Augusten Burroughs, author of the hilarious childhood memoir Running With Scissors (and brother of John Elder Robison, author of Look Me in The Eye) turns to the story of their father in A Wolf At the Table. Before his parents divorced, and his mother consecrated her life to the eccentric Dr. Finch (a bizarre relationship so brilliantly captured in Running With Scissors), the two were a perfectly normal unhappily married couple, going through the ordeals of hatred, embitteredness, unfulfilled dreams and nervous breakdowns. Unlike his much-older brother, who in his teens ran away from it all, Burroughs was left to bear the brunt of it.

His experiences are recounted here: the years of his parents’ deteriorating marriage, his father’s increasing violence, his eventual estrangement from him, and his ultimate ability to reach a position of something close to forgiveness. A Wolf At The Table isn’t quite as funny as Running With Scissors, but it has its comic moments, and will be lapped up by Burroughs’ fans.