Memoirs of the whacky kind come from Augusten Burroughs, who seems to have grown with a cross between The Addams Family and The Simpsons. Every nut case of any kind seems to have made their way in to Augusten’s life, who struggles to cope with his mothers neglecting behaviour and trying to express his sexuality during a time where homosexuality is still considered promosicuous and an act of the devil.
During his early years, Burroughs seemed in tune and in acceptance of his own sexuality. Between his mother and father arguing till death do them part, Burroughs didn’t have much of a life with either parent, though preferring the fondness and kindness of his mother. That, and the fact that she wore perfume and clothes that were more in line with Burroughs own preference.
His father was a typified stereotype of working class American who drinks when he gets home, on his own, isolated from his family. The mother, aptly doing her own drinking and her own disappearing act. The husband being injured an unable to hold a job of his choice due to his accident made to feel pathetic, partly his own fault, and partly the wife.
Burroughs, in this tit for tat marriage, is considered the black sheep of the family, being nothing like his elder brother who seems to be autistic in some regard, not really caring much for the world around him, and having a focus in his hobbies instead. He’s intelligent, if he finds the right thing, otherwise he’s oblivious to the world around him.
It feels like a bomb waiting to explode in the face of all that is considered normal, because the life Augusten leads is the complete opposite of the life offered as normality
After the break up, Augusten lives with his mother, who is now a professional in alcohol, and feels Augusten’s behaviour at school, particularly the fact that he hardly attends, requires the assistance of some professional help. She makes he decision to take him to a psychiatrist in the form of Dr Finch. A certifiable loon with the penchant for the strange, and someone who likes to make light of the fact he his own room specifically for masturbation known commonly as the Masturbatoroium.
In essence Augusten is signed over to Dr Finch, with custody being given to live with the family of biological, custodial and adopted children along with a spychiatric patient or two and psychiatric visitors. Augustens world of filth and no rules is a world away from the protected shell his parents tried to provide. The youngest of the Finch’s having a habit of defacting around the house, with no one seeming to mind or cleaning up.
This method of living is considered therapy for the entire family. Where members sometimes decide to try to gut each other as a healthy form of expression of their emotive constraints. The most sane of the family is the eldest daughter, Hope. She seems to love the oddity of the world she lives in, but is not drawn into it like the others. She acts almost like a buffer between the rest of the family and Augusten as he learns to adapt and become accustomed to the strange lifestyle he’s being tempted into.
Running with Scissors is a political minefield of taboo and wild behaviour. From Augusten’s drunk part-time lesbian mother being eaten out by the devout, Minister’s wife, Fern, while leading the good Christian life at home; to the relationship Augusten (around 13 or 14 years of age) has with Neil Bookman (35 years of age), an almost son to Finch and ex-psychiatric patient that seems to have issues with his jealously and of rejection. The buck of insanity doesn’t stop there, and there’s far more that is in the book than I can remember to cover.
If this is a genuine memoir, of a life led by an individual, then it is perhaps one of the most flamboyant, laugh out loud, and disturbing memoirs I have read to date. The Brady Bunch has been thrown around in reviews, but I would put the family far closer to the Merry Pranksters of Ken Kesey’s following, hooked up on acid wearing halloween costumes and scaring the life out of old ladies to be closer to the lunacy expressed. It’s weird, but wonderfully so, and lifestyle that although on initial thought to be out of order turns out to be the most productive form of growth of most of the family.
The film’s ability to be faithful to the book will be in question as it’s very likely to garner the attention of the moral police were it accurate to the book. You can imagine Hilary Clinton and other Senators denouncing the film and book to be make-belief, that if it is real, investigations should be carried out, and the content be banned to stop our children from being corrupted.
His father was a typified stereotype of working class American who drinks when he gets home, on his own, isolated from his family
It feels like a bomb waiting to explode in the face of all that is considered normal, because the life Augusten leads is the complete opposite of the life offered as normality, and as such seems to make Augusten more adjusted and prepared for life than most “normal” people I know. If anything, his life is to be applauded rather than be shocked at. Perhaps encouragement in this area would be a touch too far for even the moderates, but it’s certainly food for thought on how children are over protected and politicised to not express their feelings regardless of the health benefits and for their own psyche.
Running with Scissors humours, disturbs, fascinates and offers an incredibly refreshing example of the most extraordinary lives that people live or grow up in. It’s fair to say that Augusten’s life would be hard to top, in any extreme, and few could really offer the laughs and the intrigue his life offered him. He grew up in a unique environment, which is wonderfully captured in his expression and thoughtful writing, and the closest most of us will get to such a diverse and wild lifestyle.
Verdict: A fun, crazy and colourful life boldly written and expressed with an explosive, bloody punch on the nose