Rating: 
Summary: Dragged On and On...
Review: I was so disappointed!... I did enjoy "The Liar's Club" and fully expected to devour "Cherry" but it was not to be. This account of Mary Karr's adolescence seemed to drag on endlessly.
The style of writing I found riveting in "Liar's Club" began wearing on me very early in "Cherry". At times it reminded me of an essay a kid writes in school with lots of big words to impress a teacher. There comes a time in this book when Karr's prose stops being lyrical and just becomes annoying.
That's to say nothing of the storyline which was monotonous and repetative. When the teenaged Mary got stoned or starts tripping, I felt as though it was really happening. Her storytelling brain cells must have burned-up on re-entry. It was as if "Liar's Club" and "Cherry" were written by two different authors. I'll be looking forward to the next book by the woman who wrote "Liar's Club".
Rating: 
Summary: iconoclastic, defiant and gritty teen discerns true self
Review: Both the cover and title of Mary Karr's second memoir, "Cherry," are deceptive. Although her scathingly witty and powerfully realized descriptions of coming-of-age in the environmentally and spiritually polluted town of Leechfield, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 70s treat her sexual awakening, her memoir is much more a sarcastic, self-deprecating, but liberating analysis of how Mary came to understand her essence. Her knowledge of what she would come to refer to as her "Same Self" is hard earned, the author having travelled through the seas of family dysfunction, alienation and rejection of her social mileu, and a bizarre and frightening absorbtion into the drug-culture and the nascent counterculture of her adolescence. Ms. Karr is an exquisite writer; the compelling narrative of her life augments the marvelous capturing of Texan patois and the absolutely captivating characterizations she renders of the men, women and children who help provide defintion to her life.Now a professor of English at Syracuse University, Mary Karr was a hellion as a child and a rebel as a teenager. Resentful of the restrictions imposed upon her by a town dedicated to spewing toxic waste into the atmosphere and reared by an alcoholic father and a desperately brilliant but fiercely independent mother, Mary determines not to follow the footsteps of her voluptuous (and right wing) older sister. At eleven, envious of her boyfriends' freedom and captivated by her initial sexual stirrings towards one of them, Mary determines to ride her bike bare-chested. This foray into inarticulated feminist rebellion backfires, of course; the humiliated Mary retreats into her home, bewildered by her mother's bland acquiesence and determined even more to find her place in the world. Her eventual understanding of her place as a woman -- of its power, its fragility and its vulnerability -- evolves in a powerful and frightening description of an aborted sexual assualt on her mother. That place would not be in school. Some of the memoir's best writing captures the tumultuous years Mary survived high school. A self-described screw-up, Mary constantly challenged authorities, ridiculing their perceived stupidity and rigidity, wantonly defying traditional convention and eagerly embracing a personality which glorified lassitude, disenchantment and disengagement. Her eventual involvement (perhaps devolution into) with the world of drugs causes her to remember many events in a fragmented, near kaleidescopic manner. Although a bit repetitious at times, her colorful, caustic and critical analaysis of the impact of drugs on her consciousness remind the reader of how much this young woman actually forced upon herself in her quest for self understanding. The brutal truth is that Mary Karr was lucky to escape Leechfield. "The slope of boredom there is steep enough to cast the shadow of an astonishingly high suicide rate." Despite the "crushing tedium" of life, this profoundly brilliant, angry, ironic and self-deprecating poet found not only courage, but voice. It is this unbridled tension and strength that gives "Cherry" its power. Its author is neither seeking approval nor indictment; she is merely attempting to demonstrate that the explosive impact of her environment did not destroy her. Indeed, it is that defiant, open-faced grit that gives "Cherry" its capacity to instruct.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Biography of a Poet's Life
Review: Right from the very first page of Cherry, Mary Karr will have you hooked. Anybody who has longed to escape a small town and see the world will be able to relate to Cherry. It is a close look into the seventies told from the point of view of someone who experienced it with the heart of a child and the mind of a woman. Karr writes in a way that only a great poet could. She develops the story with beautiful language that enables the reader to look at Karr's life and their own in a new light. Cherry is a sad, funny and beautiful story that will have you full of emotion at every page.
Rating:
Summary: why you should buy this book
Review: (...) Mary (is) a super talented speaker, writer and if your a cool person and have been around the block you can relate Im sure. This was a hard book to write if for no other reason than the people that are alive still surf and hang out together. The ones that are dead have families that a book like this opens some old wounds for. Marys a kind and thoughtfull person and she tried hard not to hurt anybodys feelings. Trying to discribe being on acid, let me just say this, Mary Karr has more guts than anybody I know. She works hard and she takes chances. This book isnt for lightwieght plastic people. If when those two black dudes come out with that cape and put it on James Browns back when hes down on his knees and you jump up and scream "yhea baby" then you will love this book. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Funny and sad and true
Review: I'd never read anything by Mary Karr before, but I bought this as an audio book to listen to on a cross country car trip. It was so funny in parts that once I actually had to pull over to the side of the road since I was laughing so hard. It's rare to find a book about a teenage girl, whether fiction or memoir, where she is actually the subject of the story, not the object, and "Cherry" does this masterfully. You can see young Mary, trapped in the boredom of her small Texas town, wild and disrespectful and aching for something more. There were parts of this book that really surprised me--I didn't know you could do so many drugs and survive. Although, I suppose Mary was the exception, since many of her friends didn't make it through this time for various reasons, and she hints that the story after "Cherry" ends will be even more tragic and full of loss. I'm going to read "The Liars Club" next, and I hope that Mary Karr will write another book, telling us what happened once she left Texas for California.
Rating: 
Summary: Little Mary Half-Grown
Review: Mary, like most of us, was more endearing as a tough, tenacious little girl in "Liar's Club" than an out-of-control teenager. Some reviewers seem upset with the book exactly as they would a child who changed from attractive and lively into teenage angst before their eyes. There is more evidence of Mary Karr the poet in this book. She is not chronicling so much as experiencing. Her kindness and tenderness toward the boys who touched her life is a fine strength in "Cherry." Rarely have I come across such lyricism in describing the beauty of a young male. "His surfer cut hung in a bright wing across his forehead. He stood stock still in his pedals for the entire strip of road past my house like the figurehead on a ship's prow, and his thoughtless beauty dragged from me the faint tug of something like desire. His body was thin-muscled as a greyhound's. Maybe his hurtling motion made enough wind to cool him off, but he didn't look to suffer from the heat I felt so squandered in." I winced with Mary when she looked back with pain at her own self-centeredness, her dismissal and uncaringness for anyone's pain but her own. Her descriptions of life as lived and hopefully survived in High School USA are right on the money. She had a fierce independence that most teens lack, but she certainly did wallow in her rebellion. The last quarter of the book was self-indulgence, I know no other way to describe it. Ms. Karr distances herself by abandoning the first person "I" to the second person "you" for her drug induced psychedelic outing. It went on too long. Weird tripping is only fascinating to the tripper; it was like having someone go on and on about their strange dream last night. I felt as if I had been dropped into a bad David Lynch movie. This segment spoiled my enjoyment of an otherwise fine book. I look forward to Mary Karr's next outing and recommend "Cherry" for anyone who doesn't mind taking a wild ride through the early '70s.
Rating: 
Summary: A more than worthwhile sequel to a brilliant book.
Review: The Liars Club is second only to AngelaÕs Ashes as my favorite memoir of all time, but I hesitated reading this sequel because sequels so rarely live up to the original. I had just finished reading Frank McCourtÕs lackluster sequel to AngelaÕs Ashes about the time I first saw this book in the bookstores, and I was not in the mood to be disappointed again. Fortunately, this time I wasnÕt. Cherry is not quite as good as The Liars Club ( not many books are), but it is still a very good book and well worth reading. The writing style that was the heart and soul of The Liars Club, KarrÕs unique mixture of lyricism and Texas grit, is still here, and still a pleasure to read. She makes you laugh and breaks your heart. And there are a number of other things that make this book special. In The Liars Club, Karr left me in awe of the strangeness of her family and childhood. In contrast, I think anyone who was a teenager in the seventies, especially women, will find a great deal to identify with in this book. Karr does a wonderful job of capturing a decade when the world went out of control in many ways, but adults were still trying to keep teenagers locked in the 1950s. Karr seems to think that mixture of insane freedom and mind-numbing repression was unique to east Texas, but I went to high school at the same time Mary Karr did, in southern California, and it was pretty much the same. The other thing that Mary Karr writes well about in this book is the sexuality of teenage girls. Teenage boys have been well covered, but this is the first book IÕve read that seems to get girlsÕ initial interest in sex right. Again and again you see the teenaged Mary reaching out, not really for sex, and not for love and commitment (the clichŽ about what girls want), but more for a kind of romance and communion. It rings very true. The writing here is as honest and insightful as anything youÕll ever read. I agree with a lot of critics that this is a less hopeful book than The Liars Club. As a child, Mary had so much grit, you knew she would come out on top of her circumstances. The teenaged Mary seems lost in them. ItÕs honest, but it wears you down sometimes. I wish she had continued the book a little farther into her life, to some point when she rediscovered some of toughness she had as a child (she must have found it, or she could never have written these two wise and honest books). It would have made for a less gloomy ending. But I look forward to the next book. All in all, IÕd say if you have not read The Liars Club, you should definitely read that first. Not only is it a better book, a brilliant book, but this book will make a lot more sense if youÕve read the earlier one. But if youÕve already read and enjoyed The Liars Club, donÕt hesitate to read this one. ItÕs a worthy sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Cherry with a big fat Pit
Review: I loved her first book and bought this one without browsing it. I trusted this writer. The first paragraph rotted on the page. Overwritten prose. So many visual images, I thought I was in Disneyland. This was written by a poet run amok. Uncentered. Goes on and on about nothing. I'll stop now.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed every sentence
Review: This illuminates a difficult time through puberty, complicated by sex and drugs, with a deft command of language. It lights up areas of our past that are often left unspoken. I didn't grow up in Texas, nor did I grow up in the 60s, in fact, I'm not female, but I was caught up in the magic of Mary's Karr's prose and her ability to depict those long, sometimes boring, sometimes electric moments of being a teenager and wanting to leave home. Mary Karr says it like it is, and describes one of the most most vivid--and laugh-until-you-cry--descriptions of an acid trip I have ever read. My favorite and most moving part is the mother's reference to the father as being "USDA crazy" after he's dumped a bucket of plums on his daughter's bed. (I won't devulge the context, you have to read it.) I was so moved I couldn't describe it to my wife for a full minute. My only criticsm is that there were several references to characters dying later in life, which give the reader the impression the story it going to lead there, but doesn't. Perhaps it was more of a cautionary tale of what drugs did to people--or just, the way it was. On the whole, it is enriching and well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: I Like Mary (or Houston, we've got a live one here...)
Review: While I didn't think Liar's Club quite held up to the reviews, I still enjoyed it. Cherry is more fun. Karr's view of teenage girl sexuality is lively, refreshing, and, I think, pretty true. Karr's poet's eye picks out interesting detail in an adolescent life. And, if you were ever any kind of a slacker or a beach bum, or a druggie, she is hilarious. Personally, I have never read a description of an LSD trip that is as funnya and true as Karr's. I cried with laughter. Karr is clearly just an interesting person. I'm encouraged to check out the poetry now.
| 
