and certainly the book itself.

perfect.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A narcissist looks back

The only thing more appalling than the horrific family events Burroughs recounts is the cloying, narcissistic, self-cherishing way Burroughs narrates. Every word is lovingly wrapped in self-admiring cotton ("I wrote this word!" "I chose this word!" "I can't believe myself!"), which is not only tiring: it breaks the flow of narration. I was finally able to accommodate myself to this unnecessarily drawn-out style of speaking, and the book manages to come through as a sad, frightening and sympathetic self-portrait.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

A tear for Augustin...but only one.

If someone wants to they can write a book about anything they want to. A publisher, if they want to, can publish whatever book they want to. A consumer can purchase, if they want, whatever book they want to. That is how things come to be sometimes. This is a book that should never have been written, should never have been published and I should never have purchased.

The subject matter attracted me to the book since I lived with a real Wolf at the Table. Many reviewers warned that this book was not worth buying. I thought to myself, I just had to read it to see if it was like what I went through with my father. Also, I wanted to see if it was as bad as some had written or if they just did not understand. I do not mind the authors writing style, how he reads his material or the songs. In fact, I liked all of those things. What I did not like at all and was actually offended by, was Mr. Burroughs interpretation of a bad father and his interpretation of how bad his father was towards him.

Let me explain. Suppose there was a scale to measure a fathers parenting and supposes the scale ran from -10 for an extremely bad father to 10 for the best of fathers. On that scale I would rate Mr. Burroughs father as a 1 and I would rate my experiences with my father as a -6. I know living with my father was horrendous but I also know that some people have suffered far greater than I did. I at least have some perspective on this subject, Mr. Burroughs has none or he would have been too embarrassed to write this book. Too embarrassed because so many others have suffered so much more. It would be like a soldier whining about the terrible desk job he had to suffer through during the war while others that actually saw battle had all their limbs blown off along with their balls. It is sad when anyone suffers but Mr. Burroughs comes across as a spoiled whining brat. Oh if he only truly knew of what he speaks, he would never have spoken.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Get Ready...

Be ready for a very intense experience.... I will remember this book every time I think back about a less than perfect, verging on dysfunctional childhood, and note that, compared to this one, mine was mild! Many Thanks to this author for an honest account of a truely dysfunctional childhood... None of us can really use our chidhood as an excuse to fail, now can we......

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Deeply Disturbing

It took me a while to buy into the tone and premise of this memoir, with its haunting sound edits and frankly disturbing musical accouterments, and the dirge-like pace of the author's narration. Agreed, this is not the funny, witty, ironic Augusten we have come to know and love, the Augusten who has over the past few years or so managed to make lemonade out of lemons.

But after staying the course with Augusten there was much relatable material, and the narration of his terrifying family life resonated deeply within.

Additionally, I found that AB's pushing the limits of the audiobook format to be a refreshing and unexpectedly valid use of the medium. I did feel that he could have dialed down the drama in his narration, however, and picked up the pace somewhat, as his words speak so eloquently unassisted. That is the only reason for my "3 out of 5" rating.





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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

WOW

I really liked this book. I actually read Running with Scissors and I could not get into it (I saw the movie too and was not that interested in it either). My sister was telling me about this book so I decided to try it out. WOW, I was enthralled with the story as it unfolded and it clarified A LOT of what happened in Running with Scissors.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Exciting Listen With Great Narration

This audiobook was a well executed production. The author's emotional narration was intense and capatavating. Great supplement to Running With Scissors. The epilogue explaining the original music used in the production was also very interesting. I highly recommend this listen.

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3 people found this helpful