Dry: A Memoir (edit title)

• Rated 5 stars

“If you like Augusten Burroughs, you'll love this book -- -and you don't EVEN HAVE to start with Running With Scissors, although might be better if you do.”

• Rated 4 stars

“nice continuation from "Running with Scissors."”

• Rated 5 stars

“My mother highly recommended this book to me describing it as "if you like books about guy men with drug problems". Burroughs characters just hook you from the start.”

• Rated 0 stars

“bitingly funny,warm book.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Augusten Burroughs conveys his life as an alcoholic with a clarity and a gritty honesty that helps to open up the constant struggle he faces. His revealing look at his life and the road he stumbles down give a deeper understanding of how extreme the need of alcoholics can be. Reading this book was like being taken along a path that I wasn’t sure I could follow. His story is filled with humor and a desire to grasp a part of life that he sensed was missing yet had no idea what it was he was even trying to find. From his denial of any problem associated with drinking, his total ability to believe that he was functioning well, to the clarity of what his life had become and where he was headed, Augusten Burroughs grabs the reader with an intensity that is vivid and impassioned. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“Augusten Burroughs is a very talented writer. This is the second book I have read by him and I definitely want to read all his works. Besides being a talented writer he has a very interesting life and a great stories to tell. I recommend this book.”

• Rated 0 stars

“The Tallest Jen

Drug addiction and alcoholism are often glamorized by television and the media. But in the memoir Dry, by Augusten Burroughs, you get the real picture of what it is like to live with alcoholism. His everyday routine is shocking and pathetic to most, but to him it’s normal. It tells the story of Augusten’s time in rehab, the relationships he starts there and his life after rehab. He paints the picture of what it’s really like to be addicted to alcohol and struggling to lead a normal life. This book was eye-opening and riveting.
Augusten Burroughs is known for his dark humor and off the wall comparisons. Although this book is much deeper and more serious than his other memoirs, he still injects his signature sense of humor throughout the book. “…Counselor of the group, Rae. Rae’s a big woman. And to add an exclamation point to this fact, she wears loud floral print; gigantic blossoms all over her body…I feel pretty confident Rae’s clubbed more than her fair share of baby seals in her life” (69). He then goes on to say how much he like his group leaders in rehab and how they contribute to his recovery. This is what makes the book so great. His feelings are right there on the page, from calm to strung-out to depressed to ecstatic; he doesn’t hide anything from his dark past. He doesn’t pretend to be perfect or act like becoming sober is easy. These struggles draw you in from the start and keep you interested until the end.
The characters in this book are a huge part of what makes it so great. He meets attractive men at rehab that come back into his life in a negative, destructive way. He starts relationships with them and because if it, neglects the people in his life that care about him the most. At times you get angry at Augusten for being such a horrible friend, but you can also relate to it. He doesn’t make excuses for his behavior, but doesn’t make changes either. His mistakes and hardships make you reflect on your own relationships and how you could improve them.
Because of Dry, Augusten Burroughs has graduated from funny memoirist to talented author. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in stories about drug addiction, alcoholism, and people’s true life stories. You will not want to put this book down. I would shy away from this memoir if you find drunk, gay New Yorkers to be a boring plot line. This book can be vulgar and crude at times, but it adds the essence that makes up Dry. This memoir is one of the best I’ve ever read because it draws you in emotionally and keeps you totally engrossed.

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• Rated 3 stars

“Good book.”

• Rated 3 stars

“Augusten Burroughs is very funny. He's sarcastic, a snob, and has a unique world view. This volume finds our hero, after surviving his outrageously bizarre childhood as a twenty-something successful advertising copywriter throwing back a liter of scotch, along with a handful of benadryl, (and who knows what else) every night.

After an intervention by his coworkers he flies off to rehab in Minnesota.

The entire book was insightful and funny; but I thought the first half was the most interesting - where he was boozing and then going through rehab. The second half details a few romances and I had trouble remaining interested. I don't think I am a homophobe - I think my interest would wane just as much if they were hetero romances. But of course you have to finish to find out how it turns out.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Augusten! There is never a funner read than something penned out by Augusten Burroughs. And its alarming to believe and a little hard to wrap the brain around .. all of his "stories" are MEMOIRS. Which means true facts kids. Because most of the things he has gone through, or describes are so outlandish that its hard to swallow. I always tell people, who aren't avid readers, read Augusten Burroughs (or David Sedaris) because reading a book from him is not like "reading" it is like hearing the story. And feeling it. And as an author I would hope his ego is through the universe because you cannot get any better than that.”