Review of Augusten Burroughs

I discovered Augusten Burroughs about four years ago. I read Running with Scissors and I was hooked. Next morning I was in Borders purchasing, Dry, Sellevision, and Magical Thinking and read them all without pause. I was extremely surprised by the ability of this author, who had clearly been through hell and back, to be able to keep his sense of humor. And what a sense of humor it is. I am a female and straight, so how is it that I can so easily relate to this man, and his autobiographical works?

Through my reading I felt more and more that I had something so inherently in common with this author. Our sense of the absurd is uncannily similar and I was so surprised how much I could relate to his quirkiness and idiosyncrasies. I laughed out loud reading his take on such things as rats in the bathtub, (my own extreme phobia). I had trouble feeling sad for him, though he had certainly suffered, because he never laced his work with self pity and therefore did not try to garner any from his readers. There was always amazing resilience and appreciation in his writing and this made me fall deeper under his spell.

The thing I remember most is that I wished he had a daily blog. Why you ask? Because his take on life is so hysterically funny that I would personally read it just to see what his day was like, knowing I would find a humorous take on any situation. His latest book, Side Affects I purchased in hardcover upon release for I could not wait to read anything he might have to offer. It is truly amazing how humor transcends, gender, age, sexual orientation and all the other stereotypes. It in fact has the ability to bring together those that may have never thought likely. I am eternally grateful for having discovered this talented young memoirist for he has voiced for me so much I have felt and experienced and allowed me to laugh about it.