A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father

Having read all of Augusten Burroughs' books, I was hesitant to read this one after I saw some of the negative reviews. But I stand corrected. I think readers who didn't like this book were expecting the hilarity of Running With Scissors and Dry. Wolf at the Table doesn't have the funny-disturbing stories you're used to with Burroughs. Rather, the book is simply disturbing (and heartfelt at the same time). I loved this book. He is stunningly honest, and his detailing of events through the lens of a child is poignant and gripping. It really makes you realize the importance of being a good parent and how much influence, good and bad, you can have on your child.

Back when Burroughs released "Possible Side Effects" I complained that most of the pieces felt like leftovers, and that his comedic touch had become forced. I singled out "The Forecast for Sommer" and "The Georgia Thumper" as notable exceptions. These two stories were serious in tone and delivered with a hitherto untapped reservoir of empathy. I expressed a hope that these pieces were a promise of better things to come; with "A Wolf at the Table" Burroughs delivers on that promise. Simply stated, this is not the self deprecating Burroughs we have come to know and love. Gone is his trademark use of outrageous humor to depict everything as absurd and mask the mind-numbing effects of gross emotional, spiritual and physical neglect. "A Wolf at the Table" is the work of a seasoned, mature writer exploring and expanding his range. The resluts are often breathtaking. Presented here are all the events that precipitated those depicted in "Running with Scissors," reported with razor sharp wit and unflinching clarity. This small volume is not easy to take; one cringes and winces throughout. However, the end result is a wholly rewarding and illuminating reading experience.

I have read all of Augusten Burroughs' books. Because he is so brutally honest, it's easy to feel as if you know him when you read him. I've felt that way-- as he shares so much and obviously grows emotionally with each book. He had one of the most horrible childhoods imaginable, yet recounts those incidents with an acerbic sense of humor. As readers, we laugh-- but we laugh at the absurdity of the situation. The situation itself was often not quite as funny. It's almost amazing Burroughs survived many of the events he lived through. Another reviewer stated that he survived 'unscathed'. I wouldn't really agree-- I think he survived with some deep emotional scars. Yet, these scars haven't prevented him from managing to work through these issues to lead a worthwhile and loving life. Most people would be permanently damaged-- Augusten Burroughs is truly an incredible and insightful and lucky human being. It seems as if only the other day I read Burroughs' last book, Possible Side Effects. Yet, I just discovered this book was published and immediately ordered it. I received it this afternoon and finished it this evening. Not having read any of the reviews at all, I wasn't sure what to expect but I immediately noticed that this book was entirely different from all his previous books. This isn't humor-- this is an incredible memoir of living with a sociopathic parent. In his past books, he talks about his mother's mental illness, but glosses over his father's. If you read this, you can understand why. He had to be ready to write this. I imagine that writing this book must have been unimaginably painful. Some people would have NEVER been ready to write this. Consequently, it would have been impossible to really mention these events in other books without then devoting the entire book to the father. This book fills in the missing pieces you might have thought existed in Running with Scissors: A Memoir (which, up until now, I thought was the best memoir I've read). In that book, the mother comes off as the crazy one and the father may actually come off as the sometime victim. If you saw the movie Running With Scissors (a brilliant film wrongly marketed as a comedy), you might even feel some unwarranted sympathy for the father and only disdain for his narcissistic mother. However, there was so much more to his story and it's all here. Augusten Burroughs never refers to his father as a sociopath, but his father fit the very definition. He was completely devoid of any empathy, any love, any concern; a hollow man and an empty shell-- yet full of rage and cruelty. Calculating, he was able to show a different face to the public and saved his mask of kindness for strangers. He was entirely unable and unwilling to show any care to his sons or his wife. Burroughs recalls many specific events that occurred in his youth-- horribly frightening events that are almost too terrible to contemplate. I was actually going to include a few of these events here, but

Burroughs, Augusten. " A Wolf at the Table", St. Martin's, 2008. Let's Talk about Dad Amos Lassen Augusten Burroughs has become a literary wonder. His books are bestsellers and he manages to attract a large readership. We have read about his dysfunctional childhood and laughed and cried with him and wondered how he has managed to survive. I, personally, find him wonderful and await each new book. With "A Wolf at the Table", Burroughs takes us to the relationship between father and son and the extremes of love and hate. I think what makes Burroughs so interesting is not just that he is a good writer but his insight and honesty. He not only writes about himself but about all of us who want love and validation. He suffered greatly as a child but emerged unscathed (at least so it seems to us). He managed to overcomes hardships and revels at just being alive. I do not think that many of us could have withstood the kind of childhood that he experienced and come though it with a "joie de vive". Having read all of Burroughs' books, I was pretty sure that I knew what to expect from this new book but I found myself pleasantly surprised to see how Burroughs can write about such crazy experiences and remain both in control and relaxed. I think most of us who had experienced a childhood like his would find it excessively hard to remain detached and cool about it. His father was an unpredictable predator with mood swings that just happened to come along. I found the tension and suspense to be, at times, almost overbearing. Burroughs captures the suspense beautifully. When Burroughs writes about the dreams he has of his father and how he is still unable to decide whether they are dreams or events that actually happened and neither are we. To have those ideas on one's mind are frightening and the fact that Burroughs' father was not just a strange person to him but a mystery as well is the overwhelming idea that hovers over this book. He states that as he grew the idea of his father remained a sinister thought in his mind. The kind of father that he wanted and felt he needed just never did come into being. His father was a person who seemed to care only for himself and took little part in raising his son. What he did do was remain apart except when he needed his son for something sinister. Burroughs' writing has a quality to it that is hard to define. He plays with the reader and draws him in and carries him with him as he tells the dark tale of his father. Burroughs manages the emotions as they waver between love and sadness, reverence and disgust and he does so masterfully. This is a darker Augusten Burroughs than we have known but that doesn't make reading him any less interesting or fun.