Running with scissors #2

"I threw the meat in the cart. And moved on." The last line in Augusten Burroughs memoir Running with Scissors. I was not sure what the meaning of this story was until I read the last chapter of this book. Throughout the book Burroughs writes a series of nonfiction events that happened in the time span  of his childhood to teenage years. When he was a child his mother and father divorced from a very emotionally unstable and abusive relationship. Augusten and his mother left his father and moved into a small apartment. After his mother, Deirdre, started seeing a psychiatrist named Dr. Finch, Augusten slowly became more independent from his mother and began staying at Dr. Finch's home. His mother was lost and confused, with no thanks to Dr. Finchs treatments.

Augusten bonded with Natalie and Hope, two of Dr. Finch's daughters. Augusten would hangout with Natalie almost every day, especially after he was able to stop going to school at thirteen. Burroughs was a lonely kid though. He didn't have a home to go to. No where that was stable. At Finch's everyone got to do whatever they wanted and were looked at as adults. While at his mothers, although he got to do anything he wanted he had to deal with his mothers crazy life. She had a couple affairs and unstable relationships. These relationships did not help augustens view on love and commitment.

Its safe to say Augusten had a messed up and undesirable childhood. He was not given the best situation but he always moved on and kept going. I believe that is the message of the book. Even though life it tough at times and you are dealt situations you which weren't yours, sometimes there isn't much you can do about it so you got to throw the meat in the cart and move on....


..I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a bit of humor in a really (for lack of a better word) shitty situation. Augusten Burroughs is an amazing author. I have read his other memoirs Dry and A wolf at the table and those are both excellent to.