Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. St. Martain's Press, 2005. Genre: Non-Fiction Memoir
Magical Thinking is Augusten Burrough's third book about his life. Unlike his first two books Running with Scissors and Dry , Magical Thinking consists of several short essays about Augusten's life. At first they seem scattered with bits of pieces from his adulthood and childhood, but then they evolve into his adult life with stories about his job in advertisement and just about trying to live a normal life in New York. The essays also begin to chronicle his crazy dating life, and near the end his life with his life-partner Dennis.
"Augusten Burroughs's new collection speaks to the devil in us all... As with fellow essayist David Sedaris, Burroughs writes about anything that his wonderfully warped mind desires." - Time Out New York
Unlike Augusten's Running with Scissors which chronicles his very abnormal childhood and Dry which tells Augusten's story as a recovering alcoholic, which are both written with a straightforward storyline, Magical Thinking is written in short essays. Although this could have meant the book was choppy and had no sense of flow, this wasn't the case with this book. All the essays flowed really well and after the first couple sentences each essay made you fell like it was just another chapter in a regular book. Augusten's take on the world with a semi-pessimistic, eccentric feel, and his dry honest sense of humor make Magical Thinking another Augusten Burroughs classic. When Augusten writes he holds nothing back, making his work raw, funny, and addicting.
"But while all of this was happening, I was still home in my apartment with Dennis and our dog, Bentley, sitting at my computer and writing, like always. Nothing had changed except that I now gave interviews and posed for pictures which I hoped looked better than the actual me. I still didn't go to literary parties or art gallery openings. I didn't suddenly have a posse of fashionable friends with famous last names. I continued to wear the same dog hair-covered sweatpants around the house for two weeks at a time"(206).
When I was younger I had seen the film adaption of Running with Scissors and although I thought it was alright, I wasn't really into it. A couple years later I found the book that the film was based of off and instantly fell in love. Burroughs writes in a way that makes you say "I've felt that way before!". His work makes you laugh and draws you in and just leaves you wanting more. Although I was reluctant about reading a bunch of essays, I'm really glad I ended up picking this book as my ORB.
Also, Augusten's background inspires me. He grew up in western Massachusetts and his experiences in Running with Scissors occur ed in Northampton. During the last chapter in Scissors, Augusten even lived in South Hadley. And when he moved to New York at a young age with no formal education beyond middle school, he still managed to make a life from himself and become a famous author. It's been an old dream of mine to move to New York City and become a famous author, and after seeing that Burroughs could do it with all these setbacks it makes me feel like I can do it too.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Santiago and the Sea of Struggles
At one point or another we will all face struggles. In my life these struggles can range from a tough algebra problem to simply getting out of bed. It doesn't matter who you are, or what you do or what walk of life you're in. Everyone has obstacles they need to overcome. In the Old Man and the Sea Santiago faced many struggles, among those was his old age, catching the fish, and bringing the fish to shore.
Santiago's old age was a definite obstacle he needed to work around. It was a struggle that made all the others harder to endure. Santiago mentions many times how he is old and aching when catching the fish: “You’re feeling it [the pain] now, fish,” he said. “And so, God knows, am I” (56). If Santiago was in the prime of his life the pain wouldn’t be as bad as it was on his sore, aged muscles.
As Santiago has to go through the catching of the fish, his aching old body reminds him of how the encounter could have been much easier with the boy. This is seen when he says: “I wish I had the boy. To help me and see this.” No one should be alone in their old age, he thought” (48). Santiago wishes he still had the boy frequently in the story and it is not only useless since there is no way he can come help at this point in the story, it is also hurting the old man. “What ifs” and “I wish...” do nothing to help you when you are faced with a problem, they just remind you how things could have played out while distracting you from performing your best with the resources you actually have.
Catching the fish was one of the more obvious struggles Santiago faced. The fish was quite large, evident when it jumps out of the ocean and the old man says in disbelief: “No, he can’t be that big” (90). The marlin’s size represents an obstacle because it also represents its strength. It was the marlin’s strength that kept him out at sea for days taking a toll on Santiago’s already aching, aged body. Because he was out at sea for so long, Santiago had to rely on raw food, a limited supply of water, and a short amount of sea to keep him going against the marlin. It was also the marlin’s strength that pulled the old man further out to sea making the task of bringing it to shore once it was finally caught even harder.
While reading the novella I fell to the assumption that once the marlin was caught, bringing it to shore would cause no hassle other than being lengthy in time since Santiago was so far out into the sea. I did not take account that there would be sharks attacking the marlin that would swim away having taken a piece of the fish, the prize that Santiago had struggled for days with to receive.
Since the marlin was too large to fit in Santiago’s inadequately sized skiff, it had to be dragged alongside the boat to make it to shore putting it in the path for dangerous shark attacks. Not only were the attacks an obvious obstacle since Santiago needed to protect his prized marlin, it also created future obstacles since fighting off the sharks caused the old man to break or lose important fishing supplies. Santiago acknowledges both of these obstacle when he says to himself: “He [the shark] took about forty pounds,” then thinks “He took my harpoon too and now my fish bleeds again and there will be others [more sharks]” (103). Losing all his fishing supplies creates a future obstacle because after the great marlin fiasco, Santiago will still need to continue fishing to support himself. And since he lives in near-poverty and does not have the money to buy new supplies which leaves him empty handed for future voyages.
You can't run away from obstacles, eventually you'll have to face them. And although it seemed like there was an obstacle around every corner, Santiago faced each and every one of them with strength, courage, and perseverance. And although he did not return to shore with the prize he set out to get, he did return with one thing; the knowledge that he faced every struggle like a man and fought admirably until the end.
Santiago's old age was a definite obstacle he needed to work around. It was a struggle that made all the others harder to endure. Santiago mentions many times how he is old and aching when catching the fish: “You’re feeling it [the pain] now, fish,” he said. “And so, God knows, am I” (56). If Santiago was in the prime of his life the pain wouldn’t be as bad as it was on his sore, aged muscles.
As Santiago has to go through the catching of the fish, his aching old body reminds him of how the encounter could have been much easier with the boy. This is seen when he says: “I wish I had the boy. To help me and see this.” No one should be alone in their old age, he thought” (48). Santiago wishes he still had the boy frequently in the story and it is not only useless since there is no way he can come help at this point in the story, it is also hurting the old man. “What ifs” and “I wish...” do nothing to help you when you are faced with a problem, they just remind you how things could have played out while distracting you from performing your best with the resources you actually have.
Catching the fish was one of the more obvious struggles Santiago faced. The fish was quite large, evident when it jumps out of the ocean and the old man says in disbelief: “No, he can’t be that big” (90). The marlin’s size represents an obstacle because it also represents its strength. It was the marlin’s strength that kept him out at sea for days taking a toll on Santiago’s already aching, aged body. Because he was out at sea for so long, Santiago had to rely on raw food, a limited supply of water, and a short amount of sea to keep him going against the marlin. It was also the marlin’s strength that pulled the old man further out to sea making the task of bringing it to shore once it was finally caught even harder.
While reading the novella I fell to the assumption that once the marlin was caught, bringing it to shore would cause no hassle other than being lengthy in time since Santiago was so far out into the sea. I did not take account that there would be sharks attacking the marlin that would swim away having taken a piece of the fish, the prize that Santiago had struggled for days with to receive.
Since the marlin was too large to fit in Santiago’s inadequately sized skiff, it had to be dragged alongside the boat to make it to shore putting it in the path for dangerous shark attacks. Not only were the attacks an obvious obstacle since Santiago needed to protect his prized marlin, it also created future obstacles since fighting off the sharks caused the old man to break or lose important fishing supplies. Santiago acknowledges both of these obstacle when he says to himself: “He [the shark] took about forty pounds,” then thinks “He took my harpoon too and now my fish bleeds again and there will be others [more sharks]” (103). Losing all his fishing supplies creates a future obstacle because after the great marlin fiasco, Santiago will still need to continue fishing to support himself. And since he lives in near-poverty and does not have the money to buy new supplies which leaves him empty handed for future voyages.
You can't run away from obstacles, eventually you'll have to face them. And although it seemed like there was an obstacle around every corner, Santiago faced each and every one of them with strength, courage, and perseverance. And although he did not return to shore with the prize he set out to get, he did return with one thing; the knowledge that he faced every struggle like a man and fought admirably until the end.
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