DRY: Augusten Burroughs

After reading Running With Scissors, I was determined to read the second memoir by it's author Augusten Burroughs. Over the summer while in Pismo I found the book at the outlets for $4.99 so I quickly picked it up. Needless to say while you are laid up ill you have a lot of free time to do some reading so I read the book. I must say that while I finished the entire book it wasn't quite the book that Running With Scissors was. In fact in terms of addiction and recovery it pales in comparison to Oprahs recently selected Book of the Month A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Having read Running with Scissors it is obvious that Burroughs was predisposed to addiction however his lack of strength in relapsing and lack of common sense in choosing a Crack Addict from group therapy to get involved with really disappointed me, I guess I expected more from him. I also did not like the point at which the memoir concluded, after taking this entire journey through rehab and relapse you get a five page chapter concluding the memoir that basically informs you Augusten has one year sober and that his friend Jim now has 90 days and thats the conclusion. Highly dissapointed. To sum things up read Running With Scissors but if you are looking for a good book on addiction and recovery stay away from Dry and instead pick up a copy of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.