Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs
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Book Reviews of Magical Thinking: True Stories
Book Review: BEST BURROUGHS BOOK
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is charming, funny, well written, and my favorite of all of Augusten's work!!!Book Review: Works Comedic Magic
Summary: 4 Stars
I was standing in the bookstore aisle plucking books from the shelves and flipping pages when I came across 'Magical Thinking' and this line, "The year I snuck an interracial lesbian couple into the background of an American Airlines ad..." I read some more. I could have read the entire book while standing there. But, my whooping laughter would have disturbed my fellow readers. Burroughs puts on paper what most folks block from conscious thought. He presents such a can't-make-this-stuff-up life that one moment you don't believe it, then you wish you had been there to see it. Ever been intimidated by a cleaning lady-cum-personal assistant? Meet Debby. Ever fought a rodent or a roach in a NYC apartment? Meet the Mouse. Reading the stories will make you late for work, burn your dinner and ignore the kids fighting at your elbow. The writer has a rich talent for self-conflagration, as well as burning others with his wit. If there is a downside to this work, it's that all the boyfriends (except Dennis) seem to be the same beautiful-bodied man with slight variations. Warning: If the "f" word or descriptions of the male anatomy offend you, don't even pick up this book. After reading his caustic commentaries on his failed dates, I enjoyed the tender turn he takes in vignettes of his domestic relationship with Dennis. Dennis is the normal, stable part of the partnership. Burroughs remains dramatic and, well, brilliant.Book Review: Magically Delicious
Summary: 4 Stars
I came to this book after reading Augusten Burroughs' columns in "Details" magazine. His blend of the startlingly serious and funny is his talent. Though this book only hints of a terrible and abusive childhood (more fully profiled in "Running With Scissors"), the bleak chasms of his earlier life are curbed by his humorous outlook on things big and small. There is also an element of progression in this book, as many of the essays reveal his life with a new, lasting boyfriend.
This isn't for the weak. If Burroughs' tales of ribald drunkenness don't get you, his anecdote about killing vermin in the bathroom will. I guess it is a memoir, although surely he has taken a "million little pieces" of liberties throughout these essays.
The most delightful was his experience attending modeling school. This rare inside look is out-loud hilarious while seeming to be fully true. The overly-positive artificiality of the teachers, Augusten's own earnest desire to be at the center of a flattering career, and the steps required to be a human mannekin are sad while being funny--and all in the same hurried breath.
If you like David Sedaris, you will find this material almost exactly like his in tone and content. That's not a bad thing, but be aware that despite what some critics have said, Burroughs and Sedaris are barely distinguishable from one another.
Book Review: What A Rat
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed Magical Thinking but the one story about the rat/thing (he can't even call it a mouse) was totally digusting and should have never been included in the book. I honestly lost alot of respect for Auguston becuase of this. Why go on and on about how you torture an animal. I felt like writing him and letting him know how cruel that was and how unnessary it is to do what he did. He could have easily found a box or a bag and corralled in and let it go outside. There are some things about Auguston I just don't get. He comes off as being sort of arrogant at times and a big ol' queen at that. It's no excuse that his life was traumatic as a youth, that's no excuse for torturing an animal. And then there was another story about a possum that he wanted again, to kill "becuase it's the american way". It's NOT the american way to just kill something because you don't understand it and fear it. Where does he get this stuff from. And the fact that his ex-lover admittedly killed a kitten becuase it meowed too much? What a sick twisted friend he has. They both should honestly repent or feel guilty for thier actions. Other than that, I loved the stories in Magical Thinking. I would like to read his other works now that Iv'e read both Dry and Magical Thinking. Hopefully there will not be another mention of killing animals!Book Review: Intriguing, a little disturbing
Summary: 4 Stars
Augusten Burroughs does not come across as what you'd call a "nice person," but he's so very honest, funny, and sometimes self-deprecating that the reader can't help being on his side, as he battles a crazy cleaning lady, kills a mouse in his tub, and moves in and out of quasi-relationships with gorgeous, but unsuitable men. And frankly, he appeals to that deep, dark, mean corner we all have suppressed inside, that place where we want to make a snide comment about someone's fatt butt or stupid hairdo. I adore how he hated sickeningly perfect Raoul on their first date, and his description of his schoolteacher in the opening chapter was a delight.
When Dennis enters the picture, we see Augusten's tender side, his appreciation for another's vulnerability, and we start to think perhaps Augusten has been holding out on us, letting us see only his vanity/insecurity polarity, his delayed-reaction remorse for mouse-killing and child-frightening, keeping this kinder Augusten hidden until the time is right.
While reading this book, I couldn't help thinking that I'd love to have him over for dinner, but I wouldn't let him babysit my child.
Augusten Burroughs is a great writer and enigmatic presence on the literary scene.