Running with Scissors

Running with Scissors is a 2002 memoir by American writer Augusten Burroughs. The book tells the story of Burroughs's bizarre childhood life after his mother, who had an obsession with Anne Sexton, sent him to live with her psychiatrist. Running with Scissors spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Running with Scissors covers the period of Burroughs's adolescent years, beginning at age 12 after a brief overview of his life as a child. Burroughs spends his early childhood in a clean and orderly home, obsessing over his clothes, hair, accessories, and having great potential, with his parents constantly fighting in the background. When his parents separate and his mother begins to second-guess her sexuality, Burroughs is...