Magical Thinking: True Stories
by Augusten Burroughs
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Book Summary Information
Author: Augusten BurroughsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-01
ISBN: 0312315953
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of Magical Thinking: True Stories
Book Review: Hilarious!
Summary: 5 Stars
This collection of short stories was hilarious! I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but these stories fit together - not necessarily sequentially or thematically, but they weave together a complete person. Not emotionally or psychologically complete, but a full character self-sktech.
A snippet from the chapter "Model Behavior":
"The most mortifying fact of my life is something that happened when I was fourteen and I have never admitted to anyone: not to friends or therapists; not even in rehab when we were detailing our own personal spirals of shame did I confess. It is this: I am a graduate of the Barbizon School of Modeling. And if you asked me, I could - even today - glide down a runway while my jacket slid from my shoulders and down my arms..." It's the perfect mixture of humor, edginess, humility and arrogance. There are funnier parts, edgier parts, parts with more humility and definitely more arrogance. The mixture of extremes is refreshing.
I didn't finish Running with Scissors because I thought it was just too much. The "jokes" weren't funny, they were terribly sad (in my opinion). Magical Thinking still has that edginess, but that mixture of other emotions kept me reading it.
Summary of Magical Thinking: True Stories
From the #1 bestselling author of Running with Scissors and Dry--a contagiously funny, heartwarming, shocking, twisted, and absolutely magical collection. True stories that give voice to the thoughts we all have but dare not mention. It begins with a Tang Instant Breakfast Drink television commercial when Augusten was seven. Then there is the contest of wills with the deranged cleaning lady. The execution of a rodent carried out with military precision and utter horror. Telemarketing revenge. Dating an undertaker and much more. A collection of true stories that are universal in their appeal yet unabashedly intimate and very funny.
It?s best to know this from the start: Augusten Burroughs is mean. Augusten Burroughs is also outrageously X-rated. If you can get past those two things, Burroughs might just be the most refreshing voice in American books today, and his collection of acerbic essays will have you laughing out loud even while cringing in your seat. Whether he is stepping on the fingers of little children or giving you the blow-by-blow on a very unholy act, Burroughs manages to do it in a way that fills conflicted fans with both horror and glee.
Spanning from the surprisingly Machiavellian portrayal of his role in a Tang commercial at age seven to his more recent foray into dog ownership, Burroughs has what seems to be an endless supply of offbeat life experiences. Much like earlier David Sedaris collections (Barrel Fever or Naked), there are occasional fits and starts in the flow of the writing, but ultimately, Magical Thinking is worth reading (and re-reading). If you?re familiar with Burroughs's memoirs, Running with Scissors, and Dry, you may find parts of Magical Thinking repetitive, since these essays bounce around in time between the other two. In fact, in an ideal world, this collection would have come first, as it offers an excellent introduction to Burroughs's fascinating life. --Vicky Griffith
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