From the New York Times Bestselling author of Running With Scissors comes the story of one man trying to out-drink his memories, outlast his demons, and outrun his past.
St. Martin's Press
June 2003
320 pages ISBN: 0312272057 Hardcover Add to Wish List
“I was addicted to “Bewitched” as a kid. I worshipped Darren
Stevens the First. When he’d come home from work and
Samantha would say, ‘Darren, would you like me to fix you a
drink?’ He’d always rest his briefcase on the table below
the mirror in the foyer, wipe his forehead with a
monogrammed handkerchief and say, ‘Better make it a
double.’” (from Chapter Two)
You may not know it, but you’ve met Augusten Burroughs.
You’ve seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at
restaurants: a twentysomething guy, nice suit, works in
advertising. Regular. Ordinary. 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. Loud, distracting ties,
automated wake-up calls and cologne on the tongue could only
hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn’t
really a request) of his employers, Augusten lands in rehab,
where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey Jr. are
immediately dashed by grim reality of fluorescent lighting
and paper hospital slippers. 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.
Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his
same drunken Manhattan life—and live it sober. What follows
is a memoir that’s as moving as it is funny, as
heartbreaking as it is true. Dry is the story of love, loss,
and Starbucks as a Higher Power.