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Imserba Webstore - Running with Scissors: A Memoir
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List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $7.99
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780312938857
Feature: ISBN13: 9780312938857
ISBN: 0312938853
Label: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2006-08-29
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: 2006-08-29
Studio: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Editorial Reviews:
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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 unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor’s bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year-round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull, an electroshock therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing, and bestselling account of 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.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: highly recommend!!
Comment: One of my favorite books of all time. Great writing style and humor.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An unremarkable book
Comment: Augusten Burroughs has gotten a lot of mileage out of this book, but I'm not wild about it. There are many ways to react to a terrible childhood, and learning to laugh at oneself and at the insanity of one's relatives is a valid reaction. But this book is so determinedly focused on the laughable elements of a harrowing childhood that it feels very forced. As we plod through humorous vignette after humorous vignette, the wackiness wears quite thin. It gets repetitive. Also, it feels dishonest because I doubt the younger Augusten felt so consistently and safely glib about his very difficult experiences. What was it REALLY like, I wonder, to cope with all this at such a tender age? The author rarely lets his guard down, preferring the whimsical to the deep or introspective. Of course, you could say that a book that focused on the terrible aspects of a terrible childhood portrayed darkly would not sell. And that might be true... but it feels like the book is simply mining a terrible childhood for commercial gain. That's a sad conclusion to reach, and a darker feeling I would get from a really honest and open examination of the feelings this kid actually had.
Customer Rating:
Summary: BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND YET HORRIBLY SHOCKING
Comment: If you think you have had a messed up childhood, after reading this book, yours would be so easy in comparison. Augusten Burroughs, in his memoir, tells us about his twisted nightmare of an upbringing, by his mother, her psychiatrist, and the doctor's weird family.This story would leave anyone else grabbing their knees, bending over at times and feeling sick!!! Burroughs manages to tell the story with wit and humour, and honesty. We all have childhood memories we like to keep hidden, but I give Burroughs a lot of credit for exposing his abused childhood so candidly. It's amazing that his life turned out so well after such an abused upbringing. There are graphic homosexual scenes in this story of a very young teen and his lover who is 33 years old.
Beautifully written and yet horribly shocking and disgusting at times. It is a difficult book to listen to, but one you will find yourself racing through to the finish line.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Running with Scissors
Comment: What a piece of trash! It might be somewhat humorous if it was fiction but the fact that it's true makes it just plain sick. Save your time and money.
Customer Rating:
Summary: True-to-life Childhood
Comment: Augusten Burroughs pulls no punches in this honest look at life as he knew it as a pre-teen and teenage boy. His life takes a turn for the crazy when he and his mother become heavily involved with the Finch Family, but he doesn't blame them for ruining his life. Rather, he merely states his various relationships with the family as matter-of-fact. The author writes simply and the book is easy to read. I really enjoyed it.
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