Review by New York Times Review
ONE OF THE annoyances of having an apartment near ground zero, Augusten Burroughs came to realize, was encountering disaster tourism: shameless guides and camera-clutching foreigners, treading where humans fell or jet parts landed. "No matter how awful something is," Burroughs concludes, "you can always sell tickets." I wonder if that may be directed at all of us, his fans, who have followed the benighted Mr. Burroughs through America's most awful, ludicrous childhood in "Running With Scissors," published in 2002, and the sere obligations of rehab in the 2003 follow-up, "Dry." Burroughs's wit isn't just the stoic, serviceable humor required of miserable-life memoirs. He has given us the gold standard of snark, rants and monologues a stand-up comic could envy. And the more awful were his travails, the more we voyeurs plopped down our money for a ticket. Burroughs has written continuously - a self-help book called "This Is How" (not a satire); the ghastly "A Wolf at the Table," about his inexcusable father; and a few essay collections that swept up some other memories ("Magical Thinking," "Possible Side Effects") - but there is a sense that the first two monumental performances were in need of a third showstopper to crown the unofficial trilogy. Augusten Burroughs completists are in luck. "Lust and Wonder" picks up the tale of Burroughs's post-rehab, 1990s love life in New York City, where his self-sabotaged, romantic belly flops prompt the vinegar-dipped pen to flow again - a welcome return to form. He emerges from rehab still thirsty for drink, wielding a mop of long hair, sunglasses whatever the weather and a pirate earring. He finds a home in the only world that will have him - advertising. This begins Burroughs's comeback on the functionality trail that inspires his first novel, "Seilevision," a home-shopping network satire, which leads to his securing the services of his literary agent ... with whom he falls in love. But true love's course takes a few detours. The book settles on the challenges of two previous relationships: Mitch, then Dennis. There's infidelity (Burroughs isn't motivated by lust, but he wishes to see if his parts actually still work), tracking one's boyfriend in chat rooms surreptitiously, Internet dating ("My feeling was, if you're in the same ZIP code, you and I have enough in common") and contemplating affairs with one's lover's more famous literary buddies. And, this being Manhattan, analysts. Dennis and Augusten endure years of nonexistent sex. An analyst suggests that they should ritually attempt relations once a week (Wednesday) with no ejaculation expected. Indeed, neither of the lovers should feel the duty to achieve arousal. "The therapist had set our bar extremely low," Burroughs writes, "and still, I wasn't sure I could meet it." One of the magic tricks of Burroughs's work is that while he is confessing all, heaping up details humiliating and cruel to everyone concerned, there is nonetheless an "it's probably all my fault" sweetness with a flicker of romantic hope he can't quite extinguish. These doomed relationships dragged on for years because Burroughs really loved these men and wanted to make things right. Once he lets himself pursue his original love and lets himself be loved in return, the book changes its tone. Is Contented Augusten as entertaining as Miserable Augusten? Um, no. You know how some couples behave as if their dogs are their children and go on at length about every imagined canine crisis? The last chapters are the book version of that. But hey, I'm happy to see Augusten Burroughs happy. It took 40-some years for him to finally catch a break. And his fans will cheer this, too. WILTON BARNHARDT'S most recent novel is "Lookaway, Lookaway."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 3, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Burroughs is back! Longtime fans of the memoirist are going to be over the moon with this new work and with how the fearlessly candid author, most famously of Running with Scissors (2002), manages to reveal still more of himself. In revelations that shift from ribald to tender, Burroughs writes of his long search for love, the relationship he seemed fated to have but determinedly avoided for years, and the tough break-ups that happened along the way. In the midst of recounting his romantic struggles, he also shares insights about his writing, from how it saved his life when alcoholism and grief seemed to be stealing him away and then, later, how his ability to write left him, and he began to wonder if the words would ever return. His brutal honesty about himself and others is as sharp and surprising as ever, and how Burroughs manages to effortlessly convey so much of his complicated histories, such as a lifelong need to bury his fears in the purchase of jewelry, is a lesson in the elegant use of narrative as a vehicle for truth. In an era of tedious oversharing, the memoirist who wrote two of the genre's defining titles reminds us yet again why he is an unstoppable force. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Big promotional efforts will alert fans to the return of this best-selling, much discussed authors; prepare for long hold lists.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Over the past decade and a half, Burroughs has established himself as a leading figure in a realm that blends elements of memoir and autobiography with a variety of other literary genres. He also maintains a solid track record for performing the audio editions of his own works in a straightforward conversational manner that engages the listener as a confidante and coconspirator. Burroughs's latest explores the less-than-rosy aspects of literary success and the pitfalls of settling into a long-term relationship lacking passion and spontaneity. He hasn't lost his edge, displaying a distinct ability to use changes in pitch and tone to convey shifting emotional perspective. Burroughs switches back and forth between deadpan monotone and raging histrionics as events unfold. Some of the cathartic moments of the narrative shine more than the others in the audio edition, especially when formerly hard-partying Burroughs finds himself becoming addicted to buying jewelry on the Internet. Fans of Burroughs will not be disappointed. A St. Martin's hardcover. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The bestselling author is back with a chronicle of his exasperating love life in New York City following addiction and recovery. In his latest autobiographical story, Burroughs (This Is How, 2012, etc.) traces his frustrating track record with men and eternal search for true love in the big city. He opens with a break in his long-held sobriety in the mid-1990s, during which he landed a date with Mitch, a "deeply odd," gay writerin fact, the author of one of Burroughs' "favorite books." They fell for each other quickly and entered into an up-and-down relationship. At the beginning of the book, the author intersperses these episodes with snippets of history from his early life in advertising in Boston and driving cross-country to San Francisco. A love affair with a man named George followed, but George's death, which introduces the book's commanding center section, threw Burroughs into a drunken spiral of bed-wetting and compulsive QVC gem-buying marathons, which inspired his 2000 novel Sellevision. Romantic feelings for Christopher, his agent at the time, derailed when Christopher divulged his HIV-positive status. The deflated author then went on a dating spree with men who weren't "medically off limits." Throughout, Burroughs is hypercritical of his love interestse.g., the fine lines around Mitch's eyes gave him a "ravaged by time" look. Some readers may find that the author's early impressions of dating someone with AIDS are insensitive. However, he writes colorfully of his time with "normal and stable" Dennis, with whom he had a powerful yet different kind of relationship "because I was sober and actually experiencing it"; the relationship waxed and waned through passion, conflict, disillusionment, and an eventual separation. An admittance of his undeniable love for Christopher, who had since battled cancer but was game for the challenge of loving the writer unconditionally, opens the third part of this serpentine dating memoir, which ends with bright beams of contentment and happiness. A satisfying success story from a reliably outspoken raconteur. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
