|
|
|
review: I knew I had to read this book when Amy Sedaris said that it was the best book she had read the whole year on David Letterman. The best book I had read all year (up to that point) was Wigfield. So on my yearly trip to Toronto with the family, I brought this memoir. It was finished shortly after arriving in Canada. It is an amazing book filled with humor and pathos --- sometimes at the exact same time. Augusten Burroughs recounts his adolescent life and blows seminal works like Edmund White's A Boy's Own Story out of the water.
Burroughs lives with his schizophrenic mom, then gets carted off to her psychiatrist's house with a cast of wacky characters. Most of the crazies are related to the psychiatrist, some of them are live-in patients, like the thirtysomething pederast who has sex with a barely-pubescent Augusten. I could recount the tales of fecal matter and electro-shock, but that would take all of the fun out of it for you.
I think it's pretty amazing that Burroughs can re-tell his life story without harboring hatred for nearly all of the authority figures who let him down. This book is great in the way that few books are, and I'm glad it's his life and not mine that I'm laughing at. (jeremy.10.04)
rating
related links
