Book: Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
I tend to get recommended things with the words “It has a dark humor. I think you’ll like it.” That’s how Running with Scissors
I know many people really love this book. It’s easy to see why. Augusten Burroughs certainly has a storytelling knack. His writing style is pleasantly quick and clean.
The subject matter aside, Running with Scissors is not a chore at all to read. Even with all these things though, I didn’t enjoy it that much.
The cover and all the reviewers’ blurbs say how funny the book is. I didn’t find it to be so until the later half. It was easier to relax then because the memoir Augusten was no longer so young. I was able to connect this older teen with the eventual writing adult author. Only then did I manage to laugh out loud a couple of times.
The first half of the book had me tense and uncomfortable. His experiences are not pleasant ones to think about as happening to a child. I got mad at all the stupid adults around him. It this was a work of fiction, I may have felt differently. For me, it was difficult to fully engage because I knew that the core of this story actually happened.