Meg's Fiction in A Flash

Augusten Burroughs, You Better Not Cry, Stories for Christmas

I've read a couple of books by Burroughs before, and after reading this one, I have come to the conclusion that they all sound THE SAME!!! His voice is the same in all of his novels, which is fine because I understand he's writing from the same perspective. However, when I'm reading this and thinking to myself, blah, blah, blah, this all sounds the same...that's a problem. This is not a good thing because it means that me, the avid reader, who's going to buy someone's fiction, is NOT going to buy another Burroughs book because I assume it's going to be the same as the rest of them.

Specific issues with this book:

Around p. 165, Burroughs makes a one sentence remark about a job he does as an advertising copywriter. He says he's so good at his job that he does work that would take the average person a week, in 1 hour. I'm calling BS on this one! He's a drunk. Readers don't hear about anything in his adult life but boys, booze, and Christmas until this point in the novel. I don't buy that he's such an amazing worker given the emphasis placed on his boozing and dysfunctional relationship habits.

On a positive note, when Burroughs is not wallowing in depressed alcoholic land, he's really funny! The absurd details he includes in his story are hilarious. And this is what first attracted me to Burroughs. He's absurd and matter-of-fact about his absurdity, and the combination is funny and makes me want to read more.

My personal conclusion based on my two previous notes: I don't like Burroughs depressed boozey voice that he speaks in the majority of this book. I don't like reading about his dysfunctional relationships and feeling my way through his depression. I just don't. I don't like that voice.

Food for thought: What do we think about the pieces of the story he puts in and leaves out? He left out a whole section about rehab that I thought would be more interesting than some of the details he chose to include. And I thought the part about rehab was kind of crucial to the story he was telling. Thoughts?

A final note: I loved the ending. It was happy and Christmas and just plain great because it was happy and Christmas.