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Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
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Dry: A Memoir (2003)

by Augusten Burroughs

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Dry indeed, as well as witty, gritty and real. Burroughs, an ad man, unsparingly chronicles his descent into alcoholism and his unlikely redemption. Funny, sad, and very good. ( )
  satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 |
Listened to this in the car with Dan. This chronicle of Burroughs' last years of active addiction is really interesting, but it's also skin-crawlingly hideous in part. Some of the details are entirely sordid and irredeemably sad. I felt sorry for his friends, mostly. Burroughs is a good narrator, though he's got a few odd affectations of pronunciation that were distracting. ( )
  satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 |
I read Running With Scissors in a day, then immediately followed it up with Dry. It's totally the way to read these. One of my re-reads of [b:Magical Thinking|7815|The Year of Magical Thinking|Joan Didion|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165644384s/7815.jpg|1659905] came immediately after I was done with this one...it makes it even more powerful. ( )
  annmariestover | Apr 4, 2013 |
I would have given the book four stars if the second half hadn't taken such a long and seemingly pointless detour into the author's angsty personal relationships. It did all tie together in the end, but I think there could have been less time spent rhapsodizing on the perfect pecs and gorgeous arms of the guy he wants to sleep with but knows he shouldn't. I almost gave up and quit listening. I'm kind of glad that I didn't, but the first half is by far the best part of the book. ( )
  readrunandrepeat | Apr 3, 2013 |
there's a part in 'trainspotting' where the heroin junkie reminds the viewer that all of the "just say no" campaigns fail to mention whey they're addicts in the first place: becase it feels good. burroughs chronicles his soulless life as an ad exec and his escapes into the bottle on both sides of that equation. you're there equally when the high life is a fun time, and for the horrible bottomings-out. chock full of places where you're laughing your ass off, half of which making you wonder if it's really ok to laugh at this, and deeply emotional without being cheezy. highly recommended to anyone who's ever lived with an addict. ( )
  fireweaver | Mar 31, 2013 |
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Dedication
In memory of George Stathakis / For my brother / And for Dennis
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Sometimes when you work in advertising you'll get a product that's really garbage and you have to make it seem fantastic, something that is essential to the continued quality of life.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0312423799, Paperback)

Fans of Augusten Burroughs's darkly funny memoir Running with Scissors were left wondering at the end of that book what would become of young Augusten after his squalid and fascinating childhood ended. In Dry, we find that although adult Augusten is doing well professionally, earning a handsome living as an ad writer for a top New York agency, Burroughs's personal life is a disaster. His apartment is a sea of empty Dewar's bottles, he stays out all night boozing, and he dabs cologne on his tongue in an unsuccessful attempt to mask the stench of alcohol on his breath at work. When his employer insists he seek help, Burroughs ships out to Minnesota for detoxification, counseling, and amusingly told anecdotes about the use of stuffed animals in group therapy. But after a month of such treatment, he's back in Manhattan and tenuously sober. And while its one thing to lay off the sauce in rehab, Burroughs learns that it's quite another to resume your former life while avoiding the alcohol that your former life was based around. This quest to remain sober is made dramatically more difficult, and the tale more harrowing, when Burroughs begins an ill-advised romance with a crack addict. Certainly the "recovered alcoholic fighting to stay sober" tale is not new territory for a memoirist. But Burroughs's account transcends clichés: it doesn't adhere to the traditional "temptation narrowly resisted" storyline and it features, in Burroughs himself, a central character that is sympathetic even when he's neither likable nor admirable. But what ultimately makes this memoir such a terrific read is a brilliant and candid sense of humor that manages to stay dry even when recalling events where the author was anything but. --John Moe

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:00:57 -0400)

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An advertising executive remembers his childhood with his eccentric foster family and his early adulthood experiences of trying to establish an independent life for himself.

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