

What follows is a memoir that's as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is real.Īugusten Burroughs born Christopher Robison, son of poet and writer Margaret Robison and younger brother of John Elder Robison.īurroughs has no formal education beyond elementary school. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life and live it sober. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click, and that's when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. At the request (well, it wasn't really a request) of his employers, Augusten landed in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey, Jr., are immediately dashed by the grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls, and cologne on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising.

You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs.
