This is How

Help for the self ; proven aid in overcoming shyness, molestation, fatness, spinsterhood, disease, lushery, decrepitude & more for young and old alike

Augusten Burroughs is not a soft-spoken psychologist, tenderly holding your hand through the recovery process. Nor is he a dry academic, citing statistics and studies with precise footnotes. He's not the celebrity who bottomed out and lived to write a memoir, nor the comedian who did the same, only with edgy humor.  He is your high-school buddy who dropped off the edge of the world, and resurfaced, considerably the worse for wear, and gives you the straight dope on how to handle all the worst life has to offer.

At least, it's his straight dope. You may not agree with Burroughs, and you certainly can't bring him to the ladies' book club to speak unless they're used to saltier language than the ladies I lunch with. But his perspective is unique--who else has ever recommended changing your name as an alternative to suicide? But I suspect I will read this again, the next time the dark underbelly of life comes to my attention.