The Liars’ Club brought to vivid, indelible life Mary Karr’s hardscrabble Texas childhood. Cherry, her account of her adolescence, “continued to set the literary standard for making the personal universal” (Entertainment Weekly). Now Lit follows the self-professed blackbelt sinner’s descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness—and to her astonishing resurrection.
Karr’s longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting blueblood poet produces a son they adore. But she can’t outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in “The Mental Marriott,” with an oddball tribe of gurus and saviors, awakens her to the possibility of joy and leads her to an unlikely faith. Not since Saint Augustine cried, “Give me chastity, Lord—but not yet!” has a conversion story rung with such dark hilarity.
Lit is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. Written with Karr’s relentless honesty, unflinching self-scrutiny, and irreverent, lacerating humor, it is a truly electrifying story of how to grow up—as only Mary Karr can tell it.
It’s almost impossible to believe that someone could rise out of the ashes of the broken home Mary Karr came from. Her upbringing and early home life left absolutely nothing to the imagination. From parents who can’t seem to help themselves enough to help their own children, to the eventual replication in her own life and motherhood, Mary Karr’s story is gripping. A not-so-feel-good, but yet triumphant journey that proves anything is possible.
I need to start by saying that memoirs are generally not my thing, and not always something I equate with the standard definition of “Chick Lit”. But in the way that chick lit can often inspire and motivate you in ways you never thought of, Lit - as a memoir, does just that. After I finished reading it, I truly looked back at my own life and reflected that I had had things very easy. Where I had parents who truly cared for my well-being in a loving way, Mary Karr had a mother who joined in and advocated frequent drug & alcohol binges. Where I had opportunity without question, Mary had a questionable requirement for something as simple as a college recommendation. How do you pull yourself out of all that? That’s exactly what Lit is all about. Her struggle to overcome the imprint of the mother that she once had, who nearly destroys her with every drink and drug usage.
Miraculously, Mary meets a wonderful man, gets married and soon has a son. But unfortunately through the struggles that come with motherhood and her “reference material”, Mary settles back into a life of drunkenness. It’s by overcoming this shadow hanging over her head that she’s able to become the successful person she is today.
For me, personally, I was shocked to see how recklessly her parents handled her upbringing and even more so, that she has been able to become the person she is despite it all. Some of her experiences were almost too much for me to read, sexual assaults and a mother who shows up high to her daughter’s wedding. It was so difficult. I felt like so many of the people who tried to help Mary along the way, I just wanted to pick her up throughout the story and carry her to a safe place. Unfortunately, that’s not how life works. We all have struggles we have to overcome and would often like to have a “clean slate” to begin anew, but until we sort out the tragedies of our past we can’t move forward. No matter how many around us would like to step in and carry our burdens.
Mary Karr’s story is something I won’t soon forget. It’s inspiring and troubling all in one breathe. But definitely worth the read, especially if you love memoirs. Her writing is beautiful and somehow, the words seem to flow off the page and into your mind like water. This is one memoir you don’t want to miss.
I’d like to thank TLC Book Tours and the publisher, Harper Perennial for providing me with a copy for review! Thank you!
Since November 2009
Posted in 2010 releases, American Saturday, Industry Interviews, Summer Reads | 5 Comments »
