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Running With Scissors

D

dsberg

New Member
I just found out that one of my favorite books is being made into a movie. The book is called "Running with Scissors" and it is a memoir by Augusten Burroughs. This book is so amazing and is really a very emotional read. I just found out that the movie is coming out October 11th and I can not wait! The cast is amazing! Hope the rest of you are as excited as I am!
 
I've got to be honest. I'm not looking forward to this movie at all. I live in the area he grew up in and I'm so sick of radio commercials for his latest book. I think Burroughs is a pretentious jerk, who is piggybacking on David Sedaris' success. However, I know that Novella liked it, and a couple others as well. There is a discussion of the book here.
 
I'm excited too!

I am so exicited for this movie. I really enjoyed the book and will be one of the first people in line to see the movie!
 
I do want to see it, but my hopes aren't very high. The cast is impressive enough (Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vanessa Redgrave, and Joseph Fiennes are in it) but I'm not sure if the book will translate well to film. Guess we'll see what happens...
 
Vanessa Redgrave isn't in Running with Scissors, but she was in a few Nip/Tuck episodes. The creator and writer of Nip/Tuck is the director of Running with Scissors. Just thought I would clear that up!
 
Vanessa Redgrave isn't in Running with Scissors, but she was in a few Nip/Tuck episodes. The creator and writer of Nip/Tuck is the director of Running with Scissors. Just thought I would clear that up![/quote

Whoops, sorry about that :eek:. I thought that Redgrave had something to do with the movie, which is why I mentioned her name. I looked up the cast on imdb.com and yes, she wasn't listed.
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I know how exciting it is to learn that a favorite book is being made into a film. I hope you aren't disappointed. Unfortunately, the creative processes involved with the two different mediums are quite different.

I just saw an author on TV the other day - he wrote the book Semi-Tough, which was made into a Burt Reynolds movie. He said that though at first he was thrilled seeing his characters brought to life on the big screen, he quickly saw the film as just a product and realized it really had nothing to do with him. :(

Just try to keep an open mind when you do see it.
 
The Reacher novels by Lee Child.

lee3.jpg
 
Well I saw Running With Scissors, and I thought it was quite good. There were many changes to the book that I didn't expect, plus the film had a more dramatic tone than Burroughs' memoirs did. It was a compelling movie though, with very few dull moments. The cast was fantastic, with Annette Bening and Brian Cox giving the most noteworthy performances. The actor playing Augusten was awkward at first but eventually he got better.
 
Just started the book - only 50 pages in. I hate it when the movie overlaps with my reading of the book. My images of the people and places starts to dissolve and is suddenly replaced with the movie version! The book is hilarious so far. Its hard to believe its a real memoir.
 
Seems you're not the only one Smilla. I found this on the Boston Globe's website:

Sure, "A Million Little Pieces" author James Frey is a fraud, but Augusten Burroughs is an even bigger phony. So says Buzz Bissinger, who blasts the best-selling author of "Running With Scissors" as a complete impostor in the new issue of Vanity Fair. "I don't know how [Burroughs] lives with himself," Bissinger told us yesterday. " ' Running With Scissors' contains little strands of fact that were wildly embellished, and if you take those away, you don't have much of a book." Bissinger's story, on newsstands next week, includes interviews with the Turcottes, the real-life western Massachusetts clan with whom Burroughs lived as a teen and who are characterized as more than kooky in the book. The family, which is suing Burroughs for defamation, claims he fabricated much of the memoir. (Burroughs has denied that, but wouldn't talk to Bissinger about the suit.) Theresa Turcotte says her family debated whether to sue Burroughs. "If you're Clint Eastwood or Barbra Streisand or somebody else, you can just intimidate the [expletive] out of [a publisher] ," she says. "But when you're us, what are we going to do . . . go over and say, 'You know, you hurt our feelings?' " Bissinger, who wrote "Friday Night Lights," believes Burroughs betrayed the Turcotte family. "They took him in and did their best, and he turned around and wrote about them in the most vile way possible," he said. "It's totally gratuitous."
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Here's a link to a review of Bissinger's piece:

http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/msg.jsp?what=TurcottesTwo
 
This is so odd...I read the link and then did some more research which led me to the home page of Burrouogh's real mother - Margaret Robison. (Burroughs real name was Christopher Robison). She is indeed a poet and has had 2 books published. She lives in Shelburne Falls, MA. As I was reading an article about her they quoted a neighbor of her's. This neighbor, Debbie Yaffee, was pretty angry at Burroughs. Says the book is a lie, that his mother was never like that. I actually know this Debbie. She lives in Shelburne Falls also, and we both grew up in Framingham, MA. I would tend to believe Debbie. We were actually in contact a few years back via Classmates.com. She's a very level headed, sane person. So...sadly, I am now of the opinion that Running With Scissors is a highly embellished version of the truth. Certainly not a memoir. I doubted it as I was reading so many direct quotes from so many sources. Odd to put so much detailed conversation into a memoir.
 
For those of you interested in the lawsuit, I posted a link to an article in the book's discussion thread. The general perception in the area here (I live halfway between Amherst and Shelburne Falls) is that the book is BS.
 
Yeah, I caught up with my old friend Debbie who lives in Shelburne Falls and has known the mother of the story since 1988. Its a huge embelishment of the truth. And its done nothing but deeply hurt many people and make Augusten Burroughs rich.
 
I checked this book out on a whim and I was not disappointed!. I found myself chuckling about Mr. & Mrs. Burroughs quarreling.:D I'm only to page 30 however, began reading late and had to call it an evening. I am looking forward to reading on today and the discussion thus far about the lawsuits and all that kind of stuff makes it more interesting. In reading a different article I found out that the directions to the "Finch" house in the book leads you right to the Turcottes. Looks like Burroughs can't deny that the Turcottes are identified in his work. His only hope now is that the facts hold up. The wikipedia entry has him claiming that he has journals of the various events that occured, should be interesting to see which ones he used or made up in his "loosely" written account.

I do like his writing, it is witty and I can't wait to read Dry. I'm not certain if this guy is a liar or if he's telling the truth. What I have read about the therapist taking him in got me curious as to whether or not that could occur. The APA's ethical principles has an interesting section on multiple relationships. I would imagine that there is a way to show that it wouldn't be detrimental to treatment. How that's possible would be interesting to learn about.

Burroughs' entire family was in therapy with Dr. Rodolph Turcotte, a psychiatrist. In 1980, Burroughs' mother asked Turcotte to become the legal guardian of the adolescent Burroughs, who was having trouble in school in Amherst, so he could attend Northampton schools. His mother still cared for him, but he had a room at the Turcottes' home to make the trip to school more convenient.
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Since the lawsuit mentions the custody arrangement, I'm presuming that it was an o.k. deal and that it was common knowledge or something was done to have it checked and okayed. Still scratching my head on that one:confused:
 
Running With Scissors is a fantastic book, yes. The film version isn't too bad either, even though it's more serious than Burroughs' memoir. I hope you do end up reading Dry not long after this; it's probably my favorite Augusten Burroughs book. I feel like Dry is a more mature and well-written work than RWS.
 
SFG75 said:
Since the lawsuit mentions the custody arrangement, I'm presuming that it was an o.k. deal and that it was common knowledge or something was done to have it checked and okayed. Still scratching my head on that one:confused:
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I think you'd have to understand the culture in Northampton and Amherst. They aren't normal towns. An employee of one of those towns that I know very well uses the phrases "fantasy world" and "different planet" to describe the culture there. I tend to agree, but the food is great, so I put up with it.
 
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