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Nominated for the 2009 Audiobook of the Year
"As a little boy, I had a dream that my father had taken me to the woods where there was a dead body. He buried it and told me I must never tell. It was the only thing we'd ever done together as father and son, and I promised not to tell. But unlike most dreams, the memory of this one never left me. And sometimes…I wasn't altogether sure about one thing: was it just a dream?"
When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to unfurl. Something dark and secretive that could not be named.
Betrayal after shocking betrayal ensued, and Augusten's childhood was over. The kind of father he wanted didn't exist for him. This father was distant, aloof, uninterested…
And then the "games" began.
With A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs makes a quantum leap into untapped emotional terrain: the radical pendulum swing between love and hate, the unspeakably terrifying relationship between father and son. Told with scorching honesty and penetrating insight, it is a story for anyone who has ever longed for unconditional love from a parent. Though harrowing and brutal, A Wolf at the Table will ultimately leave you buoyed with the profound joy of simply being alive. It's a memoir of stunning psychological cruelty and the redemptive power of hope.
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Add a CommentDifficult topic, great writing.
Burroughs' (his father was not William S.) electrifying memoir of his disturbing childhood reminded me of Jeanette Wall's The Glass Castle. This tale will make you wince.
THE MOST FEARFUL BOOK I'VE EVER READ... AND IT'S A MEMOIR.
Augusten Burroughs' books are always riviting reads. However, this book is more of an exploration of the relationship of his father and a deeper look into his earlier childhood than it is a memoir of his father. I do wish the book went deeper into his father's persona, but it was still a good read.
Last summer, after reading through most of Augusten Burroughs other books I decided to give this dark, serious story a shot. The book is a stretch from his other works and it is great.
The story is absolutely haunting, superbly well written, and will stay with you for some time.
disturbing, jprolix and repetitive
reading the first and last chapters is enough
Maybe I'm getting tired of these "my parents screwed up my life" books. I was confused through much of the book, which I guess is the point as Burroughs was a child and was confused by his father's behaviour. The main point of wanting to be loved is poignant. Other than that, not much substance to the book in my opinion.
I found this a bit of a "disburbing" read compared to other of Augusten's books which seem to have some humor mixed in with the insanity. There is no humor here, just the sad and frustrating recount of growing up with a very disturbed alcoholic father.