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| A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father (Unabridged) | 
 enlarge | Author: Augusten Burroughs
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $15.73
You Save: $14.22 (47%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  123 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B0018OQ254
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Burroughs strikes once too often May 20, 2008
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
I've read Mr. Burroughs other books and found them to be extremely good. A Wolf at the Table is cleverly written with a dark and sinister storyline, but that being said, I must admit that I'm not entirely convinced that this book is an honest portrayal of his life. How is it that Burrough's father, who encompasses the totality of this new book, can be such a relatively minor character in the previous books that he has written? Perhaps the author knew from the beginning that he would write multiple memoirs and thus purposely left his father out of the equation. But I can't help but wonder if Mr. Burroughs made some good money off his first books and wants to repeat his success by writing this new book that most likely exaggerates and falsifies information about his father and their relationship in order to be entertaining. I've read a lot of memoirs and I see a growing trend since James Frey to see who can write the darkest story about their past as this seems to be the most effective way to make a buck. I fear Mr. Burrough may very well fall into this category and I cannot recommend this book for that reason.
Disappointed. May 22, 2008
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
I didn't realize Burroughs had a new book coming out this summer. So when I walked past a table at the bookstore and saw it, I snatched it up immediately.
That was the first and last time I was at all excited about picking up this book.
"Dry" is one of my favorite books. I liked "Magical Thinking," too. And while I went in knowing "A Wolf at the Table" wasn't going to be humorous, I was still disappointed. It just read as the same thing over and over and over - and not in a "wow, i can't believe this stuff just keeps happening to him" way. In a "maybe if I keep reading something more will happen" way. I could never keep track of how old Augusten was in the book. But it didn't really matter, because every year read pretty much the same. His usual quality of writing wasn't there.
I finished it, but I wasn't happy about it. And wouldn't recommend it. I'm not judging his childhood, just the book he wrote about it.
If it was to expel some demons, I do hope it helped. For that, I won't begrudge him. I'm just kind of sorry I signed up to be present for the exorcism.
Please, Don't Insult Me June 11, 2008
9 out of 16 found this review helpful
I'd give it less than one star if I could. This book read like fiction. The author's memories were far too sophisticated and subtle to be observed and remembered by a young child. All this bizarre behavior brought on by a father who pushed his clamoring, clinging son away when he arrived home from work.
I don't want to go into this in detail. I am already sorry that I read the thing. I just want to provide a warning: I do not believe this story is true, despite the author's memory.
Self-indulgent Whine-fest June 23, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I bought this audio book without a second thought, as I have enjoyed all of Burroughs' other works, both in print and on CD. I was looking forward to another well-written, thoughtful, at times humorous work. I knew I was in trouble when this audio book began with a funeral-like dirge by Patti Smith. Burroughs must have gotten tips from Margret Cho's whining memoir on how to read v-e-r-y slowly and with maximum self-pity. Burroughs had an extremely disfunctional childhood and his father was cold and distant. That much is true. But Burroughs tries to imbue every mundane slight that a child can endure with such earth-shattering significance that it is difficult to take him seriously. Where his earlier works prompted compassion, this one undercut his message because of his unwarranted whining, at least in the first two CDs. Perhaps the print version is better.
I was a fan of Burroughs but I will be very careful of buying anything by him in the future.
That life has already been mined. May 20, 2008
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
I have read every book that Augusten Burroughs has written. "Running With Scissors" and "Dry" are two of my favorite books. I can't figure out why A.B. wrote this book. It was painful to read. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be getting out of this book; there is no life lesson, nothing entertaining, nothing compelling. He actually pulled off an amazing feat: He wrote a book that is harrowing and boring at the same time. Furthermore, because he writes about his father as a shadowy, mysterious figure, I never got a real sense of who (or what) his father was. This is just a series of painful stories about a horrible, abusive father. I didn't get it.
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