Customer Reviews

You Better Not Cry

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have enjoyed reading Augusten Burroughs books for many years. I was thrilled to learn that he had a new book out. Being a bit of a scrooge myself, I knew this book would not disappoint. It is a compilation of several different essays. I really enjoyed reading the book and it helped pull me into the Christmas spirit.

I'm a huge fan of all of Augusten's books, but I found this one just a little disappointing. I read "You Better Not Cry" in two days...not because I'm a super speedy reader, but because it's a very short book. The page count is decent, but the size of the book is very tiny so the book is over before you know it.

That's my biggest problem with the book. It's just TOO short.

That said, it's an entertaining read. The book progresses chronologically through Augusten's past. The stories of his childhood are generally quite funny. Generally speaking, I actually like stories of his adult life better than stories of his childhood (i.e. I like "Dry" and "Magical Thinking" even more than "Running With Scissors"). This also holds true with "You Better Not Cry". My favorite stories in the book are of his adult life. My favorite story in the book is "Silent Night." This heart-warming little tale makes me really sad that Augusten and Dennis are no longer together.

I found his story titled, "The Best and Only Everything" terribly sad and it's the longest story in the book. But there are amusing stories, too. I really enjoyed the title story, "You Better Not Cry."

All in all, it's a worthwhile read. And with Amazon's discounted price, I'm glad I bought it. I just wish it were longer! Keep writing, Augusten. I just can't get enough of your words!

We waited at least two years for this? The title was great, catchy, made you think it was going to be funny but it wasn't. To me it seems like this book was thrown together because of some deadline, it didn't seem to have much heart. The stories were long and drawn out and couldn't keep my attention much as his work usually is so intense you cant put it down. I was also expecting more humor but it wasn't the case for this book. I was really, REALLY looking forward to this book so it's quite the disappointment. I guess I'll be camped out until the next one though as I still have a ton of faith in this man. Sorry Augusten but I'm being honest........

Not at all what I expected to read ---. I had not known the author and had not realized he was gay. That didn't change my mind though as I read; it was truly fun and sad at the same time. I believe the hour you spend with this book will not be wasted --- obviously, it's heartfelt and I got a sense that Christmas was longed for, as it should be. The childhood glimpses were tough, sad and tragic. The flood was also extremely sad but brought the whole Christmas theme to light. Thank you

You can keep your Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp crushes. . . if I am being 100% earnest and honest, my number #1 fan-girl crush is unashamedly on gay American writer, Augusten Burroughs.

I have read every one of his books and gotten a stomach cramp from laughing too hard at each one. He is my author/reader soul-mate and I'm sure that if we ever met I would fall at his feet and beg him to be my friend. I love his sense of humour, I love his brutal honesty and I just love him. . . `You Better Not Cry' is further evidence of why Augusten Burroughs holds a special place in my heart.

Augusten Burroughs (originally Christopher Robison, until he changed his name at the age of 18) started out writing fiction with his first novel released in 2000 called `Sellevision'. That first novel was about four greedy and ambitious people who work at a television company. The novel was good and funny, but it wasn't until the 2002 release of Burrough's novel `Running with Scissors' that he made a name for himself and was touted as the voice of a generation. . .

`Running with Scissors' was Augusten Burrough's first memoir, and it was as harrowing as it was hilarious. It told the story of Augusten's early teen years, when his addict/poet mother gave him up for adoption. . . to her therapist. What followed was years spent at Dr. Finch's madhouse where the good doctor frequently gave Augusten drug samples, called the family into the bathroom to see his weird-shaped bowel movements and Augusten happily played `shock therapy' with Finch's youngest child, Natalie. `Running with Scissors' was heralded as a uniquely sharp comedy of unflinching honesty, and was adapted into a 2006 film.

Thus began Burrough's true writing career. In 2003 he wrote `Dry', his memoir about hitting rock-bottom and getting sober. His 2004/2006 memoirs `Magical Thinking' and `Possible Side Effects' revisited his unstable childhood, and in 2008 he wrote `A Wolf at the Table', a biography of his alcoholic father.

Burroughs wrote `You Better Not Cry' back in 2009 - a collection of hilariously disturbing and enlightening stories about Augusten's encounters with Christmas and the fat man. Despite the fact that this is my second re-read of the book, my stomach still cramped from belly-laughs.

The short stories take place over the course of Augusten's life - from when he was a young boy at the age of eight who couldn't tell the different between Santa and Jesus, to his one-night-stand with a fat, French Santa when he is thirty-something.

On the surface each of Augusten's stories are just a bit of outlandish comedy. But that's only skin-deep - if you look beyond the antics of a young boy eating a wax Santa replica, you'll actually notice that each of Burrough's tales has real heart and perhaps even a moral message (even if you have to wade through murky waters to get there!).

Take Augusten's confusion over Jesus/Santa. It makes sense, in a twisted way, that he would be confused in the month of December when he is bombarded by images of Jesus and Santa yet he is never explicitly told what everyone just expects his young-self to know. Augusten's confusion is bitter-sweetly clarified by his Southern, devout grandmother who tries to explain Santa to her grandson. It's at once a funny childhood anecdote - but depressingly humorous when not even the adults in Augusten's life can give a proper definition beyond the Coca-Cola imagining of the man in red. . .

Augusten Burrough's writes a wicked combination of honesty and absurdity. The stories get sharper and funnier with a biting edge as Augusten grows into a curmudgeon alcoholic. The story of how he woke to find he'd just had a drunken one-night-stand with a Santa stand-in is particularly gross-out funny.

And then there are those short stories that hark back to the true message of Christmas (if, slightly skewed). Those stories that reveal Burrough's truly soft underbelly. . . at once heart-wrenching, unflatteringly honest and deeply funny. Like the last Christmas that Augusten spent with his boyfriend, who was suffering from the AIDS virus.

This is what Augusten Burroughs does so well. He writes funny like it's nobody's business, but he can turn tables and wear his heart on his sleeve just as easily and powerfully.

Augusten Burroughs is the wit of a generation. He is our answer to Oscar Wilde, and if you haven't yet had the perverse pleasure of reading one of his books, let `You Better Not Cry' be your first introduction to this caustic comedian. A perfect anecdote to Christmas-backlash with an uplifting message amidst the muck.

I found this book to be just like his others! Places in the book are witty, interesting, heartfelt...and then there's the other side-dark, sad, and unnnerving. But with all the other books I found this to be right up there in style and character. I enjoyed this small book of about 200 pages. It was quick to read in between the hustle and bustle of the holidays. For a Burrough's fan...this will be enjoyed!

...but I did, and "sobbed" is more like it. His Pighead essay was one of the most romantic and devastating things I've ever read. His ability to express love in such a complete way in just a few sentences amazes me. Some of the essays were lacking on the provocative, humorous or emotional levels at which he so consistently writes, however, as a whole this collection was a joy (and sometimes a joyous sorrow) to read.

I've been doing a fair amount of holiday-based reading. When I picked this one up, the first thing that struck me was the quality of the writing itself. Burroughs has wonderful stoires to share and he shares them in beautiful language. The stories themselves run the gamut -- humor, love, sadness, forgiveness, the essentials of all his works. I have never read a description of being in love like you'll find in this book. You better run out and grab this one!

I feel bad leaving anything but a decadent review for something written by Augusten Burroughs. Long have I pimped out his treasure trove of memoirs, as well as "Sellevision," which seems to be tailored to his wild and crazy life a little bit more each time I pick it up.

Simply put, "You Better Not Cry" lacks the spark that Burroughs' previous books (and novel) contain. I eagerly hunkered down with the small tome during spurts of free time, eager to read about the author's caustic family and his almost alarmingly domestic adult life. Augusten's collection of Christmas stories is easy enough to follow, given time lines and events from previous books, but I felt like something was missing. All of the author's trademarks were there, but I wasn't being tugged in any particular direction emotionally. There was no pig's head statue moment like in "Dry"; no "toilet reading" scene, a la "Running With Scissors"; nor nothing particularly harrowing or painful to read, the way most of "Wolf At the Table" was. Bad (and sometimes, good) things certainly happen to Augusten at Christmastime, but he didn't make me feel them this time.

In addition, "YBNC" showcased a lack of cohesiveness, which is unusual for Burroughs. Upon waking up next to a French Santa, who may or may not have put the moves on him, Burroughs-the-character makes a list of all the guys he's ever known in the Biblical sense, in hopes of determining any patterns, a la a fetish for white-bearded old men. It's a funny moment, but there's a distinct lack of mention of Dr. Finch, the Santa-impostor psychologist of whom Augusten paints so vivid a picture in his first book; nor does he correlate his Claus-fetish with the first chapter of "You Better Not Cry", wherein six-year-old Augusten is compelled to make out with a stuffed Santa doll. Perhaps the implied correlation was enough for some readers, but this latest memoir just didn't feel as "together" as the others to me.

I'm not sure whether the author's interpersonal life is to 'blame' (I mourned upon hearing that he and his long-time boyfriend had broken up); moreover, I wonder if Augusten has just run out of things to memoir. I will still eagerly await his next (if any) offering, but this one felt more like a present hastily shoved into a gift bag than what I've come to expect from Burroughs' otherwise meticulous-in-their-mess oeuvre.

Like much of life, the collection of stories from Augusten Burroughs titled, You Better Not Cry, represent a mix of the naughty and the nice. Readers are more likely to laugh than cry, although there are sad stories here that will at least lead to a wince. Burroughs knows how to write well, and each story is well constructed and accomplishes what the author set out to do. Some readers may prefer to read this away from the holiday season, so the lessons of disaster and redemption can be more distant from one's own reality.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)