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In another unsettling, disturbing, raucous tale of misadventure, Augusten Burroughs takes us even deeper into his own life.
Following international success with his first memoirs, "Running With Scissors" and "Dry," which detail his heart-wrenching story of rape, mental illness and the search for sobriety, Burroughs changes his gears in his latest book, "Possible Side Effects."
It's quirky, it's weird, and it is 291 pages of goodness.
He opens his latest memoir on a plane, headed to South Georgia to visit his grandparents, whom he calls by their first names. Young Burroughs loses his first tooth, and Carolyn, his grandmother, explains the story of the tooth fairy to him. Shocked and appalled at this "creepy bug woman with her devil wand," he carefully blocks all entrances into his room.
The rest of the book reads in this same offbeat fashion, often making us question, as the everyday reader, whether this is truly nonfiction. His life is absurd. It is ridiculous and unbelievable, and this is what makes him intriguing, loveable and a New York Times best-selling author.
Beneath the outlandish absurdity of his life, Burroughs searches for truth. He is honest in an almost painful way; he sees things as they are, never with preconceived notions or judgment.
Burroughs questions the state of humanity and, more so than that, the state of our everyday lives. On top of all that, he manages to make his ponderings, self-truths and cultural observations hilarious.
In one particularly humorous and insightful segment, Burroughs questions the cultural implications of fast food.
"If McDonald's was for blacks and Wendy's was for whites, who was Burger King for? Without a definite brand image, and with those grill marks, it seemed Burger King was caught somewhere in limbo. A fallback position. A catchall. For mulattoes?"
He continues to explain Subway is obviously for single women, in large part because of the "dildo-shaped sandwiches made from more healthful ingredients," and Dairy Queen, with its same-sex undertones, is for Evangelical, bulimic Christians.
His statements and his humor, if read raw, like in this review, can be taken offensively, but he manages to keep a healthy grasp on reality, the feelings of others and his own personal self-identifications: a sexually abused, abandoned, white, homosexual male.
Burroughs' own life has given him the credentials to poke fun at the rest of the world.
The back cover says it all: "This text is contraindicated in those suffering from certain psychiatric disorders, including - but not limited to - readers afflicted with anhedonia, which is the inability to experience pleasure. Ask your doctor about possible side effects."
