I recently purchased the book Running with Scissors, thinking it would be an uplifting book to read. As I understood it, it was about a boy that went to live with his mother’s psychologist, who happened to be quite crazy, and the experiences the boy had there.

Well, that part was correct. What I didn’t realize was that the book graphically described some pedophillic scenes between the boy at age 13 and a 20-something year old man. I was so completely disturbed by the scenes described in the book that I put it in the garbage. I have never, ever thrown a book away before. I was an English major, graduating with a BA in English and an emphaisis in Technical Writing. During my course studies, I read plenty of books I didn’t enjoy. I never once threw one away.

Running with Scissors is such a disgusting book that I didn’t even want to give it away. I think one less copy in the world makes it a better place. I guess I was just so disappointed because the book was a best-seller, and had so many great reviews. I’m sure it has a great moral, such as the young man was able to overcome his hardships to be able to live a successful life. That’s great…but there is no reason to include scenes in the book that would make a pedophile want to read it.

Now don’t get me wrong - I’m not encouraging governmental censorship. What I think should happen is self-censorship. Augustin Burrows (author) should not have graphically described these scenes from his life. But he does have that right, which he exercised. My real issue is with all the people that read and recommended this book. I cannot imagine why anyone would recommend this to anyone else. It is so dusturbing and disgusting. The new movie is coming out, and I know it is rated R. I’m sure it had to tone down the book, because what was described in it was essentially child pornography, and that is not legal.

I hope anyone interested in reading this book will think twice, as it is one of the most disgusting books I have read (and I only read a small part of it).