I had a blast reading the book and thinking imagine living with these people? There are some dark moments in the book which made me feel uncomfortable. The real family Augusten lived with apparently sued him for defamation.

I’m not 100% convinced everything in this book is ‘true’. Running with Scissors is billed as a memoir but I’d take some of the outrageous behaviour of the characters with a pinch of salt. The Finch family are too bizarre, strange and weird to be taken seriously. This is a not a humorous memoir but there were some funny moments. I thoroughly enjoyed Running with Scissors even though it shocked and disturbed me at times. She stands back and smoothes her hands down the front of her swirling, psychedelic Pucci dress, biting the inside of her cheek. Her white, hand-gun shaped blow-dryer is lying on top of the wicker hamper, ticking as it cools. MY MOTHER IS STANDING IN FRONT OF THE BATHROOM MIRROR smelling polished and ready like Jean Nate, Dippity Do and the waxy sweetness of lipstick. And when things got a bit slow, there was always the ancient electroshock therapy machine under the stairs… The Christmas tree stayed up until summer and Valium was chomped down like sweets. In the perfect squalor of their dilapidated Victorian house, there were no rules and there was no school. The doctor’s bizarre family, a few patients and a sinister man living in the garden shed completed the tableau. Augusten Burroughs’s mother gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead ringer for Santa Claus and a certifiable lunatic into the bargain. This is the true story of a boy who wanted to grow up with the Brady Bunch, but ended up living with the Addams Family. TITLE: Running With Scissors (A Memoir) by Augusten Burroughs

Running with scissors novel