Lust & Wonder
A Memoir
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- £10.99
Publisher Description
The instant New York Times bestseller
Lust: 1. intense sexual desire or appetite
2.a passionate or overmastering desire or craving
3.ardent enthusiasm; zest; relish.
Wonder: 1. something strange and surprising; a cause of surprise, astonishment,or admiration
2. the emotion excited by what is strange and surprising; a feeling of surprised or puzzled interest, sometimes tinged with admiration
3. a miraculous deed or event; remarkable phenomenon
From the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an intimate look at the driving forces in one man’s life.
With Augusten's unique and singular observations and his own unabashed way of detailing both the horrific and the humorous, Lust and Wonder is a hilariously frank memoir that his legions of fans have been waiting for. His story began in Running with Scissors, endured through Dry, and continues with this memoir, the capstone to the life of Augusten Burroughs.
Funny, sweet, alarming, and ultimately, moving and tender, Lust & Wonder is an experience of a book that will resonate with anyone who has loved and lost and loved again.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Augusten Burroughs isn’t afraid of ugliness. With his memoirs Running with Scissors and Dry, the author wrote honestly, wittily, and powerfully about his harrowing youth and crushing alcoholism. Now, he turns his eagle eye on his failed love affairs. Lust & Wonder is jagged, messy, and searching, like a diary penned by someone compelled to excavate the truth even when it shows him to be a neurotic mess. Burroughs’ candor is a gift—it reassures us that we’re not the only ones muddling through, yearning for true connections even as we build impenetrable walls.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this seventh autobiographical work, bestselling author Burroughs describes life after rehab. Back in N.Y.C. as a freelance ad copywriter, Burroughs keeps finding what he thinks must be love, only to discover that he's missed the target again. Romantic dead-ends intertwine with whirlwind literary success and Burroughs comes to the age-old realization that money and fame don't buy happiness, especially for someone with anxiety disorders and severe childhood trauma. Struggling in a purgatory of mediocre relationships, Burroughs is sustained by a recurring dream of a handsome blond man driving a Jeep, a dream that becomes reality. Burroughs has been mining his life since 2002, and once-rich veins seem to be exhausted. Though his wit still shines and stings, this effort is troubled by odd gaps and omissions. One example, of several, is the failure to make more of Burroughs's romance with a man dying of AIDS. Burroughs did cover that relationship (in Dry), but neglects it here, sacrificing coherence to avoid repetition. Potentially fascinating material, such as his debilitating anxiety and a compulsion to buy precious gems (to the point of bankruptcy), is similarly abbreviated. Fourteen years after Running with Scissors, Burroughs seems to be pacing in circles.
