Wolf at the Table

By Augusten Burroughs

This book is a son's search for why his father didn't love him, instead treating him with indifference and cruelty. His mother and him were close as she tried to make up for what his father lacked but she was also a little bit wacky, as detailed in his first book Running with Scissors. What drives the book is really Burroughs writing. He writes with words painting a distinct picture, more of the landscape of experience than image. Each little story he tells from this time period in his life make up the tapestry of that story.

"In Mexico my mother wore thin-soled sandals and looked over her shoulders. She watched me through large, dark sunglasses and said, "We had to get away from your father. He's not safe to be around right now."

This is my first clear memory of my father: I am in Mexico, I am five, and he is not safe to be around.

I could not fathom what this meant. The things I knew that weren't safe included furious dogs, putting a fork in a toaster, rushing water. How was he like these things?

Everywhere we went, an awareness followed us: we were fleeing. The feeling tainted even the food we hastily ate out of the cans stacked in her suitcase, a measure of economy. I was not allowed to have ice because it, too, was unsafe."

Page 13

Book 38