Running with Scissors

“My mother began to go crazy. Not crazy in a let’s paint the kitchen bright red! sort of way. But crazy in a gas oven, toothpaste sandwich, I am God sort of way.”


If I were ever to feel that my upbringing was strange or that I did not have the best childhood; Running With Scissors is the quickest remedy to that brand of self-pity I can think of.
The story features Augusten Burroughs' displacement between his insane mother and her even more insane psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, who he is sent to live with and is eventually adopted by. The memoir is surreal, gritty and repulsive although heavily interjected with humor and wit.
Life never really looks up for Augusten throughout the story. His parents are violent towards each other, the relationship ending in a divorce and his mother having a mental breakdown. She seeks the help of a psychiatrist, who ends up being a creep who adopts his own patients and gives anti-psychotics out to his "family" like candy. Fourteen year old Augusten comes to terms with his sexuality, and comes out as being gay. He is then taken advantage of by a 30-something adopted "son" of Dr. Finch who encourages the relationship. The people occupying Dr. Finch's household eat dog food, shit on the floor, leave their Christmas tree up until May and believe God communicates through bowel movements. The children have no rules, and are free to tear down the ceiling, do drugs and skip school. When Augusten decides he does not want to return to sixth grade, the doctor assists him in faking a suicide attempt so he can take a leave of absence.
Augusten breaks his ties with the Finch family at seventeen when he learns that his mother was being abused by her therapist.
At some point, I was waiting for Augusten to wake from a dream or a drugged stupor. Although I know I picked this book out of the nonfiction section; I just can't imagine it being real. But they fact-check this stuff, right?