Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: I personally thought the book was a good read, hard to put down. The author does well to describe the life he lived. It is a terrible experience but one he had the courage to write about.from another side of the fence I would also buy Nightmares Echo by Katlyn Stewart. The two books combined shows a huge demension into the world we live in and yet keep blinders on so as not to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was looking forward to reading this story but I was very disappointed once I did. I was not particularly amused nor was I horrified. I just didn't care about any of the people in the story. I didn't feel any great emotion from the author about these events except at the beginning when his parents were fighting and they were dragging him to counselling. It was a fast read and mildly interesting but I recommend taking it out of the library.
Rating:
Summary: Cat Abuse
Review: I love animals, and I started to love this book, but there was one story inside of extreme animal abuse, that took this book from a 5 star to a 2 star. I just can't handle descriptions of abusing animals, even though that is what really happened, sickened me.
Rating: 
Summary: Recommended Highly
Review: One of the worst cases of child abuse...should be written, and all should hasve to read it. I know where this author comes from. I know the pain and the author does a great job of making the reader understand. I also recommend Nightmares Echo, A Child Called It, and The Secret Life of Bees...all of the above along with Running with Scissors gives a clear picture of what goes on right before our eyes.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok - But Not All That Funny
Review: I've seen blurbs and reviews comparing Burroughs and 'Running w/Scissors' to David Sedaris. This wishes to be close to any of Sedaris' works, but it doesn't quite make it. There are some amusing parts - nothing that made me laugh out loud and not a lot to even make me crack a smile. Mostly I found the book, though sometimes compelling, to be tragic in nature. It may have been funnier if it weren't true (or most of it). It's an ok read - but nothing more than that. I liked the excerpts from his new book (which are included at the end of the softbound edition) more than anything in 'Running w/Scissors'.
Rating: 
Summary: Running with Scissors
Review: i found this to be a sad and depressing book about one of the worst cases of child abuse and i am horrified that anyone would call it comedic.
Rating:
Summary: Judyblue
Review: I bought this book because of various reviews that described it as hilarious. I expected a somewhat tragic story, but one written with wit and humor. Instead I found the book to be sickening and disturbing, but not even vaguely funny or amusing. I have never been able to watch the Jerry Springer Show for more than a few minutes before I change channels. If the Springer Show was put into book form, this is it. I had a hard time finishing the book. The author attempts to make child molestation and abuse entertaining. It just doesn't work for me.
Rating:
Summary: Freaky Finches + Lunatic Mother = Hilarious Kid
Review: Augusten Burroughs is probably one of the most hilarious writers I've ever read! This memoir of his childhood not only showed me how screwed up his family and pseudo family was, but made cherish my dysfunctional family! The writing is poignant and so much fun to read; I felt like I was just sitting down and having a chat with Augusten himself. Running With Scissors is a fantastic account of a young boy's life with a mentally insane mother and her even stranger psychiatrist and his family. Augusten Burroughs was able to describe the people and events from those years of his life with the crazies in a way that is sweet and never truly insolent despite their numerous flaws. This is a fabulous book-it's crass, honest and had me in laughing to tears from the first page to the last. I recommend this book to all of my friends and nearly every acquaintance and I cannot wait to read the rest of his work!
Rating:
Summary: Growing up Dysfunctional
Review: I don't really want to add to what's already been written about this book--the insane, sad, paradoxical lunacy of a psychiatrist arranging the author's teenage faked suicide attempt (which seemed real enough: Valium and whiskey having to be stomach pumped out) just so Burroughs would not have to attend junior high school for a few months, etc. What stands out, and I haven't seen mentioned much in reviews, is the subtext of the whole 70's "Me" ethos. There are frequent references to various 70's cultural touchstones (Donna Summer, Mannix, Lena Wertmuller, etc.) and most especially the psycho-Zeitgeist of "reclaiming myself," "owning my writing," "I need your support," "don't repress your anger," etc. etc. Augusten's mother is a walking, talking, 70's Rollo May/Abraham Maslow cliche. This book almost (I say, almost) makes one grateful that HMOs now pretty much control psychiatrists and there are not too many Dr. Finchs running around loose and unfettered anymore. I found myself getting infuriated at the abominable parenting in this book, all done in the name of self-actualization. It reminded me, too, of that documentary called Crumb, about the underground cartoonist with the crazy family and the subtext of sometimes this craziness becomes the fount of creativity, the roots of some sort of genius expression.
Rating:
Summary: hilarious and horrifying
Review: The entire time I was reading Running with Scissors, I thought "How could a child who lived this life grow into an adult who could put five words together into a coherent sentence, never mind write a book this funny and this wise?"
I don't know the answer to that question: I only know that this book, however hilarious it may be, speaks volumes about the determination of the human spirit.
With an indifferent alcoholic father and a maniac mother, Augusten is treading on thin ice in his early years and that's before his mother allows her bizarre psychiatrist to adopt her son. As I read this part of the memoir, I wondered why the neighbors never noticed the living room furniture on the lawn, complete with small applicances, all plugged in. Or why no one noticed young children smashing a hole in the roof with rocks and other unusual tools? Good thing no one noticed because the newly created sky light did add brightness to an otherwise drab kitchen. Of course the rain water in the winter proved very inconvenient but that's another chapter.
Where was the board of health? The medical board? Disgruntled patients of this wacko psychiatrists?
Mr. Burroughs allows the reader to enter a real world beyond the comprehension and imagination of 99% of his readers. Somehow, he makes the world he lived in real, honest, sad, funny and very disturbing. At no time ever is this book boring.
I look forward to Mr Burroughs other books, but this one is a winner.
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