You Know Me As Lad

I know that a lot of people were disappointed in this book after Running With Scissors. Strangely enough, I liked this better than Running With Scissors.

This is basically the story of Burroughs' relationship with his father. It's a relationship that was a quiet horror. Mind games are a terrible thing no matter how old you are but when you're a child everything seems ten times worse. I think that's why this book disturbed me much more than Burroughs' tale of his relationship with his mother.

I read this book a while ago and what I most remember about reading it was how uncomfortable it made me. The whole thing was very dark and slick. It's a book that I'll most likely never read again because I'd rather not put myself into that headspace for however long re-reading the book would take.

Would I tell someone else to read it? Yes but they should not expect to have the same reading experience that's brought about when drowning in the world created in Running With Scissors. A Wolf At The Table is much more subtle. It's oily and pitch black where Running With Scissors is a sort of hallucinogenic trip. So, yes, I'd tell people to read it and really give it a chance to sink in.