Dry–the Sequel to Running with Scissors-Find Out What Happened Next

Sobriety is a tremendous amount of work. You, naturally sober, people don’t understand how much is entailed in dissecting every thought and emotion, peeking around every corner into the darkened alleys of your minds. Unaware of the goblets, I mean gobblins, lurking and waiting to pounce upon your psyche, you don’t have to practice your spiritual half nelsons 1200 times a day.

But surely we all have something that hovers ominously over our mental health and, for that reason, everyone should read Augusten Burroughs’ drunkography, Dry. After finally reading Running with Scissors, only after the movie came out, I was intrigued about what came next in Augusten’s life. The zany, over-the-top dysfuntionality of his youth surely rendered him drooling in a state facility somewhere. Au contraire.

He ended up doing quite well for himself with virtually no formal education and two wacked out parents who abandoned him to the care of his mother’s crazy psychiatrist. Well, read Running with Scissors if you haven’t already. If you have and you liked it or were simply riveted by disgust to the sheer horror of it all, don’t you want to know what happened next?

And if you have an addiction to alcohol, people, drugs, yourself, work, or just about anything else, this is a must read!!!

I think it’s the raw, uncensored honesty that only a great writer, who has been plagued by uncertainty, laced with grandeur, can pull off. In my opinion there isn’t a literary soul who can spit shine David Sedaris’ shoes but Augusten has my attention. His style and his biting humor really remind me of Sedaris. The dialogue is masterful in both Dry and Running with Scissors and the characters, who we presume to be real, become people we don’t want to lose contact with. That’s because we’re co-dependent but it’s also because Augusten Burroughs is a great expresser with a phenomenally keen sense of observation and a deep sensitivity.

For all of you who are annoyed by smart asses, you should know this: we are the most sensitive people on earth. Sarcasm is the wall the rest of you forced us (emotional Egyptians) to build by not being sensitive, yourselves, to the feelings of others early on. You’re welcome, Augusten. No problem, David. My pleasure. I’m on your side.

Anyway, this is a great real story of rock bottom, treatment, pink clouds, sobriety, love, loss, relapse, and …well, I can’t tell you everything. I can tell you that my personal sobriety depends, largely, on people like Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and countless others who share the deepest parts of themselves with a twist of humor, splashes of sadness, and plain old pure grain honesty.