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Much more grounded than his hilarious and bizarre previous memoir, Running With Scissors, Burroughs shows us his grown up self here and delves into his experiences with alcoholism and advertising. I've never experienced AA or rehab but have seen enough movies about it to only be mildly interested in reading about his experiences with it. I have experienced advertising though, and wished there was more of that here, though of course it's not meant to be his focus. He is bitter about the experience though and it comes out in every description of his clients, his co-workers, and the environment.

My favorite line is when his partner, Greer, comments on how you have to abandon your dignity in advertising and Burroughs responds that he has no dignity and in fact "I was drunk for so many years, I didn't really even realize I was in advertising."

The book deals mostly with how Burroughs dealt with becoming sober as well as a new relationship with a fellow rehabber and a friend that is dying of AIDS. Much heavier stuff than the ludicrous happenings of his last book. His humor still comes through though. I just found myself more interested in the subjects he spent the least amount of time on., like his job and his raging alchoholic adventures (which are done with pretty early on).

Posted at July 19, 2004 01:49 PM