My life can be described as being quite normal. My parents are happily married, I have a good relationship with my siblings, and I have a stable household. This is not the case for Augusten, the main character of my IRB for this marking period. When reading the beginning of this memoir, I was originally just confused. Many crazy things were happening all at the same time that I had no idea how to relate to. Augusten's mother was seeing a psychiatrist who turned out to adopt Augusten after he labelled Augusten's mother as being unfit to take care of him. Also, the environment that the psychiatrist lived in was a mess as he had many of his patients live with him and uncontrollable children.
A lot of this content, as mentioned before, were problems that I was not familiar with. The reviews that I read before starting my IRB definitely did not lie - there was a lot of mature content in it. It made me feel out of my comfort zone for awhile, but because there is enough of it, I got used to it and I learned how to separate it from overall analysis of my IRB. Do I believe it added to the story? Yes because it explored a teenager growing up and finding his sexuality. I feel that it was inevitable.
I realized that this entire book has a confusing tone. It is rather informal as there are quite a lot of expletives used, yet there are many serious topics. Mental illness, abandonment, drugs, sexuality and love are all explored throughout this book that I believe support its purpose. This part of Augusten's life that is explored is a confusing, informal and very serious time in his life. He is faced with so many abnormal situations that make his life difficult to live, but he learns how to deal with them.
After reading this book, I definitely believe that his purpose is to show how to deal with problems that make your life complicated. Whether it is losing contact with a parent, moving into a strange environment, or facing temptations with drugs and alcohol, life can have many twists and turns. Augusten always analyzed his life and wrote it down in a journal. He shared his feelings, he talked with others, and he did not allow himself to be consumed by his feelings. This is an important lesson to share, and one that I hope to utilize in my life. This book may not be designed for everyone with its mature content, but it can definitely speak to any teenager. No, I don't have addicts for parents or my own addiction to cigarettes, but I sometimes struggle with the same internal issues that Augusten wound up sharing with the entire world.
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