Dry

Running with Scissors was a memoir of Augusten Burrough's youth detailing his vastly dysfunctional family and the abuse he suffered at the hands of his adoptive family, of his mother's psychiatrist.  The treatment he described was so neglectful and shocking it was hard to believe it could really have happened, but it probably did.  At the end of that memorable first memoir, Burroughs set off for the big city of New York.

Unfortunately for both him and his readers, once he had settled in and achieved amazing financial success, he became a drunk.  Even though he didn't even graduate from high school, he found his niche in the advertising business, and lived in a nice apartment in Manhattan.  But he needs to drink, starting in the mornings.  His apartment is full of empty bottles of scotch.  Eventually it gets so bad that his colleagues at work do an intervention and insist that he checks into rehab.  He decides to go to a gay and lesbian "Proud" clinic in Minnesota, where he thinks he will be more comfortable.  Once he gets there, he finds the whole experience difficult, and the time in the clinic is the most interesting part of his story here, as he describes his different emotions and the interactions between the clients.  It is both funny and informative. 

However, the problem for alcoholism memoirs is that addiction is boring and even disgusting.  An addict is full of self-deception and lies to everyone around.  The world is full of temptations, and for those who have heard the same old excuses and seen relapses again and again, it is almost impossible to trust the addict's promises.  So when Burroughs gets back from the clinic and starts going to AA meetings, it is hard not to read each paragraph without expecting him to fail.  The surprise is that he lasts so long. 

This may be an extremely unsympathetic attitude towards addicts, and I don't mean to make light of their struggle.  But after one has read a few addiction memoirs, they have to work to keep one's attention, and Burroughs' memoir strains one's patience.  His most important emotional connection is with his former boyfriend who he calls Pigface, who now has AIDS, and as he reflects on the previous years, he sees the problems with his relationship and how much he still feels for Pigface.  His other relationships are shallow and it is hard to care about their future, and Burroughs actually spends very little time with Pigface. 

Ultimately the book closes with Burroughs back on the straight and narrow attending AA meetings again.  It's not clear how he gets there, or whether he has the resources to stay there.  Given the difficulty of his life so far, readers will of course hope that he is remaining sober, but they may wonder why he felt the need to share the details of his days of being a drunk. 

Links:

·        Review of Running with Scissors

·        Review of Caroline Knapp's Drinking

·        Review of Ann Marlow's how to stop time

·        Review of Elizabeth Wurtzel's More, Now, Again

© 2004 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is Academic Chair of the Arts & Humanities Division and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island. He is also editor of Metapsychology Online Review.  His main research is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.