The Liars' Club: A Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Like a Picture From an Old Life Magazine
Review: Mary Karr has nailed the language, smell, taste, sounds, colors and feelings of a childhood in Texas and Colorado in the 60's and 70's. She tells us the story that only a child raised on adrenalin can tell - one of humor, fear and alert, honest observation. Her memories are sharp and clear and exactly what a child would have chosen to note. This is the painfully honest and extrordinarily funny (as only the truth can be) story of two little girls trying to raise their alcoholic parents and the pasts that led the parents to that point. What is so wonderful about this memoir is that, in spite of the tribulations these little girls go through, their love for their parents and their willingness to protect them surpasses all other emotions. If for no other reason, read this book for the language. I've heard people say that it's exaggerated or embellished for this book. I can tell you that she must have a memory like a steel trap because she brought back words and sayings from my childhood that I had long forgotten. If you are only going to read one memoir this year, forget "Angela's Ashes", forget "The Color of Water". They both pale in comparison to "The Liar's Club".

Rating:
Summary: Excellent...a more pathetic childhood than Frank McCourt's
Review: I read The Liar's Club shortly after reading Angela's Ashes, expecting a similar memoir of impoverishment. Although there are some similarities, Mary Karr's childhood was marked by a remarkable clarity and insight that I did not expect. As a child, she had adult sensibility while observing adults that lacked this trait. This sensibility isolated her from the rest of her family-she loved them, but did not accept the choices they made. The saddest part is that the family's entire misfortune was the result of poor choices and mental illness, not impoverishment, war, etc. This allows the reader to imagine that someone could be living a similar life at any time. Mary's writing style is no-nonsense and the honesty of her language really hooks you in. This was the best read I've had in a long time.

Rating:
Summary: A very good book! About courage and surviving.
Review: My book club chose this book and we gave it mixed ratings, but I loved it! The spirit and courage of the girls, and the devoted love of the father were touching. The mother, Charlie Mae, and her mother made me want to throttle them! That grandma was certainly mean-spirited. The book is written with complete honesty, nothing sugar coated. Even though the mom was "nervous" she taught her girls so much more than they were learning in school. They became worldly by studying art and music with her,and this helped them overcome their grim beginnings. The older sister had such strengh and good sense, where did that come from? Great story, unforgettable characters.

Rating:
Summary: A harrowing childhood story told with humor and grace.
Review: Mary Karr handles the too-done subject of dysfunctional families with refreshing humor, grace and poetry. Though her anger is evident, it's not the main focus of the memoir nor is there the ever pervasive feeling of self pity that is found in similar books. The story is never without feeling though and her descriptions are lush and poetic. As soon as I finished reading "The Liar's Club" I turned to the first page and read it again. What better reccommendation is there?

Rating:
Summary: Is it me? I was disappointed in The Liars Club.
Review: I forced myself through The Liars Club. I was very disappointed and began to wonder about politics in publishing. I lent it to two friends who shared my feelings. It wasn't anything specific, I mean the writing was okay (every review pointed out that Ms. Karr is a poet and her use of language is so remarkable: I didn't get that) but some of had a slightly invented feel (I'm sure most memoirists must make up or fill in some blanks with invention) and came across as slightly self-involved. Can't hold a candle to 'Angela's Ashes' or 'Bastard out of Carolina', which it more closely resembles.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it - Loved it - Loved it!!
Review: I read this book twice and loved it just as much the 2nd time around. I would be crying on one page and then laughing out loud on the next page. Thanks to Mary Karr and Frank McCourt I have read 2 great memoirs in the same year!

Rating:
Summary: I laughed out loud!
Review: I am from the same area and boy can I identify with this book! From riding bikes in the DDT clouds of the "mosquito man" to having the dysfunctional family (are there any other kind). I mean, who else would have settled in this swampy, mosquito-infested mudhole? I loved this book and I have loaned my copy out several times. Thanks for the book.

Rating:
Summary: The best book I've read all year
Review: I've bought 4 extra copies of this book since I first read it last year. I've been sending it to friends in order to explain childhood in Texas, having a passionate family and the things that can sometimes go wrong. The stifling heat in small town Texas the air close with fumes from oil refineries. It comes back clearly and unapologetically, winding it's way through a family. A family with an amusing and sometimes shocking history, things veering out of control only to be made sane again only by the strength of Daddys arms. This is a book that made me cry at work and touched me in a way that made it almost painful to read at times but at the same time It's amazingly brilliant, funny and at times you can almost smell the DDT in the air from the mesquito truck passing by.

Rating:
Summary: A gut-wrenching, eyes-open memoir
Review: Mary Karr's prose is breathtaking. Characters and scenes from her childhood in East Texas come to life with startling clarity on every page. The details of a child's inner life and perceptions of reality are amazing. With piercing insight and brutal humor, she breaks down the walls of the past and lets the light of the human spirit shine through. Perhaps, like myself, you have to have grown up in a dysfunctional, alcoholic family in the South to appreciate her story - but I don't think so.

Rating:
Summary: Heroic.
Review: I too was disappointed to see so many "4" ratings. I'd be interested to hear what these critics are looking for in a book. Picnics, princes and happy endings? Mary Karr is more honest than that. She has looked at her life without squinting and acknowledged both the hurt and the humor. And she was brave enough to share it with us. I read her book on a road trip across the states last year, and when I saw the Gulf for the first time, I began to understand