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.
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Contemporary memoir was reshaped by candid, tragi-comic chronicles of unusual childhoods and personal struggles, most notably through the publishing phenomenon Running With Scissors. The author, Augusten Xon Burroughs, became widely known following the release of this 2002 New York Times bestselling memoir, which documented his unconventional upbringing after being placed in the care of his mother's psychiatrist.
Born Christopher Richter Robison on October 23, 1965, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was raised in Western Massachusetts. His father chaired the philosophy department at the University of Massachusetts, and his mother was a writer. Following his parents' separation when he was twelve, he stopped attending traditional school, and his mother's psychiatrist became his legal guardian. At seventeen, he relocated to the Boston area and earned a diploma in computer programming and systems analysis from the Control Data Institute, later establishing a career in advertising before transitioning to full-time authoring.
He published his debut novel, Sellevision, prior to his breakout success with non-fiction. His subsequent memoirs and essay collections expanded his profile as one of the best-selling LGBTQ+ writers, with his books translated in over thirty countries and selling millions of copies worldwide. Beyond writing, his life story reached screen audiences when Running With Scissors was adapted into a 2006 feature film directed by Ryan Murphy, featuring Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Alec Baldwin, and Joseph Cross.
His non-fiction is characterized by frank humor, sharp observation, and unsparing vulnerability when examining trauma, addiction, and family dysfunction. Readers and critics frequently note his ability to uncover dark absurdity within painful personal history, particularly in his accounts of childhood neglect and adult substance abuse recovery. His prose balances conversational narrative pacing with precise emotional detail, offering an intimate perspective on personal recovery and identity.
