Ok, so this was the third in a series of books Constantine and I were to read together. As we all know…
Running with Scissors, a messed up name, for a messed up book! An EXCELLENT messed up book! I was utterly horrified at what this guy went through in his childhood, but could not stop laughing at all the insanity that followed.
The book is about Augusten from the ages of 13-16. His mother, who seems to have bi-polar and one wacked out therapist who should probably have been put in a mental hospital long ago. His mother begins spending days at a time with Dr. Finch and Augusten gets very upset at his home situation. The author goes form a sterile and clean home where everything has to be his mother’s way to a pink house where the Christmas tree stays all year long; there is dust and mayhem, pets, broken furniture, and a bunch of really intense characters. Augusten goes form worrying about his hair being perfect and his clothes immaculate to living with the shrink and his family, drinking and smoking and not going to school.
For three years the reader gets a glimpse into the life and evolution of Augusten, his trials and tribulations, the rocky family situation as his mother starts dating again and his father not accepting his collect calls, the weird pink house as his safe heaven except where everything gets too crazy and he has to go back to his moms house to relax and recoup. His intense first relationship with a much older man who is fragile and intense at the same time and the funny hair analogies that Augusten would sneak in for some comic relief.
This is another book I would HIGHLY suggest reading!
I got the movie in the mail the other day from netflix, but sadly it was unplayable! :'( Hopefully I will get the replacement on Saturday so I can let you know how that is.
UPDATE:// So I just watched the movie running with scissors and I was very let down. They compressed a few LARGE parts of the book into a single 15 minute section of the movie, they changed some of the most mundane things. IE: “Give me a shoe horn” whereas the book says “Give me a spatula”. Just stuff like that which was very annoying. And the whole kitchen ceiling thing. Hello! They tore down the ENTIRE ceiling, not just a little hole! Ugh!
It’s a GOOD movie, don’t get me wrong, but it’s of course does not live up to the book.