Dry

Description

You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the underground, at restaurants: a twenty-something 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 aftershave 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 the grim reality of flourescent 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 real.

Augusten Burroughs lives in New York City. His life story is in his books.

The horrors of his past are extreme, yet he describes them with such throwaway hilarity that they could be trips to the circus.' Gaby Wood * Observer * From rehab to relapse... Wickedly funny, painfully honest, and uber-cool, I haven't read anything this sharp, hip or honest in my life. * Elle * Poke-in-the-eye sharp, optimistic and braver than almost any other book on the subject. * Independent on Sunday *