Running with Scissors: A Memoir

Augusten Burroughs

Mar 2003 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Augusten Burroughs

About this audiobook

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.

Ratings and reviews

I've read all of his books. They're all great reads, but this is by far my favorite. If you haven't read any of Augusten's work, start here. Get the audiobook! He is a phenomenal narrator & You really need to hear his memoir for the full experience.

About the author

Augusten Burroughs is the New York Times bestselling author of Magical
Thinking and Dry. His newest book is Possible Side Effects.