You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him
on the street, in bars, on the underground, at restaurants: a
twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular.
Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was
circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home
at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties,
automated wake-up calls and aftershave on the tongue could only hide so
much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn't really a request) of
his employers, Augusten lands in rehab, where his dreams of group
therapy with Robert Downey Jr are immediately dashed by the grim reality
of flourescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten
is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click, and
that's when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when
his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan
life - and live it sober. What follows is a memoir that's as moving as
it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is real.
