This Is How
Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.
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3.9 • 205 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
This Is How - Survival Advice for Life's Toughest Challenges from New York Times Bestselling Author Augusten Burroughs
If you're fat and fail every diet, if you're thin but can't get thin enough, if you lose your job, if your child dies, if you are diagnosed with cancer, if you always end up with exactly the wrong kind of person, if you always end up alone, if you can't get over the past, if your parents are insane and ruining your life, if you really and truly wish you were dead, if you feel like it's your destiny to be a star, if you believe life has a grudge against you, if you don't want to have sex with your spouse and don't know why, if you feel so ashamed, if you're lost in life. If you have ever wondered, "How am I supposed to survive this?"
In this humorous yet poignant personal narrative, acclaimed author Augusten Burroughs offers brutally honest and often hilarious advice for navigating life's most difficult situations. Drawing from his own experiences with social anxiety, self-help, and personal growth, Burroughs delivers a satirical yet deeply insightful essay collection that will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to find their way. This Is How is the perfect blend of memoir and self-help - a must-read for fans of Burroughs' bestselling works and anyone looking for a little good advice served with a side of humor.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this hilarious and searingly straightforward memoir, Burroughs (Running with Scissors) turns the self-help genre upside down with his advice on matters ranging broadly from "how to be fat" and "how to lose someone you love" to "how to hold onto your dream or maybe not" and "how to finish your drink." On "how to find love," for example, he counsels, "be the person you are, not the person you think you should be if you want to have a chance at meeting somebody with whom you are genuinely compatible, never put your best foot forward be exactly the person you would be if you were alone or with somebody it was safe to fart around." On "Why Having It All Is Not," Burroughs commends the virtues of limits and the ways that such limits force improvisation; he doesn't believe "you can feel deep satisfaction in your life unless your life contains restless areas, holes, and imperfections." In "How to End Your Life," Burroughs, recalling his own teenage experience, distinguishes between suicide and ending life. After his brush with suicide, he realizes that he really didn't want to kill himself; what he really wanted was to end his life, which he accomplishes simply by changing his name and walking out the door and starting a new life. As always, Burroughs is smart and energetically forthright about living and loving.
Customer Reviews
This is how and why you should read this book
Stick with it! It was a slow start as I wondered why I was spending time letting Augusten Burroughs tell me how to run my life. His wonderful literary style kept me interested until I eventually came to the conclusion that, yes! This man has much to say and it is worth your while to listen up.
Horrible...
Ever wonder what happens when a once heart warming, funny and oddly brilliant author hits the crack pipe a bit too hard and turns into his alleged mother (vis a vie behavior)? Well, count your blessings.. In a horrid display of poor judgement and ill conceived "humor" Augesten, at best is phoning it in with this trash. Gone are the days of liking him to authors like David Sedaris.. This book is awful.. Skip it!
Insightful yet simple
Yep, this is how.