Magical Thinking: True Stories - Softcover

Burroughs, Augusten

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312315953 ISBN 13: 9780312315955

Publisher: Picador, 2005

Synopsis

From the #1 bestselling author of Running with Scissors and Dry--a contagiously funny, heartwarming, shocking, twisted, and absolutely magical collection. True stories that give voice to the thoughts we all have but dare not mention. It begins with a Tang Instant Breakfast Drink television commercial when Augusten was seven. Then there is the contest of wills with the deranged cleaning lady. The execution of a rodent carried out with military precision and utter horror. Telemarketing revenge. Dating an undertaker and much more. A collection of true stories that are universal in their appeal yet unabashedly intimate and very funny.

About this title

Review

It’s best to know this from the start: Augusten Burroughs is mean. Augusten Burroughs is also outrageously X-rated. If you can get past those two things, Burroughs might just be the most refreshing voice in American books today, and his collection of acerbic essays will have you laughing out loud even while cringing in your seat. Whether he is stepping on the fingers of little children or giving you the blow-by-blow on a very unholy act, Burroughs manages to do it in a way that fills conflicted fans with both horror and glee.

Spanning from the surprisingly Machiavellian portrayal of his role in a Tang commercial at age seven to his more recent foray into dog ownership, Burroughs has what seems to be an endless supply of offbeat life experiences. Much like earlier David Sedaris collections (Barrel Fever or Naked), there are occasional fits and starts in the flow of the writing, but ultimately, Magical Thinking is worth reading (and re-reading). If you’re familiar with Burroughs's memoirs, Running with Scissors, and Dry, you may find parts of Magical Thinking repetitive, since these essays bounce around in time between the other two. In fact, in an ideal world, this collection would have come first, as it offers an excellent introduction to Burroughs's fascinating life. --Vicky Griffith

From the Back Cover

Praise for Augusten Burroughs

"A wrenching, edifying journey...with the added benefit of being really entertaining."
- The New York Times Book Review on Dry

"Beneath the quick-flowing, funny-sad surface of Burroughs's prose lurks considerable complexity."
- Time on Dry

"A great read."
- Chicago Sun-Times on Dry

"Dry is more than a heartbreaking tale; it's a heroic one."
- People on Dry

"Laughter on the road to sobriety...for aficionados of outrageous black comedy."
- The New York Times on Dry

"Bawdy, outrageous...insanely funny (quite literally)...a William Burroughs situation comedy."
- The New York Times on Running with Scissors

"Running with Scissors, as a memoir in the current conventional sense, makes a good run at blowing every other contender out of the water."
- The Washington Post on Running with Scissors

"Outrageously amusing...wait until you get a load of this guy's material.... He can consider this a fan letter. Grade A."
- Entertainment Weekly on Running with Scissors

"As funny as it is twisted."
- GQ on Running with Scissors

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0312315953
• ISBN 13: 9780312315955
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304