Augusten Burroughs' "Running with Scissors"

The story of a young gay kid raised in a dysfunctional family, pawned off to a dysfunctional doctor's family, and involved in a number of dysfunctional relationships. It should be unremittingly grim, but he writes it with a bit of humour and a lightness that makes the story tolerable. Apparantly this is a very honest account. I've read his brother's autobiography, Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison. The two share a quirky personality. But they are at two extremes otherwise. Robison suffers Asperger's Syndrome but manages to succeed admirably in normal society. Burroughs is flamingly gay and unable to cope in normal society. They both tell horrible tales of abuse at the hands of mentally disturbed parents.

The book is a good read. It does show how a person can succeed despite crushingly bad circumstances, so it can be used to raise hope. It certainly lets those of us with more normal lives to say "Thank God but there go I".