Running with Scissors: A Memoir

Augusten Burroughs

Apr 2010 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

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

In AP Lang & Comp class. The Book was quite strange, very descriptive and truly the author has a talent with words and chronological structure. The series of unfortunate events that happened to him is devastating and unbelievable. Its a good book, wouldn't recommend it to the weak hearted and youthful minded generation though ironically I'm 16. Great easy read, very disturbing though.

Liked it quite a bit. I picked this out a selection of ten other books to analyze for a psych class. It was very interesting to read and analyze. I wouldn't recommend it for the very faint of heart as the event that happen are shocking, and Burroughs holds nothing back.

Read this book while on the train to Manhattan. I would be laughing on the train and people would think that I was crazy. This book is a story every person must read. It speaks of how we used to be seen a few years back.

About the author

Augusten Burroughs is the number one New York Times bestselling author of Dry, Magical Thinking, Possible Side Effects, A Wolf at the Table and You Better Not Cry. He is also the author of the novel Sellevision, which is currently in development for film. The film version of Running with Scissors, directed by Ryan Murphy and produced by Brad Pitt, was released in October 2006 and starred Joseph Cross, Brian Cox, Annette Bening (nominated for a Golden Globe for her role), Alec Baldwin and Evan Rachel Wood. Augusten's writing has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers around the world including The New York Times and New York Magazine. In 2005 Entertainment Weekly named him one of "The 25 Funniest People in America." He resides in New York City. His forthcoming memoir Lust & Wonder will be published in March 2016.