This book is horrible. I didn't find it funny at all. The family that the author lives with is slovenly and twisted, which I'm sure did not help his well-being. I will never read another book by this author.

I thought I would give this book less than one star, if that were possible, because it is so trashy. The story is outrageous. I didn't buy a word of it. There couldn't be that many crazy, dysfunctional people in one place, that weren't confined in a mental institution. I have to wonder what kind of person this Augusten Burroughs is, that can write such filth. I was truly embarassed to be seen reading this book.

Yet, the book is not all bad. Mr. Burroughs surely knows how to spin a yarn. And there were some funny moments. He also described the relationship between himself and Natalie so effectively that I ended up feeling very sympathetic toward them, even though they were so screwed up. It was not their fault that they had no boundries set for them and that they grew up in a completely chaotic world. (A world of fiction, of course) The bond that developed between them was admirable. Unfortunately, the relationship ended quite abruptly.

I did get the heebie-jeebies thinking of them working in a restaurant and serving food, though.

I ended up giving the book two stars because when you're not completely grossed out by the vulgar, sexually graphic content of the book, you can see that the author has some skill. But I wish he would put his talent to better use.

I quit reading this book halfway through. Like I read in another review, he's a bit of a David Sedaris wannabe. There's sort of a dark, absurd humor going on. I think he thinks he's being "light" by treating the subject matter "lightly," and sometimes it works. (I actually love David Sedaris, by the way, but I prefer listening to him over reading him.). As opposed to Mr. Sedaris, this guy gets really vulgar, offensive, and disgusting. It's all in the name of "art" I suppose, but I'm pretty tolerant and found it to be really objectionable. There are ways of getting your point across without hitting people over the head with repulsive details over... and over... and over...

I've never quit reading a book before because I found it offensive. Congratulations to this guy.

If it wasn't bad enough living with an insane mother, that's nothing compared to when moving in with the Finch clan. With occurrences like having to take a shower with a thawing turkey at one's feet, the 'masturbatorium' in Dr Finch's office, number twos that were acting as messengers from heaven - don't ask!, a crazy old lady living in a locked room upstairs, staged suicide attempts, foaming at the mouth vaginas, tearing down ceilings to make a homemade skylight, and the family cat seeing out his last days hidden in a laundry basket before talking out from beyond the grave, this is one of the most dysfunctional and fucked-up households I've ever come across in a book. Whether only some, or all of it actually happened, it sure was funny. I like to think that it's so unbelievable that it has to be true. Burroughs takes so much anguish and lunacy from his troubled childhood - basically having psychotic people all around him all of the time, that instead of writing something that is bleak and not very enjoyable to read, his answer is to write a sort of comedic sitcom narrative that is there to laugh along to. I guess this could be judged as a sort of defence mechanism. Because I kid you not, there was seriously disturbing shit going on in this boy's life; heightened even further when you take into account the pedo. Some scenes were no doubt tough to get through, including explicit oral and penetration scenes of a young Augusten at the mercy of his supposed older boyfriend Neil. A seriously creepy guy, and the adopted son of Dr Finch. Most of the funnier stuff involves him hanging out with Finch's oldest daughter Hope, while the more tender moments are with the younger daughter Natalie, who is only a year older than Burroughs. I've never read a memoir quite like it. Despite its overall humour, there might be readers that find it just too uncomfortable and off-putting to get through. For me, I'm glad I read it. A solid 4/5

Ugh, my eyes were rolling so much in this thing, I'm pretty sure I've got a repetitive strain injury.

The only thing I remember about this is the lady who ate cat food because she couldn't afford regular food. And after skimming the blurb and a couple of reviews, it's probably for the best that's all I remember.

Augusten Burroughs (born 1965 in Pittsburg as Christopher Robison) was named in 2005 as one, ranked 15, of “The 25 Funniest People in America” by Entertainment Weekly, People and The Guardian.

This memoir of his gay boyhood, “Running With Scissors” came out in 2003. On the same year, Burroughs came out with “Dry” about his experience being alcoholic and “Magical Thinking” a collection of memoir essays. I am not sure if any of these works made him funny to the American people but I guess it must be his first novel, “Sellevision” (2000) which was a comedy fiction that contains themes of greed and obsession and was adapted into a television series.

I did not find this book funny. It is okay though. I admire Burroughs courage to tell his story. There is a controversy that he weaved lies and/or exaggerated the truth about his mother’s psychiatrist. However, there is the so-called poetic licence that writers are entitled to use to make their writings more interesting to their intended readers. That is probably the reason why the court ruled that this book, in its succeeding editions, be called fiction rather than a memoir. Fair enough.

Still saying that you have a neurotic, drug-addict, lesbian mother and you had your first oral and anal sex experiences at the age of 13 are unthinkable for me. He has the intention to shock, I have no doubt about it because he told those sexual experiences like he was in court: detailed and disgusting. I just don't see the point. I read other gay boyhood memoirs like Edmund White's A Boy's Own Story or Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers. Edmund White did not go to details of his homosexual experiences but I was able to emphatize and almost imagine the pain of what some gay boys have to endure to be accepted.

Burroughs is a total reverse of White. Burroughs is proud of being gay and he did not reserve anything for his more "sensitive" readers. The vivid sexual details that he incorporated in the story are so disgusting that I wonder how some of my friends here in Goodreads could rated this 4 or 5 stars. Burroughs knows how to tell a story, I have no issue about that. It's just that I don't find it funny when people wash their dirty too dirty it is almost unwashable lines in public. Respect others and be more tackful please. Or maybe it is my upbringing so to those you enjoyed this book, please excuse my rants.

Let's say we ignore the fact that Burroughs is a homosexual. Don't get me wrong: I am not homophobic. In fact, I have a number of gay (or just gayish) friends and we get along with one another and we can talk anything under the sun. My view in homosexuality is that, one does not need to flaunt it. If you are gay, just be gay and you don't need to tell me. Or if you choose to tell me, it is definitely a non-issue. Just like straight men. We don't flaunt that we are straight. Everything just shows. We all do and get sex but we do not go around and talk about it. Much more to write books about it with descriptions so vivid that gives one the feeling that he/she is reading a homo gay book.

In other words, get past those gay sex parts of this book and you will still find this worth reading. I am just not sure how much of this book is true: my edition still says "a memoir."

This is one of my all-time favorite memoirs. It's a fabulously funny tale of the author's unbelievably wacky up-bringing. Wild beyond belief at times but anyone who has been unfortunate to have met the type of shrink that his family ran into can relate (I sadly have). The author openly discusses his own homosexuality and describes some male/male sex scenes, which might not be for some readers.

I saw Mr. Burroughs here at a presentation put on on by our local independent bookstore. He deftly managed a very intoxicated fan and also gave sage advice that I didn't head: Don't be a writer. If you can be anything else, do that!

This is one of those memoirs where you find yourself really questioning how much of it is authentic, because the childhood Burroughs depicts here is wild. Some of the stuff in Running with Scissors is so damn dark that you really really hope it didn't happen. But then at the same time, how could one person come up with such craziness? Every person that populated Burroughs childhood is so memorable, with their own fully-rounded characters and idiosyncrasies. The book reads in a somewhat bitty, flailing fashion at times, and the resolution was both scary and bittersweet, but overall this was a darkly funny ride and I can't say I wasn't entertained.

This would be a fine book if it didn’t try so hard to be edgy.

Funny and very well written.

The graphic homosexual sex scenes will be too much for some readers but were contextually relevant. I have tried since reading this to understand Burroughs' quirky, angst obsessive postmodernist world view, and perhaps he cannot put a definite label on it either, but then on the other hand, Burroughs' may be one of those special writers whose opinions and style rightly fit into the "other" category of literary genres and upon which a label does not easily apply.

For this reason, I like his writing very much, and it was a great visit with the 1970s. Non-conformists of the world unite.

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This was unexpectedly SO GOOD! I was laughing to myself for the majority of this book, and I had to remind myself that this was someone’s real life! What a wild, wild life this young man had… It truly boggles my mind to think about how hard some people have it, and will still fight to become the person they want to be. Or maybe it’s more about NOT becoming the people that surrounded them growing up. It also makes me think about how good I had it when I was growing up, as well as to make sure to give my kids a stable house to grow up in!
Thank you Augusten for being brave enough to write down your life experiences in this memoir, I can definitely see myself reading another one!