Rating: 
Summary: An author decides that we want to know everything about her
Review: I could not hear enough good things about this book, and so, I was so enthralled by the beginning of it that I couldn't wait to read some more. Unfortunately, Karr's style here is a bit jerky, and she too often goes off on long tangents (the opening scene is of something horrible that happened to her when she was 7, but then she will describe something that happened to her at 12, so you know that she survivd it and was able to move on.) Another aspect was just how sharp Karr's memory is. She seems to remember every nod of the head, every peanut shucking, until I really started to doubt the credibility of this story. Hampered by that is the fact that later on she describes the scene in Psycho when Norman swivels around in his mother's rocker and is dressed like her. As anybody who has seen Psycho knows... that is NOT how the famous scene goes. It's awfully hard to believe that Karr can remember all these moments from her childhood, but not the pivotal scene in one of the most famous films of all time. (She also later calls Elizabeth Taylors horse in "National Velvet", National Velvet. Velvet was Liz's character, the horse's name was Pi or Pye or Pie.) I also felt at times that Karr uses her unsuspecting readers as her therapist. Why else the rather disturbing depictions of sexual abuse. The first one is bad enough, but the second scene later on borders between abuse and pornography. It's disturbingly exact, and makes one feel like they will retch. However, Karr has a helpful habit of starting a section with a little glimpse of what's to come. (i.e, that was the night mom decided to shoot her husband) and then gets around to describing it. Granted, I am paraphrasing , but this thesis statement will work for those who don't want to read certain sections. I won't say anymore, but I do know that I am in no mood to run out and read "Cherry." This book was a good idea, but it never jells, and never lets the reader connect with the characters, mainly because we are so busy trying to figure out if it's real or fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: It is amazing to me that some people come out of the most awful childhoods with such grace and humor. Like Frank McCort's Angela's Ashes, she rises above circumstances and invites you in to find both the horror and the joy and does so without a drop of self pity. Young Mary Karr would have scared the hell out of me growing up. As an adult though, I took great delight in the strength and backbone that little girl had. I rooted for her like she was a friend. I wanted to hang out with her father, drinking whiskey and shooting pool. This is an amazing book. I'm not a big fan of autobiographies. They always seem so self-congratulatory and self-serving. And while Ms. Karr certainly seems to be soundly patting herself on the back for her hatred of her grandmother and her shooting a neighborhood boy with a BB gun, for example, she does so with a cool and cynical gaze towards her own behavior. This is one of those books that everybody says you've got to read. In my own experience "everybody" is usually wrong. Not so this time.
Rating:
Summary: flat, monotonous, self-justifying
Review: I believe the reason the tone of this book is so flat is that Karr is much more interested in remembering her childhood the way she needs to remember it, rather than the way it really happened. Anyway, it rings false for me. Virtually none of the brightness and magic that shines so sweetly in childhood is present here. The great appeal of this book is, as I'm sure many have noted before me, schadenfreude, i.e., enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others. The appeal is further compounded by the novelty of the contrast between the book's dreariness and all the sugar coated pap everyone gets fed to them by Hollywood and TV. But that's just my guess. And although I enjoy a good pratfall as much as the next guy, I'm not ghoulish enough to enjoy wading through 300 pages of it. As for TV and Hollywood, people would find more nourishment for their souls all around them if they would just turn their backs on the entertainment industry. Thanks for listening.
Rating:
Summary: How can you not love this book???
Review: I'm sure my review will be similar to anyone's who read this book. The language is fantastic. There is nothing better than reading a poet's view of the world. Every word is cherished like a small gift. The perspective and voice is so unique, it draws you into the story. I laughed, I cried, I couldn't put the freaking book down! By the end I was left with the feeling of being proud for being part of this resilient human race. We are never so capable as when we are put into situations we could never conceive of being thrown into. And we are never so beautiful as when we come out fighting for the things we love most.
Rating:
Summary: A True Work of Art
Review: Mary Karr's moving, touching, hilariously funny and poignantly sad memoir is at once destined to become close to a classic. I can't recall ever reading a memoir this detailed, this humorous, or this poetic. Words simply fail to describe 'The Liar's Club'. Karr grew up in a seemingly nasty little town in Texas, where there doesn't seem to be anything remotely redeeming about it. Add to this a family who is completely wacky: an artist mother who drinks, threatens her life, and disappears at times for days on end; a father who also likes to drink, work and tell stories with his friends; a typical older sister who both loves and despises her. Yet in spite of this environment, or maybe because of it, Mary is able to rise above her turmoils to escape with a love of writing, reading and life itself. Her memory of early childhood is astounding, her sense of humor unmatched, and her words tumble off of the pages with ease. I heard nothing but good things about this book before I read it, and I was not disappointed. This is a true work of art that rightly deserves a place in literary history. Read it today, and experience a journey into a talented writer's beginnings.
Rating:
Summary: A honed, rasping memoir infused with grit, class and wit.
Review: Mary Karr's The Liar's Club embodies everything that a good memoir should: tragedy, comedy, indignation, depth, integrity, prose of immaculate crystalline lucidity, a moral acuteness of perception, and last of all - salvation. This memoir has really blazed itself into my memory. It is not for the beauty of the language alone that makes this story memorable, but it is for the horrors that the author had to endure while as a child - and in some respects - as an adult. In the age of youth, one never expects to have to contend with sexual abuse, alcoholism, a mentally unstable but deep down good mother, broken dreams and a continuous forging ahead not to stability and groundedness, but to that of the extreme opposite: a slow psychologiacl shredding of the mental equilibrium and much much worse. One would believe that before Mary Karr ever made it to young womanhood, she would have made it first into a mental institution. But with the East Texas backdrop as one of many scense in the memoir, that is a strong indication that no matter what happens, as Texans are quite fond of saying, "Don't mess with Texas," thus, "Don't mess with Mary Karr!" Throughout the work, if there is anything that will clasp the reader's attention, besides the vivid descriptions of scenery and abhorrent acts of debasing abuse and other vices, it will be Karr's use of similes and metaphors. They are so pirecing and bold that that alone is worth the price of the book.In terms of memoirs, this one being the catalyst that started the 'confessional' craze, The Liar's Club is a sinfully comical story of a baleful childhood, a true classic in the memoir canon.
Rating:
Summary: I'm hooked!
Review: My cousin lent me this book during my recent visit to New York City. At the time, I was not familiar with Karr's work. I could not put this book down! Even after an exhausting day of Manhattan sightseeing, I'd look forward to reading this book... and would do so until 2:30 every morning! I found this book disturbing yet somehow so touching, sad, and beautiful that I would find myself crying. Karr writes about her tragic childhood in a seemingly detached manner, like the time she was raped by the neighborhood boy, molested by her babysitter, or the many times she witnessed her mother's psychological freak-outs. Her writing is eloquent; her childhood fascinating in a grisly "American Beauty" way. I'm now looking forward to reading "Cherry", a memoir of her teenage years. I'd recommend this book to anyone who values excellent writing and good humor. A strong stomach is a must!
Rating:
Summary: I savored this book
Review: It's not often that I read a book and hang on every word. This was one of those rare occassions. This book has been sitting on my shelves for a couple of years, when I purchased it based on a friend's recommendation. Admittedly, I was skeptical, as I am of just about any memoir that makes the bestseller list. I was afraid that it would be another one of those self-serving "victim of a bad childhood that has scarred me forever, but look how resilient I am" memoirs. And while it is true that Mary Karr had a frighteningly bad childhood, and while it is true that she was the victim of many awful situations, she never puts herself in that role. At times, it's absolutely terrifying to read, and I cringed at parts of it, but I was amazed throughout--amazed at the fact that she had lived through everything that happened and amazed at how clearly and precisely she was able to write about it. Karr has a way with description that puts the reader right in the middle of the story. The book is so well-written that I did not want to put it down, but I forced myself to put it down just so I could come back to it.
Rating: 
Summary: Same area but world's apart
Review: I was born and raised in the same part of Texas at about the same time. It was an eye opening experience to find that just a few miles from where I as living someone else was living such a chaotic life. It made me thankful for stable and reliable parents. It's a story about a survivior who can now face life with humor.
Rating:
Summary: Strength out of misery
Review: Mary Karr grew up in an ugly place, the refinery/swamp town of Port Arthur, Texas, and in an ugly situation, with a mentally unstable mother and a hot tempered, hard drinking father. Yet out of such ugliness, she extracted great beauty in order to write this dazzling memoir. Despite Karr's dysfunctional childhood, her writing is completely devoid of woe-is-me whining or psychobabble. Karr has a gift for spinning a tale, perhaps inherited from her father or honed at gatherings of his friends in "The Liar's Club," a group that met to drink, play cards, and swap stories. And boy, the stories she tells! There's the stories about her mother's manic/pyschotic episodes, including one time when she set her children's belongings on fire, another time when she attempted to drive the family off a bridge, and a third time when she threatened her lazy husband with a gun. Karr also tells about her inconsistent relationship with her father, who suffered a difficult life but emerged, if not unscathed, then unbroken. Most remarkable about the book, though, are not the amazing stories but the matter of fact, even at times hilarious tone in which they are told. The woman telling these stories is no victim; she is a survivor. A miserable childhood did not cause Mary Karr to surrender her spirit, but rather forged her in fire and made her stronger.
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