Running with Scissors

A Memoir

By: Augusten Burroughs

Narrated by: Augusten Burroughs

The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir from Augusten Burroughs, Running with Scissors, now a Major Motion Picture!

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 twelve, 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.

Critic reviews

“Running with Scissors is a bawdy, outrageous, often hilarious account...some of this story might have been imagined by William Burroughs...In keeping with this book's dauntless comic timing, this guy doesn't miss a beat.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“... hilarious, freaky-deaky, berserk, controlled, transcendent, touching, affectionate, vengeful, all-embracing. It makes you happy that there's such a thing in the world as a string of written words.” —Carolyn See, The Washington Post

“Beautifully written with a finely tuned sense of style and wit...this memoir of a nightmarish youth is both compulsively entertaining and tremendously provocative.” —Publishers Weekly

“Ever woder what it might be like to grow up in a lunatic asylum run by the lunatics? Augusten Burroughs' hilarious and horrifying memoir, Running with Scissors, tells the story...” —Los Angeles Times

Quirky story, but shallow characters.

While this story remains fairly interesting because of the bizarre chain of events claimed by the author, the characters feel 2-Dimensional and I found myself rapidly losing sympathy. It is worth listening to, (be aware that descriptions are often graphic, but not gratuitously so) but not one I would enthusiastically recommend.

Strangely Wonderful

This was a very strange, but wonderful book. I downloaded it to my GPS and couldn't wait to go for a ride everyday!!!

very humm... interesting

Its not that this book was bad... just different from anything I have ever read. I did laugh a bit, mostly out of horror..wow.. what a life!

not for the faint of heart

not a fan of the narration or of the movie adaptation, but one of my favorite books and authors. Augustin Burroughs is the king of brutally honest memoirs. I loved this book, but I hated the movie. the movie has none of the twisted comedy, it's just depressing. I suggest just picking this one up and reading g for yourself, for me the narrator is half the battle. some books are just better read by yourself. but I do suggest reading. it's fabulous

Running w Scissors

Very disturbing yet comical! Interesting and sad. Kept my attention. I would recommend absolutely if you can handle the brutality. Like that writer was also the narrator.