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Feb 03, 2008

Mark rated it:

After reading Dry I went over to Cedar Tavern for a martini. I don’t normally drink martinis, but according to Augusten Burroughs, the famous Cedar Tavern on University Place in Manhattan serves huge ones (“enormous; great bowls of vodka soup”) - so you get the most of what you pay for. But as it turned out their martinis are actually rather small, the opposite of Burroughs’ claim. And the bartender on the second floor told me that the martinis have been the same size for at least five years sin More...

27 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

K.D. rated it:

What do Haruki Murakami (born 1949) and Augusten Burroughs (born 1965) have in common?

Nothing except they both love to drink and they both write stories, novels and memoirs. Everything else about their lives is full of contrasts. Murakami is a Japanese while Burroughs is an American. Murakami interweaves non-human fantasy in his human characters. Burroughs characters are human but they seem to be fantasy. Murakami is straight and very conservative while Burroughs is a flamboyant gay More...

21 comments like (25 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Kelsey rated it:

"You were spectacular," Hayden tells me afterwards.
"How so?"
"You were so honest and substantive. Just no bullshit," he says, slapping me on the back.
"Really? I seemed normal?" I ask.
"Of course. You were great."
"What a relief. I had no idea what I was saying. I was actually thinking about how my chest hair is growing back after having shaved it all off."
Hayden turns sharply, "What?"
More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jun 16, 2008

maricar rated it:

Sharp, candid, and surprisingly poignant...

The fact that I finished this book in one day probably indicates that I enjoyed it. Indeed, the only novels that I recall where I truly laughed my head off were from chick-lits, trivial as that may sound. But, really, Burroughs has managed to be disarmingly droll while being frightfully honest and self-deprecating. I can't attest if that's from being gay, the result of coming from a dysfunctional family, or perhaps from working in advertising More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Mar 12, 2008

Malbadeen rated it:

(Mid March).....Dear Book Cover,
I love you and I'm sorry it had to end this way. Remember when we first met? Remember how I tried to overlook you again and again but finally I broke down and pulled you off the shelf and you asked me to touch you, so I did. I spread my fingers and placed my palm flat across you. And then remember how I used my fingers to push up the palm and drug just my finger tips from the top to the bottom? and of course, the inevitable - the quick pull to the cheeck. T More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2007

Alexa rated it:

THE break-up book. While it may seem that Burroughs's story about his struggle with addiction and sobriety would have little to do with the average twenty-something's experience muddling through a break up, I have found no better book to read in the wake of a disasterous relationship.

For example, once he's sober and out of rehab, Burroughs begins counting days. (He keeps track of how many days he goes without dringking, and must to keep counting until he hits the 90-day mark, after More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 08, 2009

Erica rated it:

Why are we all so obsessed with the alcoholic memoir? I read this quick read for book group in under three hours - which was about all the time it deserved. The literary tradition of great intoxicated writers may fascinate those who never studied Beatnik literature or Hemingway in school. But to satisfy the niche of urban hipster- intellectuals who are looking for a step above Lindsay Lohan's faux-glam adventures in US Weekly, this book was just an edited down version of James Frey's A Milli More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 23, 2008

Lesley rated it:

I liked this book slightly less than Running With Scissors but given the limitations of the bookster star system, it’s hard to tell. Honestly, though, I can’t with any confidence determine whether the slight difference in appreciation is merit-based or simply because abject alcoholism gives me the shakes. Addiction is pretty gross and can transform mere bastards into evil, selfish, lying, destructive assholes. Despite that, however, I recall feeling Burroughs comes across as markedly more arr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 08, 2007

Marcellina rated it:

I got to be Augusten Burrough's escort when he spoke at the Texas Book Festival a few years ago, and he was very soft spoken, low key and ordinary looking. He spoke to a very large, adoring crowd in the senate chambers, and then signed books for quite a long time to an equally adoring snaking line of fans. He was very sweet and humble. He also bolted out of there as quickly as he could, and asked to be taken directly to his hotel, although my friend Kelly and I managed to drive him around Aust More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Angeline rated it:

Forgive me, Jen.
Dry seemed over the top. Maybe I'm just cold hearted. Got disenchanted with the extreme autobiographies, even before it was discovered these novels are often embellished.

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2008

Katie rated it:

By far my favorite Burroughs' novel. This one isn't for the weak of heart, its not the same light feel as some of his other books. This book digs deep and leaves you feeling his hopelessness. Dry is all at once inspirational, depressing, exciting, and frustrating. Immediately after reading his honest and darkly beautiful memoir it immediately made it on my favorite books list.
Burrough's has become a favorite of mine for his seemingly effortless managment of language. He is honest More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2009

Kirsten rated it:

Why do I keep picturing Augusten Burroughs as really, really short? He says right in "Dry" that he's 6'2" but that just doesn't jive with my mental image. Oh, maybe it's because he's a memoir writer, so I don't believe anything he says. Did James Frey ruin it for all memoirists? Or just those who write memoirs about addiction, sketchy childhoods, abuse, dysfunctional relationships and recovery? ...so yeah, all memoirists. Anyway, 1 star for "Dry" seems a little har More...

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Jan 05, 2012

Christina Marie rated it:

Augusten Burrough's Dry is a memoir, I think. The blurb on the back explains that it's about his struggle with alcoholism. The genre label on the back cover indicates memoir. However, it was in my library's fiction section. Color me confused.

Dry is addicting. How ironic, considering it's about kicking addiction. The people (are they characters? are they amalgams of several people? see what happens when memoirs are in the fiction section?) are vivid and the story is enticing. The life More...

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Jan 04, 2012

Lyndsey rated it:

I can't really say if I "liked" Dry or not. It felt true. It felt like a grown up dysfunction that I first read in Running With Scissors. So maybe being Mormon shades my feelings ever so slightly with the book ("Rick is Mormon and although this is not a reason to hate him, I hate all Mormons as a result of knowing Rick"). I kinda of felt like I wasn't really who Burroughs wanted reading his books.

However that doesn't change how much I appreciate his honesty. The re More...

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Dec 03, 2011

Tom rated it:

"Dry" is Augusten Burroughs' autobiographical account about his life as a drunk while working in advertising in New York City. For the most part, it's a compelling, madcap read, but by the last few chapters, I was starting to tire of his ups and downs. He does have many humorous passages about his time in rehab, probably the most interesting part of the book. But he tends to be murky and vague when writing about his gay love life. The image that comes through is a young guy seeking qui More...

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Sep 10, 2011

Joanie rated it:

A slick, quick read from Augusten Burroughs of Running with Scissors fame. This second memoir begins with Borroughs' disillusionment with his desirable job and life, heavy drinking, mandatory rehab, and gradual recovery. This is standard material - and like every personal story, unique. Burroughs is a fun writer to read. He's comedic and insightful, and the book abounds with details of a lived life.

That said, I never quite believe memoirs. Life is amorphous; good writing has a b More...

2 comments like

Aug 31, 2011

Julia rated it:

Stemming from a lavish lifestyle as a malcontented alcoholic Manhattanite, Augusten Burroughs candidly attributes his success as an ad exec to his expertise in masking his faults and giving people false expectations in his 2003 memoir Dry. “Advertising makes everything seem better than it actually is,” he writes, “and I’ve been applying this basic principle to my life for years” (1).

After being forced to choose between entering rehab or returning his meager $200,000 per year paychec More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Nikole rated it:

As a fan of both Augusten Burroughs and so called addiction literature, I have to say that I thoughly enjoyed Burrough’s second memoir, Dry. While his other books were enjoyable (or, just weirdly readable despite being totally screwed up) Dry, for me is his best book to date. It was funny and heart breaking, often at the same time and very hard to put down until the end (okay, well, I did put it down to go to the Silverchairshow…though I was half tempted to bring it with me).

While Runn More...

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Jul 11, 2011

Jessica rated it:

After an unsuccessful experience with Magical Thinking I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone. Give Augusten Burroughs another chance (oh did I mention I also hated the film Running with Scissors?) before throwing the towel at this contrived mess and also I was interested in memoirs dealing with recovery issues, specifically alcohol.

Some of my assholism got in the way and Burroughs and I butted heads with our dueling egotistical selves. I cheered, I jeered, I snarled, and cried my wa More...

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Feb 13, 2011

Rhys rated it:

After Running With Scissors, his memoir of his childhood, I didn’t think Augusten Burroughs could offer anything more enjoyable. As it turns out, though, Dry is even better. It documents his attempts to conquer his alcoholism whilst at the same time dealing with his advertising job and the illness of his friend, Pighead (who is HIV positive). The recounting of his adventures is very funny, but there is more emotional depth in Dry than in Scissors. Burroughs’ writing is much better in this book a More...

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Jan 29, 2011

Kendra rated it:

I've read this book twice. Once almost a decade ago. To me then, it what a very good book but I did not have the connection to the story then that I do now.

Since the first time I read the book, I dated an alcoholic who in retrospect seemed to suck everything out of our relationship like they sucked every ounce of liquor from the bottle.

This book went from being interesting and hilarious in turns to being exactly what I needed. I actually read this book while still in t More...

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Apr 20, 2009

Victoria rated it:

This is the second Burroughs book I've read, and again, I find his writing not necessarily beautiful and poetic, or quotable and elegant, but incredibly engaging and real, and he makes me smile at how honest he is -- when he tells us something awful and personal about himself, I'm taken aback and almost embarrassed at first, then a little more embarrassed because I realize I do it too or at least do something similar and equally kind of disgusting and embarrassing, and then smile at his ability More...

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Nov 23, 2011

Tom rated it:

I started DRY the day after finishing RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. Where RUNNING is a mix of the unbelievable, the sad and the humorous, DRY is a mix of the sad and the insightful. In many ways DRY is the deeper book, one where Burroughs exposes the weakest, most selfish and undeserving parts of himself to the reader. It's honest on a level that was almost difficult to read at times.

My problem with DRY, however, was the way Burroughs chose to end the book. After spending so much of the More...

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Jun 19, 2010

Heidi rated it:

This was one of Augusten Burroughs sweeter books, if anyone could call his writing “sweet.” As usual, it is pretty raw as he describes his recovery. But it is also touching and shows his compassionate side. One of my favorite quotations: “It’s the kind of friendship that’s easy to make in elementary school when you’re six or seven. You let a kid have your swing and suddenly he’s you best friend. Suddenly you don’t care that you hate math, because you can hate it together. And after school you wa More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 03, 2009

Daniel rated it:

Wow. Even better than Burroughs' earlier memoir, Running With Scissors. Where Scissors was largely a laugh out loud book with some dramatic moments (and a VERY disturbing account of childhood and teenagerdom), Dry is more a poignant, painful and gut-wrenching account with some occasional laugh out loud moments. Burroughs' book is totally involving and unputdownable, a skewed take on rehab that holds itz own against the equally stunning A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Though I am not an al More...

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Aug 21, 2011

Sunday rated it:

I enjoyed this sort of peek into AA and addiction from Mr. Augusten. It's hard to feel empathetic for someone who has a liter-a-day addiction to scotch, when I am in the gutter after a half bottle of my most precious Chandon. And yet, somehow, we are rooting and booing for Mr. A through the whole thing. I wanted him to become sober like a youth group devotee... and happy, even in the face of strange British crack addicts and handsome yet unhealthy hunks.

My largest complaint is that A More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

David rated it:

When part of the book rates "4 stars" and part rates a "2 stars", I guess it averages out to a "3". The author, a highly-paid Manhattan advertising specialist, describes his struggle to overcome alcoholism. When it almost ruins his career, he is forced into a rehab program. I once worked with a man who had been through this, and have been curious to get more of an "insider" view. There is one relapse, but that is insightful too, and the book ends on a posi More...

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Jul 15, 2008

Amy rated it:

I LOVED this book. At the time I was reading it (can't remember when, that should tell you something), I related to Augusten's struggles somewhat, and when he compares the lobby of the rehab to the Kitty Hawk Lounge at the Fresno Air Terminal...well, that was just too good. Fortunately, I never had to go to rehab, but I have been to the Kitty Hawk, and let me tell you, it was depressing as hell. Rough subject matter dealt with in a funny, humane manner.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

Heather rated it:

In Running With Scissors, Augusten Burroughs gave us a hilarious and horrifying look into his early life. When his parents divorced, Augusten's mother signed over guardianship of him to her psychotic psychiatrist. Refusing to go to school, he spent his days drinking or getting high with this foster sister, and being preyed upon by a 33 year old pedophile. It was a story like no other-hopefully because no one else has ever lived through that particular brand of hell.

Dry picks up the More...

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Dec 25, 2008

Anna rated it:

Burroughs' memoir about his alcoholism, recovery, and relapse is a breath-taking roller-coaster. But it's not just about alcohol: it is, as I believe so many stories of addiction are, also about wrestling with one's demons from the past and coming to painfully honest terms with one's present. The journey isn't pretty. In fact, many of Burroughs' confessions raised my eyebrows, and I pride myself on the fact that few things truly shocks me or leaves me speechless (is it inappropriate for me to More...

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