Possible Side Effects
by Augusten Burroughs
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Another great book from one of my favorite authors. I bought this for my dad as well. He also loved it.
Favorite quotes:
Although my parents never attended church or mentioned Jesus except when they screamed at each other—and then they used his full name, 'Jesus Fucking Christ'.
I am prone to envy. It is one of my three default emotions, the others being greed and rage. I have also experienced compassion and generosity, but only fleetingly and usually while drunk, so I have little memor...more
Favorite quotes:
Although my parents never attended church or mentioned Jesus except when they screamed at each other—and then they used his full name, 'Jesus Fucking Christ'.
I am prone to envy. It is one of my three default emotions, the others being greed and rage. I have also experienced compassion and generosity, but only fleetingly and usually while drunk, so I have little memor...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Augusten Burroughs fans
YAWN
The first few stories bored me to tears. Boy loses tooth, NEXT! Man spends days in London hotel room watching BBC, stuffing his fat face and bashing Americans. Ok. Men acquire naughty puppy. zzz I don't need my books to be action-packed, but the pace of these essays is so slow that even the punctuation is starting to piss me off. Sentence fragments galore make for an even slower read. In the subsequent stories I have chuckled a few times, but I am irritated at Mr. Burrough's mastur...more
The first few stories bored me to tears. Boy loses tooth, NEXT! Man spends days in London hotel room watching BBC, stuffing his fat face and bashing Americans. Ok. Men acquire naughty puppy. zzz I don't need my books to be action-packed, but the pace of these essays is so slow that even the punctuation is starting to piss me off. Sentence fragments galore make for an even slower read. In the subsequent stories I have chuckled a few times, but I am irritated at Mr. Burrough's mastur...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like anecdotal autobiographies a la David Sedaris
I have not read Running with Scissors, dear Augusten's most memorable work--an autobiography of his (apparently quite disturbing) childhood--so I didn't have much context for this collection of autobiographical anecdotes from both his life.
It took me a while to get into his style of storytelling. Most of his stories are humorous, but often quite serious (he talks frequently about dealing/failing to deal with his alcoholism) until you hear the punch line at the end. (I audio-read this one, w...more
It took me a while to get into his style of storytelling. Most of his stories are humorous, but often quite serious (he talks frequently about dealing/failing to deal with his alcoholism) until you hear the punch line at the end. (I audio-read this one, w...more
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Read in April, 2008
This is not the side-slitting, gasping-for-air, hysterical laugh-crying at the hilarious wrongness of RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. But it's a great palate-cleanser after RUNNING: I grew to love the little dude, and I'm just glad Augusten has lived to tell the tale(s).
This is a collection of brief pieces, mostly featuring the adult Augusten in moments of self-awareness and dot-connecting. His love for his partner and his disgusting bulldogs is touching, but I liked this collection best at its mo...more
This is a collection of brief pieces, mostly featuring the adult Augusten in moments of self-awareness and dot-connecting. His love for his partner and his disgusting bulldogs is touching, but I liked this collection best at its mo...more
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Possible Side Effects shows us more than anything that Burroughs is living a happy, successful life. While still haunted by demons from his perilous childhood, he has conquered many of them, and the rest he lives with. I find it hard to not be happy that Burroughs has reached this pinnacle in his life. He certainly deserves it. However, it's not as interesting to read about his happy life with his partner Dennis or his success as an author as it is to read about him living with his mom's sh...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
Eh.
I enjoyed Running With Scissors as much as anyone else who enjoys a read that makes your family look significantly less fucked up, so I decided that I'd give Possible Side Effects a shot. I found this book to be a lot less organized than Running With Scissors, and the essays themselves offered little to no payoff. Most of them end in the "and then I found $50." fashion that is consistent with Burroughs's essay writing. The difference here is that the essays in Running With Scissors ...more
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Augusten Burroughs is that wonderfully witty guy in the cubicle behind the filing cabinet who sends you snarky e-mails about your co-worker's shoes and your boss' receding hairline. Oh, how I wish I knew this guy in person! Fortunately, with "Possible Side Effects" I can pretend for a while that he is on my speed dial.
"Side Effects" is another collection of stories of dysfunctional relationships, love affairs gone awry, childhood horror stories, and more tales of life in...more
"Side Effects" is another collection of stories of dysfunctional relationships, love affairs gone awry, childhood horror stories, and more tales of life in...more
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Read in June, 2006
Burroughs is a favorite of mine, that’s why this book was a bit of a disappointment. Here is a review on Amazon which crystallizes my thoughts exactly: "Possible Side Effects" is more dry than magical, and shows the author at a crossroads. Though consistently amusing, many pieces in this new collection seem forced and find the author overreaching for a laugh, while still others feel derivative of those previously published, or rather they seem as though they may have been leftover...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
Everyone (except homophobes)
I loved Running with Scisscors. I love Augusten. I love all his work. Anyone who had the slightest bit of abnormal childhood or a crazy family will love Mr. Burroughs b/c his life will make you feel normal. He is laugh out loud funny. Sometimes you just want to hug him for all he has been through. Sometimes you feel like you're talking to your best friend. All his books are amazing with the exception of DRY which is good but painful b/c it tells of him going to rehab and getting sober. I promis...more
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Read in March, 2008
I am about halfway through this collection of autobiographical essays, and I love it every bit as much as I loved "Magical Thinking." Burroughs presents himself as this detached, selfish, self-absorbed man, but the stories he shares reveal him to be a tenderhearted person who is acutely aware of his foibles.
I love reading about his relationship with Dennis. I love that he marvels that someone as wonderful as Dennis could love him so much. Their unabashed adoration of their dogs hits ...more
I love reading about his relationship with Dennis. I love that he marvels that someone as wonderful as Dennis could love him so much. Their unabashed adoration of their dogs hits ...more
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Read in September, 2007
As posted in www.amazon.com:
If you liked *Magical Thinking*, then you'll like *Possible Side Effects*. However, I do have to say that *Magical Thinking* was funnier. Don't get me wrong, *Possible Side Effects* was funny but not as good as Burroughs' previous book.
Of course, Burroughs never runs out of things to say about his eccentric life. In this book, he talks about his grandparents, his fashion fetish of collegiate t-shirts, alcoho...more
If you liked *Magical Thinking*, then you'll like *Possible Side Effects*. However, I do have to say that *Magical Thinking* was funnier. Don't get me wrong, *Possible Side Effects* was funny but not as good as Burroughs' previous book.
Of course, Burroughs never runs out of things to say about his eccentric life. In this book, he talks about his grandparents, his fashion fetish of collegiate t-shirts, alcoho...more
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An enjoyable enough collection of essays by the author of Running with Scissors and Dry. None of these pieces appears to have been published in a magazine before this anthology, and editing may have helped some of them. The quality varies, with many pieces relying on a sort of weak rim-shot punchline. Some pieces read like out-takes from Running with Scissors. As compared to both Dry and Magical Thinking, the "Augusten" narrator is not as snippy and cruel in this collection. His own vu...more
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Read in March, 2008
I liked this book, I did. But it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. There's no real overall story to the book. Each chapter is a small snippet of the author's life and his take on the world, which is a very interesting point of view. He's a led the kind of life that most people can't relate to, but love hearing about. I didn't really get the "big picture" of the story but I enjoyed the individual tales. For me, it was just an easy, breezy read, one that you don't really have to conce...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
smart aleck urbanites
I just really enjoy the way this author tells his stories, and this collection of short stories is quintessential Burroughs for the most part. The author is self-mocking yet honest about his high anxiety, his painful self-consciousness, and his OCD tendencies - all of which I can relate to, unfortunately. Like all of us he can be petty and lazy and sometimes he really screws up and gets a little mired in self-loathing as a result. These stories follow him and his neurotic friends in their too-s...more
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Read in April, 2008
I just cannot get over the part where Burrough expresses his sadness at going on a vacation and leaving his French bulldogs at his boyfriend's sister's: how will they know that at least once a day they require you to put on a rubber cat mask and run around the house making deranged meow noises?
Deranged meow noises. Heh.
Some of his stories fall a teensy bit flat (ie the one about his former obsession with Connie Chung and the one about the time he accidentally broke into some guy's hotel ...more
Deranged meow noises. Heh.
Some of his stories fall a teensy bit flat (ie the one about his former obsession with Connie Chung and the one about the time he accidentally broke into some guy's hotel ...more
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Read in January, 2007
Of all of Augusten Burroughs' memoirs, this is by far the best. While he tells good stories of his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in his previous books, the message of personal growth in Possible Side Effects is more apparent. He has learned more about himself this time around, and his writing style has matured, which makes for a smoother transition from story to story.
My favorite chapter is the one in which he talks about his hands and how he hides them because he's embarassed ...more
My favorite chapter is the one in which he talks about his hands and how he hides them because he's embarassed ...more
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Read in May, 2008
You want to know why I love Augusten Burroughs so? Because he writes sentences like this:
“And with these words – I don’t think you’re supposed to be aware of your own heartbeat – this unknown woman in a burnt orange poncho doomed me to a life of pathological overawareness of my own cardiac activity.”
That right there is just fucking brilliant writing.
The chapter entitled "The Wisdom Tooth" where they stay at an inn owned by a doll collector is classic. T...more
“And with these words – I don’t think you’re supposed to be aware of your own heartbeat – this unknown woman in a burnt orange poncho doomed me to a life of pathological overawareness of my own cardiac activity.”
That right there is just fucking brilliant writing.
The chapter entitled "The Wisdom Tooth" where they stay at an inn owned by a doll collector is classic. T...more
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Read in July, 2007
When he came out with a second memoir, I thought there was no way a guy this young could keep multiple memoirs fresh and interesting and hilarious. But this is the 4th now I've read and I can't get enough of this guy -- his pain, his drama, his tight writing style, his humor, his reality -- even though it isn't a shred like my own. And while having read the previous three did mean there were parts that weren't surprises, this is new material that builds on the old -- kind of like when you lear...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone who needs a laugh
A great collection of short stories from the man who brought you "Running With Scissors". Some of them more than awkward, some of them are laugh-out-loud hilarious (Not a phrase I use lightly). All are entertaining. I find it amazing the ways you can relate to the author, even though he's a little over-the-top. I found the story about nicorette gum freakishly similar to my father's experiences with it. (Years and years of chewing to get rid of a pack-a-week habit) From this book, I als...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
David Sedaris fans
Augusten Burroughs in a very convincing David Sedaris costume. If I were David Sedaris, I might actually be kind of pissed. This is a book of unconnected, autobiographical short stories and though the sentence structure remains fairly choppy and uncomplicated, some of the language and content bears a striking resemblance. I laughed out loud several times, even while feeling vaguely annoyed.
If you're a fan of Naked and Me Talk Pretty... give this book a shot, even if you hat...more
If you're a fan of Naked and Me Talk Pretty... give this book a shot, even if you hat...more
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