Book Review of
The Liar’s Club
The Liars’ Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, bringing about a dramatic revival of the form. Karr’s comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J. D. Salinger’s—a hard-drinking daddy, a sister who can talk down the sheriff at age twelve, and an oft-married mother whose accumulated secrets threaten to destroy them all. This unsentimental and profoundly moving account of an apocalyptic childhood is as “funny, lively, and un-put-downable” (USA Today) today as it ever was.
Lynn's Review
The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr was published back in 2005. I picked this book up because I have heard that it was one of the memoirs that helped change the way memoirs were written. I have seen this on several people’s book list for must read memoirs. I am glad I read this book, but it wasn’t for me.
I love reading memoirs. I even love dysfunctional family stories. I would rather read a good memoir about a dysfunctional family than I would a fiction book about a messed up family. There is a lot of truth to the saying that fact is often stranger than fiction. This memoir just wasn’t for me though.
The writing style was fine, but it didn’t pull me into the story like many memoirs do. I also thought the details were way too graphic and detailed. It had way too much information in several parts. You can talk about abuse and difficult things without all the extra details. I skimmed over several sections of this book simply because I couldn’t handle the in depth details. I really struggled to see why so many people love this book.