A Wolf at the Table

A Memoir of My Father

By: Augusten Burroughs

Narrated by: Augusten Burroughs

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

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.

Listen to Running with Scissors.

©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)

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.

Dreadful Narration

It's almost impossible to tell if the story is compelling or even remotely interesting when the narration is this bad.

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.

terrible

wolf at the table sounds false. not funny.

Pass On This One

I have read all of Augusten's previous books and enjoyed them pretty much throughout, but I just can't get into this one at all. I'm sure the experiences he describes must have been difficult for him, but I couldn't bring myself to care enough to keep going. Totally failed to capture my interest.

A disapointment

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Augusten Burroughs interpretations of his life experience in his other works are mostly wonderful experiences for a reader. I understand the challenges and emotional trauma he suffered but through the offsetting and compelling lens of irony and humor. This book is completely different. It is very dark throughout. The audio enhancements add to its somber tone; the voice Mr. Burroughs uses throughout is like the voice of the narrator of a schlock horror story. I guess he had a need for his readers to understand that his life was not very funny. This audiobook was somewhat interesting but I cannot say that I liked it.

Would you be willing to try another one of Augusten Burroughs’s performances?

Yes if he reurns to his "normal" voice.

What character would you cut from A Wolf at the Table?

all of them

Bad, bad, nothing but bad

This book was nothing but bad narration and horrible cruelty to animals. It was awful! The story drags and has weird music inserted in odd areas of the book that made no sense. Oh yeah, and did I mention the BAD narration?

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.

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.

is this a children's book?

I've listened to all his other books and enjoyed them, he reads this one as if to 5 year olds, not just slow, which it is, but with a funny rising emphasis at the end of each sentence. It is very annoying.