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
βI was addicted to βBewitchedβ as a kid. I worshipped Darren Stevens the First. When heβd come home from work and Samantha would say, βDarren, would you like me to fix you a drink?β Heβd always rest his briefcase on the table below the mirror in the foyer, wipe his forehead with a monogrammed handkerchief and say, βBetter make it a double.ββ (from Chapter Two)
You may not know it, but youβve met Augusten Burroughs. Youβve 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 wasnβt 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 thatβs 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 lifeβand live it sober. What follows is a memoir thatβs 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.
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