In this funny, hard-edged memoir, Mary Karr (http://www.marykarr.com/bio.php), a prize-winning poet and critic, looks back at her upbringing. The setting is a swampy East Texas refinery town in a volatile, defiantly loving family. She recalls her painter mother, seven times married, whose outlaw spirit could tip into psychosis. There is her violent father who spins tales with his cronies (dubbed the Liars’ Club). There is a neighbourhood rape when she is eight. There is an inheritance squandered, endless bottles of booze drained, and guns pointed at the deserving and undeserving. With a raw authenticity stripped of self-pity and a poet’s eye for lyrical detail, Karr shows us a “terrific family of liars and drunks … redeemed by a slow unearthing of truth.” If reading is about comparing and contrasting your life with those of others, this will deliver excellent contextual value. I commend it.
Enquire at your local library or consult http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liars-Club-Mary-Karr/dp/033045479X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439711778&sr=8-1&keywords=liars+club for full bibliographic detail.
353 pages in Penguin
First published 31 May 2005
ISBN 978-0143035749
Mary Karr