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Running With Scissors
Augusten Burroughs Book Review

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Plot Summary of Running With Scissors
"This is Augusten Burroughs's memoir of his childhood, when his parents divorced and his mother sent him to live with her psychiatrist who was himself in need of psychiatric help. It follows him from age nine to age seventeen. At Dr. Finch's home Augusten grew up wild with filth and feces all over the house, no school, staying up late, drug and alcohol use, and had sexual relations with Dr. Finch's pedophile adopted son. Augusten's best friend was Dr. Finch's daughter Natalie, who was about his age and longed to escape and go to Smith College. Despite all the nasty goings-on, the book has a very humorous tone to it."
Meaghan, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Running With Scissors
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - humorous
Time/era of story - 1960's-1970's
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Age group of kid(s) in story: - high school
Parents/lack of parents problem? - parental abuse
Wild kid(s)? - acting savage/like animals
Loving/sexing? - guy chasing

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - a teen
Eccentric/Mental Yes
Eccentric: - eccentric - wild
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - doctor
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes
Eccentric: - eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - quite fatty

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - touching of anatomy - licking - male homosexuals doing their thing - rape/molest (yeech!)
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Running With Scissors
Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson
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Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg
Seventeen and In Between: A Novel by Barthe Declements
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout


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Augusten Burroughs Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Meaghan  

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