Something Isn't Right

Running With Scissors is a memoir by Augusten Burroughs. It starts as Augusten watches his mother get ready to go out to a poetry reading, leaving him home alone. Augusten is a 12 year old boy who really doesn't have anyone there for him. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mom who is not mentally stable, and therefore needs to see a doctor quite frequently. He loves shiny things. He has a shelf of things he just likes to sit and polish so they can get really shiny. Augusten was the kind of boy that loved to dress nice and wouldn't go to school if his hair wasn't exactly perfect.

Augusten describes his dad as having "the loving, affectionate and outgoing personality as petrified wood." He would always ask his dad to play games with him or just try to have a conversation but his dad would always respond by saying he has too much to do, when really he only can't because he is an alcoholic. Finally his father agrees to take Augusten to the dump, where Augusten spots this chrome coffee table that he wants to take home so bad, but his dad won't let him have it. Augusten's description of life at home depicts his very hard family life.

It makes me feel really bad for him when he describes the way his parents act in front of him. That is something that can really screw up someone for the rest of their life. We will see that it does affect Augusten for a long time.