Running with Scissors

A Memoir

By: Augusten Burroughs

Narrated by: Augusten Burroughs

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead-ringer for Santa and a lunatic in the bargain. Suddenly, at age 12, Augusten Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian in perfect squalor.

The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients, and a pedophile living in the backyard shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules, there was no school. The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, and Valium was eaten like Pez. And when things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock therapy machine under the stairs....

Running with Scissors is at turns foul and harrowing, compelling and maniacally funny. But above all, it chronicles an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Running with Scissors acknowledgments:

Gratitude doesn't begin to describe it: Jennifer Enderlin, Christopher Schelling, John Murphy, Gregg Sullivan, Kim Cardascia, Michael Storrings, and everyone at St. Martin's Press. Thank you: Lawrence David, Suzanne Finnamore, Robert Rodi, Bret Easton Ellis, Jon Pepoon, Lee Lodes, Jeff Soares, Kevin Weidenbacher, Lynda Pearson, Lona Walburn, Lori Greenburg, John DePretis, and Sheila Cobb.

I would also like to express my appreciation to my mother and father for, no matter how inadvertently, giving me such a memorable childhood. Additionally, I would like to thank the real-life members of the family portrayed in this book for taking me into their home and accepting me as one of their own. I recognize that their memories of the events described in this book are different than my own. They are each fine, decent, and hard-working people.

The book was not intended to hurt the family. Both my publisher and I regret any unintentional harm resulting from the publishing and marketing of Running with Scissors.

Most of all, I would like to thank my brother for demonstrating, by example, the importance of being wholly unique.

©2002 Augusten Burroughs (P)2002 Audio Renaissance, a Division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award Finalist, Adult Non-Fiction, 2003

"Beautifully written with a finely tuned sense of style...this memoir of a nightmarish youth is both compulsively entertaining and tremendously provocative." (Publishers Weekly)

"Bawdy, outrageous, often hilarious." (The New York Times)

"Sharp, riotous humor...deeply affecting...this is a survival story readers won't forget." (Booklist)

My Favorite Book

When I first read the back of the book at Borders, the story looked morbid and sad. I immediately put it down, even though I knew the book had good buzz. Then I saw the trailer for the movie version that is coming out this October and it looked amazing. Based on the trailer, I bought the audiobook. It is funny, poignant, and with hilarious pop-culture references and self-aware irony. I was listening at the gym and laughed out loud while on the treadmill. I never wanted it to end. Excellent narration by an excellent author. I just bought his next book, "Dry." Enjoy!

Old psychology

Wow goes to show you how old psychology created some strange yet interesting stories. Wow!

Nuts

I adored this story, everytime you think it can't get crazier it proves you wrong. if you're a fan of books with LGBTQ+ characters, memoirs, and insane situations, this is for you. I'm wouldn't recommend to people who are a bit prudish, there some rather graphic details with certain topics. The detail adds to the story though.

True, it isn't for everyone, but I enjoyed it

I'm pretty sure I couldn't have less in common with the author and his experiences, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story. I can understand that some readers will be very put off by the descriptive sex scenes that many reviews have referred to. I found them uncomfortable to listen to, but they occupy such a small part of the story and are part of the adolescent introspection that makes the entire book entertainingly reminiscent.

The author tells a great story that I found full of candor, ranging from self-effacing and shameless in its recollection of thoughts many would never share. At times, I laughed out loud and others were uncomfortable, but the point of view for such a formative part of life is universally identifiable to anyone that ever had an awkward moment (or two) in their teens. If you want a high-brow, stuffy recollection of coming of age, beware - this isn't fine literature! It is a memoir written in perspective of the time that it occurred instead of remembrance filtered through the wisdom and experience of adulthood. Consider yourself warned if you are squeamish or easily offended. I thought it was entertaining, open, interesting, and well worth my time. Burroughs is a great storyteller and I will definitely read more of his writing.

Great affect of characters

Read very well by the author! Enjoyed his affect of each character. Brought the story even more to life!

Author puts the FUN(ny) in disfunctional!

A very amusing & entertaining story. Author sees the glass (of his disfunction upbringing) half full!

Not for the faint of heart

I came to read this book after reading his brother's memoir "Look me in the Eye" knowing that this is a true story makes it a little hard to get through.... it is VERY vile you guys. Also there wasn't really an ending that made you feel closure either. This poor kids life was a train wreck. The one thing I will say is that - I didn't love how this kid portrayed his brother (with autism) maybe that's because his brother is such a good writer that I had no idea how he actually communicates in real life but based of his book - he seemed to have good communication skills. That's not at all how he is portrayed here. Maybe i will read the mothers memoir next just to see what the HELL she was thinking.

Random Music

This is a good memoir. Not eloquently written, but interesting because it is such a shocking upbringing! The reason I rate the performance lower want the reader but the random music here and there throughout. It didn’t seem to go with the content of the books, just was strange.

Fast-moving, entertaining, and inspiring

I expected this memoir to be entertaining. (I had heard the author in various radio interviews and had heard brief excerpts.) In that respect it lived up to its promise. What I did not expect was for it also to be such a poignant tale of childhood and adolescent survival. The occasional graphic descriptions of the author's experience with scatology, sex, neglect, filth, and behaviors of mental illness are sometimes shocking, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes touching. Read this uplifting story of survival. Highly recommended!

Poingant, funny, and more than a little shocking

What made the experience of listening to Running with Scissors the most enjoyable?

I think one of the things I enjoyed in listening to it was how the author was able to recreate his own feelings. You get a very strong sense of what he went through and what he experienced.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think my favorite character was Natalie. Seeing how her relationship with Burroughs changed over time, how close they became and some of the things they got up to, you have a very good sense of their friendship, her point of view, and the way they reacted to the world.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This was a book I finished in about three sittings as there were points in the story that I found a bit hard to process (such as Burroughs losing his virginity to a man double his age if not more, his mother's slide into madness, the death of the cat...) Other listeners might be able to finish this in a single session, and if you can, then great for you.

Any additional comments?

One of the things that detracted from the performance in a personal way were the random musical interludes. This may have been left over from when the tapes (or other original audio format) were digitized. The music took me out of the experience of listening to the story. If not for that, then the performance of the book would have been much more highly rated.