First slew of reviews/summaries

Dry - Augusten Burroughs

This is the second installment of Burroughs' memoirs, the first being Running with Scissors. In this memoir Burroughs documents the events of his early twenties as he makes his living as an advertising executive in New York City, and happens to be an alcoholic. Burroughs details his ups and downs on and off the wagon of sobriety. His depictions of living in squalor, showing up to work stinking of alcohol as it exudes from his pores and his denial of it all are powerful almost to the point of gag-enducing. Luckily there is humour mixed in there which makes all the gory details palatable. You try not laughing out loud when he is enthusiastically presented with two overstuffed pink and blue toy animals by a member of his first rehab group session.
While reading Dry, as with Scissors, I was constantly left wondering how someone could have such wild and wacky, not to mention harmful, experiences and still emerge with a sense of perspective big enough to allow him to write about it, and with a sense of humour no less!