The Liars' Club

Karr, Mary

ISBN 10: 0613181255 ISBN 13: 9780613181259

Publisher: Rebound by Sagebrush, 1996

Synopsis

A trenchant memoir of a troubled American childhood from the child's point of view describes growing up in an East Texas refinery town, life in the midst of turbulent family of drunks and liars, a schoolyard rape, and other dark secrets. Reprint. 75,000 first printing. NYT.

About this title

Review:

In this funny, razor-edged memoir, Mary Karr, a prize-winning poet and critic, looks back at her upbringing in a swampy East Texas refinery town with a volatile, defiantly loving family. She recalls her painter mother, seven times married, whose outlaw spirit could tip into psychosis; a fist-swinging father who spun tales with his cronies--dubbed the Liars' Club; and a neighborhood rape when she was eight. An inheritance was squandered, endless bottles emptied, and guns leveled at the deserving and undeserving. With a raw authenticity stripped of self-pity and a poet's eye for the lyrical detail, Karr shows us a "terrific family of liars and drunks ... redeemed by a slow unearthing of truth."

About the Author:

Mary Karr kick-started a memoir revolution with The Liars' Club, which was a New York Times bestseller for over a year, a best book of the year for The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, People and Time, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the winner of prizes from PEN and the Texas Institute of Letters. Karr has won the Whiting Award, Radcliffe's Bunting Fellowship, and Pushcart Prizes for both verse and essays, and she has been a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry. Her other bestselling books include The Art of Memoir, the memoirs Lit and Cherry, and the poetry collection Sinners Welcome, Viper Rum, The Devil's Tour, and Abacus. The Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University, Karr lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rebound by Sagebrush
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0613181255
• ISBN 13: 9780613181259
• Binding: Library Binding