Augusten Burroughs’ series of memoirs has made some people seriously happen in his hometown of Northhampton. And even though Burroughs is relucant to reveal the identity of the doctor he lived with as a child, townsfolk pretty much know it’s Dr. Rodolph H. Turcotte, a flamboyant local figure whose conduct, both personal and professional, frequently made headlines, the Boston Globe reports. Things like having his patients move in with him, unconventional ideas that eventually cost Turcotte his license.
“Throughout his life, [Turcotte] encountered problems with the establishment, as might be expected for someone who is an ‘outside the box’ thinker, and an ‘outside the system’ doer,” Susan Winters Smith, current president of the fathers group, wrote in an e-mail. “Some people labeled him too eccentric, but many people found him a great comfort as well as a source of wisdom.” Smith maintains a website devoted to the doctor — www.rhturcottemd.com — and is writing his biography.
And with a movie (starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Annette Bening) of RUNNING WITH SCISSORS in the works, Turcotte’s family has filed a lawsuit claiming that Burroughs did enormous damage by writing the book, and he called “absurd” the suggestion that the author is somehow the victim. And as the lawsuit wends its way to a likely settlement, Burroughs’ brother, John Robison (the author changed his name at the age of 18) is still shocked by the book’s success. “I thought people would be so disgusted they’d never talk to us again,” said Robison. “His story is no longer shameful and no longer a secret.”