“Running With Scissors”… In Just a Word… Strange

February 22, 2007

Months ago I was browsing the aisles at Borders when I saw a book that caught my attention. The title, while certainly not a unique phrase, seemed to say “hey… this could be good”. I’d never heard of Running With Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs, so I didn’t buy the book right away. I decided to see what other folks were saying about it before plunking down some money.

Quite a few reviewers compared Burroughs’ writing style to that of David Sedaris - my favorite author - and that was enough to convince me. But for some reason, I never got around to actually getting the book. So when I found myself at Borders again last Friday, and Running With Scissors was on the “best sellers” table, I decided to finally get it.

Over the weekend I read the book. And when I found out there was an accompanying movie, I decided to watch it as well.

If I had to sum up either version in one word, it’d simply be this: STRANGE.

The Book

In a nutshell, the story is the personal memoir of one Augusten Burroughs. His mother, who suffered from some version of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with psychotic features, transfers legal guardianship of her son over to her eccentric psychiatrist, Dr. Finch. Her psychosis progresses as the story goes on and she becomes completely unfit to watch over her child. Burroughs ends up living with the Finch family… who are all completely nuts.

Forget about the patients that Dr. Finch has living with his family. Forget about the toddler who poops on the floor. Forget about the wretched, rancid condition of the Finch house. And pay no attention to that psychotic patient-turned-adopted-son who ends up getting involved in a relationship with Augusten (despite the fact that there’s about 15 years difference between their ages). “The Doctor”, as his family calls him, may be the craziest one of them all.

During one of his earliest meetings with Augusten he reveals specific details about a back room at his office that he refers to as his private “masterbatorium”. At one point he calls the family together in the bathroom because he’s convinced that his turds are messages from God. He even has his family following him around the streets of the town, covered in balloons, for their own private parade. And he helps Augusten fake a suicide attempt so that he can be kept out of school.

Because in the Finch house, kids become adults at the age of 13. If they don’t want to go to school, they don’t have to. If they want to have sexual relationships, they can. Even if they’re with much older people (several of the Finch children partake of this freedom). They can smoke… drink… do drugs… and eat dog food if they’d like.

If we weren’t assured over and over again that this was all true, you’d honestly think it was a sick attempt at fiction. It’s what many experts refer to as “dark humor”. Because Burroughs tries his hardest to tell the stories about sex, drugs, psychotic behavior, and sever dysfunction with a hint of sarcastic humor… much in the style of David Sedaris.

But the difference is that I have yet to read anything by David Sedaris that I’d describe as “dark”. And while Sedaris isn’t afraid to use a few choice words in his writings, Burroughs goes much further. There are several rather graphic descriptions of sexual encounters between Augusten and another Dr. Fitch adoptee that goes by his last name: Bookman (yes… that would be man on man action I’m referring to… and trust me… that was a bracing surprise… hence the warning). Burroughs isn’t quite as good with the humor as Sedaris. But otherwise I can see why some compare the two.

I have a hard time deciding if I’d use the word “like” to describe my opinion of the book. I didn’t dislike it. But I’m not sure “like” is the word I want to use. It’s a strange, strange book. In fact, it’s one of the strangest books I’ve ever read. And I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone. But overall I’d say it was worth my time to read. If nothing else, it’s interesting to see all of the dysfunction that a person can experience and still turn out relatively sane (we assume).

The Movie

I got excited when I found out there was a movie. Burroughs’ mother is played by Annette Bening… and I like her. Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin, Joseph Cross, Jill Clayburgh, and Gwyneth Paltrow round out the rest of the major characters in the movie. And while the scenes depicted in the movie are generally pretty accurate, some things are all wrong with it.

For one, the ending is completely different. That’s really the biggest difference between the print and big-screen versions. And without some of the dialog and scenes between major events in the movie, it seems to jump around a lot. There were several instances when I thought to myself that a person who hadn’t read the book would have no clue what was going on.

Luckily the movie left out the graphic stuff. It’s still rated R. There’s some language, sexual suggestion, and “mature themes”… so it’s certainly not a family movie. And it’s not for the action-seeking, either. There are several scenes that are laugh-out-loud funny. But for the most part, it’s more of a “generally entertaining” kind of movie.

I did like the movie. It was a little less strange than the book (because some of the really weird stuff was left out). But it was also a little on the slow side. If you’re not looking for a whiz-bang-bam kind of movie, you might enjoy it.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you… the movie trailer:
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Conclusions

If the strange and unusual is your thing, Running With Scissors mightbe for you. If you enjoy reading about the experiences of the psychologically disturbed, you might enjoy RWS (and indeed… that was my favorite part of the whole book/movie experience). But if you’re easily turned off by stretches of moral and social norms… you might want to avoid this one.

Personally… I’m glad I read/watched it. It was worth the time and effort.

Category Posted in Book Reviews