2008 Woodie Awards
'Magical Thinking' Will Leave You Thinking
Alex Porta
Issue date: 3/16/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Writing has become something that is often distant, and we can only really grasp it in its final form, when it is read. More and more, we dismiss our own abilities because it has already been done or we feel uninspired. What Augusten Burroughs does is take his life experiences and turn them into an amazing story that captures our eyes and forces us to dig out those journals and search for something that even resembles astonishing.
Burroughs weaves his stories into a tapestry of shocking, yet honest images that lead us into his world. His third book follows the same ideas as the first two, Running with Scissors and Dry, but one does not need to read them before reading his latest, Magical Thinking. Just keep in mind that they are written chronologically and depend largely on his journals from when he was younger.
Augusten Burroughs is a gay man who has a fascination with everything from television commercials to his career as a commercial designer and a writer. Burroughs has also determined that he "is too tall to have a sex change operation." That kind of came out of nowhere, but that is exactly how Burroughs writes.
It is amazing how he can just throw ideas out there and then explain in great detail how he came to a conclusion through an experience in his childhood or adulthood. These stories are incredible, particularly when he describes how a 4'11" maid took $12,000 from him in less than a year and he let her. I don't want to give away these stories or even try to explain them, because I cannot do them justice.
Magical thinking is Burrough's way of explaining what happens when one wishes for something to happen through thoughts or actions and the wish actually turns out that way.
A good analogy is the saying "step on a crack, break your mother's back." Augusten Burroughs steps on all the cracks and breaks his mother's back. Seriously, his mom became incapacitated. This concept is important when reading the book and the title, which reflects all of the ideas behind these concepts.
Burroughs' stories force a certain amount of magical thinking into his readers' heads and makes them consider the possibility of it all being real.
Burroughs weaves his stories into a tapestry of shocking, yet honest images that lead us into his world. His third book follows the same ideas as the first two, Running with Scissors and Dry, but one does not need to read them before reading his latest, Magical Thinking. Just keep in mind that they are written chronologically and depend largely on his journals from when he was younger.
Augusten Burroughs is a gay man who has a fascination with everything from television commercials to his career as a commercial designer and a writer. Burroughs has also determined that he "is too tall to have a sex change operation." That kind of came out of nowhere, but that is exactly how Burroughs writes.
It is amazing how he can just throw ideas out there and then explain in great detail how he came to a conclusion through an experience in his childhood or adulthood. These stories are incredible, particularly when he describes how a 4'11" maid took $12,000 from him in less than a year and he let her. I don't want to give away these stories or even try to explain them, because I cannot do them justice.
Magical thinking is Burrough's way of explaining what happens when one wishes for something to happen through thoughts or actions and the wish actually turns out that way.
A good analogy is the saying "step on a crack, break your mother's back." Augusten Burroughs steps on all the cracks and breaks his mother's back. Seriously, his mom became incapacitated. This concept is important when reading the book and the title, which reflects all of the ideas behind these concepts.
Burroughs' stories force a certain amount of magical thinking into his readers' heads and makes them consider the possibility of it all being real.