Books Possible Side Effects
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - He's a trashy memoirist, he said it himself.
Short stories or vignettes of this nature can be read in twenty minutes, out of order, one by one, all at once, etc. But do they have to wrap up with a concise moral lesson for the memoirist? Burroughs certainly writes with humor about his life; both the darker moments as well as the lighter. However at times the conclusions reached seem overly concise. Contrived, if you will. Did he really walk away from a series of bad dates thinking how glad he was not to get up in others' spinning? Or did he impose that emotion on the memory to create the illusion of progress. Each story ends with a neat little summation that feels like an easy out. A writer as self-deprecating and flawed as Augusten Burroughs should know that his readership craves his cynicism and selfish behavior. That and his ability to wittily describe any situation make him loveable. Not the moral lessons at the end of each chapter. Obviously the lessons were learned; have a little faith that the reader does not need it spelled out.

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Rating: - Very good-
Nice read--a bunch of short stories--so you can read one, not pick the book up for a couple of days, read another...however, relative to other augusten books (esp. running with scissors, dry, magical thinking), it is not QUITE as good.

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Rating: - My first Burroughs
...and though it left me less-than-amazed (as a friend promised I would be), I am mostly definitely intrigued when it comes to this author now. I can see myself reading some of his other works, even if this collection of memoir/essays are simply "okay".

All right. "Possible Side Effects" is a pretty good book. It's light and serious simultaneously, at times downright hilarious, and sometimes kind of boring. Fact of the matter is, it's pretty disorganized. Some of the story/essays made me grin, others grimace, and some were just kind of pathetic. At times, Burroughs managed to create the perfect mood - light, but important. Other times, stories were kind of scattered and pointless. Understandable in a memoir, but still somewhat annoying.

This seems like the kind of book you could really like if you just like reading other people tell you semi-funny, semi-sad stories about their lives. And while this memoir is humorously written, it's at times a bit... boring. And while lives are great and all, too much is just too much. Maybe I shouldn't have started here?

It's a pretty good book on the whole, but it's still not all that much. I'm sure I won't detract true Burroughs fans nor those curious about this author as I was, but keep in mind that this is not a stunning memoir, simply an okay one.

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Rating: - Possible Side Effects
Excellent book! Loved everything that I have read by Augusten so far. Not as great as Running with Scissors, but still a really good book that held my interest the whole time.