In DRY, the follow-up to his bestselling memoir RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, Burroughs is all grown up and working in the cutthroat world of advertising. Feb 01, 2005 Dry, A Memoir Augusten Burroughs St Martin's Press 175 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 272057, $24.95, 293 pp. Augusten is a young advertising copywriter who is also gay. In his biography, he walks the reader through the swamp of alcoholism leaving us both horrified and amused.

1. Dry A Memoir By Augusten Burroughs
2. Dry By Augusten Burroughs
3. The Dry Book Synopsis

Augusten Burroughs is an advertising executive in New York City. In the nonfiction book 'Dry' he details his struggles with alcohol. When he was thirteen, his mother gave custody of him to her psychiatrist. He grew up in a dysfunctional family with no rules and no school. He is able to land an advertising job based on his talent when he is nineteen. He is now twenty-four and living in an apartment in New York. Augusten is frequently hungover at work, and eventually his co-worker Greer complains and he is ordered to rehab. Augusten agrees to go to the Proud Institute, a gay rehab establishment. Augusten tells his best friend, George Stathakis, whom he calls Pighead, that he is going to rehab. Pighead, who is HIV positive, thinks it's a good idea. His friend Jim thinks the idea of going to rehab is funny. At rehab, Augusten stays for 30 days and faces the fact that he drinks too much. He meets Hayden, a crack addict and alcoholic, and they become good friends.

• Augusten Burroughs is an advertising executive in New York City. In the nonfiction book 'Dry' he details his struggles with alcohol. When he was thirteen, his mother gave custody of him to her psychiatrist. He grew up in a dysfunctional family with no rules and no school.
• Apr 23, 2013 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 true. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a Higher Power.

Augusten Burroughs returned to his apartment in New York City and goes to see Pighead, who tells him he looks very different and much healthier. Augusten needs to leave because he has to go to a meeting. He has been sober for thirty days. At his group therapy session, he meets Foster, a crack addict and alcoholic who lived with an abusive British man named Kyle. Augusten is attracted to Foster. Hayden tells him he is leaving rehab tomorrow and asks if he can come stay in New York City with Augusten. Augusten learns his agency is one of the finalists for the Wirksam beer account. When Augusten goes to see Foster, he thinks he may be smoking crack again, but Foster says he's just been tired. At group therapy, Augusten finds out Foster's been smoking crack for a month and has quit the group. Augusten goes to see Foster, who apologizes. The two sleep together. Augusten gets word that Pighead is in the hospital. Augusten spends a lot of time taking care of Pighead and neglects to go to therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Pighead takes a turn for the worse and dies, and Augusten falls off the wagon. He drinks and does drugs until he gets alcohol poisoning. Pighead had ordered a gold pig head with a message to Augusten to stop drinking. Augusten gets this after Pighead dies. Augusten eventually reclaims his sobriety. He and his friend Jim come out of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. A streetlight that always goes on when Augusten passes goes on, and Augusten thinks it's Pighead saying hello to him.

Dry is a memoir written by American writer Augusten Burroughs. It describes the author's battle with alcoholism. Dry was written before Running with Scissors, but was published second.^[1]Dry reached number 24 on The New York TimesBest Seller list for Hardcover Nonfiction.^[2]

Dry A Memoir By Augusten Burroughs

Although the memoir is based on actual events, the first pages include this author's note: 'This memoir is based on my experiences over a ten-year period. Names have been changed, characters combined, and events compressed. Certain episodes are imaginative re-creation, and those episodes are not intended to portray actual events.'^[3]

Synopsis[edit]

The first part of the memoir centers on Burroughs' intervention by his co-workers and boss as well as his time spent at a rehab facility that caters specifically to gay and lesbian patients. The second part of the novel deals with Burroughs' first bout with sobriety since leaving the rehab program. He meets a love interest at his group therapy sessions and takes in a fellow addict in recovery. Part II also shows the decline in health in Burroughs' ex-boyfriend and current friend, only named Pighead in the memoir. Pighead is living with HIV, and although healthy in the beginning of the book, he eventually succumbs to the effects of HIV. The death of his friend sends Burroughs into a relapse, including drinking, cocaine and crack. The memoir ends with Burroughs getting clean and helping another alcoholic friend of his through his recovery.

Characters[edit]

Augusten

Main character and author of the memoir.

Greer

Burroughs's co-worker and friend. Part of the intervention

Jim

Mortician. Burroughs's drinking buddy. Reappears in the end sober and in recovery as well.

Pighead

Burroughs's best friend and former love interest.

Foster

Burroughs's love interest in the memoir. They meet at group therapy for alcohol/drug addicts.

Hayden

Recovering addict who moves in with Burroughs midway through the memoir

Film adaptation[edit]

Burroughs is writing the script for a Showtime series based on the memoir. No release date has been announced.^[4]

References[edit]

1. ^Mcdonald, Natalie Hope (August 13, 2003). 'Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs'. Pop Matters.
2. ^'Hardcover Nonfiction'. The New York Times. July 6, 2003.
3. ^McElhatton, Heather (November 3, 2011). 'Truth vs. Fiction in Augusten Burroughs' memoir, 'Dry''. MPR. Retrieved May 12, 2011.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
4. ^Mitchell, Wendy (October 27, 2009). 'Augusten Burroughs plans new TV shows with CBS, Showtime'. Entertainment Weekly.

See also[edit]

Dry By Augusten Burroughs

The Dry Book Synopsis