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A Memoir
by Augusten BurroughsThe true story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock-therapy machine could provide entertainment.
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 unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor’s bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock- therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boy’s survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.
See also "Settlement reached in Running with Scissors suit" news story, 8/31/2007.
David Rakoff, author of Fraud
Simultaneously hilarious and horrific.
If you liked Running with Scissors, try these:
by Carmen Maria Machado
Published 2020
A revolutionary memoir about domestic abuse by the award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties.
by Glen David Gold
Published 2019
From the best-selling author of Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside, a big-hearted memoir told in three parts: about growing up in the wake of the destructive choices of an extremely unconventional mother.
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