Dry: A Memoir
by Augusten Burroughs
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Book Summary Information
Author: Augusten BurroughsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-06-02
ISBN: 0312272057
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Book Reviews of Dry: A Memoir
Book Review: A Simply Wonderful Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Addiction is not funny. And recovery is not entertaining. Unless, that is, these subjects are in the hands of Augusten Burroughs. Then, it is not merely unexpectedly funny and entertaining but appropriately poignant and touching as well. In DRY, the follow-up to his bestselling memoir RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, Burroughs is all grown up and working in the cutthroat world of advertising. To cope with his high stress and demanding career, not to mention the issues and trauma surrounding his childhood, Burroughs drinks. And drinks. And drinks. In order to keep his job, Burroughs checks himself into a 30-day rehabilitation program. With the support of the rehab staff and his fellow patients, he starts to evaluate his drinking and his life, soon admitting to his alcoholism. But when he finds himself back at work, surrounded by old friends, enemies and drinking buddies, sobriety proves to be a difficult challenge.With sobriety, Burroughs must not only come to terms with his friendship with HIV positive Pighead, he must also make painful choices about new friends and lovers. Sober living is, of course, not without its temptations and Burroughs is honest that not all of his post-rehab decisions were good ones. But honesty is a key component in DRY; it is never lacking in this memoir. Powered by lots of coffee and fresh insight, Burroughs is just as hilarious in describing his navigation of a life clean and sober as he is in describing his drunken escapades. The supporting cast is full of similarly neurotic figures, which just goes to show you that everyone has an interesting story to tell. Burroughs, however, concentrates on his own and the book reads like a cross between a great tale told to close friends, a stand-up routine and, most often, a therapeutic catharsis.
DRY is simply wonderful. It is a frightening look at an awful situation and a difficult triumph told in Burroughs's unique and hysterically funny voice. Comparisons with the work of David Sedaris are obvious, but Burroughs has a much darker and grittier side and his observances are most often pointed inward, resulting in a bittersweet and heartbreaking tale told with sarcasm, wit and laugh-out-loud moments. Augusten Burroughs is a natural storyteller and his best stories are about himself. DRY is not always comfortable, but it is never predictable and is thoroughly rewarding.
From happy hours lasting until the next day with his mortician friend, to the silly and sad rituals of rehab and recovery, from bad news boyfriends to the bedside of the ever-patient Pighead, DRY is an easy read but a hard emotional journey. It is a hip and eccentric addition to a genre that is often dull, sappy or whitewashed. For those wondering what happened to the little boy in RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, and for those meeting Burroughs for the first time in DRY, you are sure to be challenged, appalled, inspired and enchanted.
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
Summary of Dry: A Memoir
From the New York Times Bestselling author of Running With Scissors comes the story of one man trying to out-drink his memories, outlast his demons, and outrun his past.
?I was addicted to ?Bewitched? as a kid. I worshipped Darren Stevens the First. When he?d come home from work and Samantha would say, ?Darren, would you like me to fix you a drink?? He?d always rest his briefcase on the table below the mirror in the foyer, wipe his forehead with a monogrammed handkerchief and say, ?Better make it a double.?? (from Chapter Two)
You may not know it, but you?ve met Augusten Burroughs. You?ve seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twentysomething guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls and cologne on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn?t really a request) of his employers, Augusten lands in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey Jr. are immediately dashed by grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click and that?s when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life?and live it sober. What follows is a memoir that?s as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is true. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a Higher Power.
?I was addicted to ?Bewitched? as a kid. I worshipped Darren Stevens the First. When he?d come home from work and Samantha would say, ?Darren, would you like me to fix you a drink?? He?d always rest his briefcase on the table below the mirror in the foyer, wipe his forehead with a monogrammed handkerchief and say, ?Better make it a double.?? (from Chapter Two)
You may not know it, but you?ve met Augusten Burroughs. You?ve seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twentysomething guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls and cologne on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn?t really a request) of his employers, Augusten lands in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey Jr. are immediately dashed by grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click and that?s when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life?and live it sober. What follows is a memoir that?s as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is true. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a Higher Power.
Fans of Augusten Burroughs's darkly funny memoir Running with Scissors were left wondering at the end of that book what would become of young Augusten after his squalid and fascinating childhood ended. In Dry, we find that although adult Augusten is doing well professionally, earning a handsome living as an ad writer for a top New York agency, Burroughs's personal life is a disaster. His apartment is a sea of empty Dewar's bottles, he stays out all night boozing, and he dabs cologne on his tongue in an unsuccessful attempt to mask the stench of alcohol on his breath at work. When his employer insists he seek help, Burroughs ships out to Minnesota for detoxification, counseling, and amusingly told anecdotes about the use of stuffed animals in group therapy. But after a month of such treatment, he's back in Manhattan and tenuously sober. And while its one thing to lay off the sauce in rehab, Burroughs learns that it's quite another to resume your former life while avoiding the alcohol that your former life was based around. This quest to remain sober is made dramatically more difficult, and the tale more harrowing, when Burroughs begins an ill-advised romance with a crack addict. Certainly the "recovered alcoholic fighting to stay sober" tale is not new territory for a memoirist. But Burroughs's account transcends clichés: it doesn't adhere to the traditional "temptation narrowly resisted" storyline and it features, in Burroughs himself, a central character that is sympathetic even when he's neither likable nor admirable. But what ultimately makes this memoir such a terrific read is a brilliant and candid sense of humor that manages to stay dry even when recalling events where the author was anything but. --John Moe
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