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The Liar's Club

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 8 months ago
 
 
 
Mary Karr
 
The Liar’s Club (1995) takes us from Mary’s feisty childhood to her adolescence, a childhood spent largely in a physically toxic environment (Leechfield, Texas) with psychologically toxic and challenging people: her cruel grandmother, her mentally unstable mother, and her alcoholic father. Yet she loves her parents (and they love her), and the difficult decision to stay with her mother in Colorado when her parents divorce is made on the basis of her mother’s need. Her adolescence is written about in Cherry (2000).
 
 
More by Mary Karr
 
Sinners Welcome: Poems. 2006.
Cherry. 2000.
Viper Rum. 1998. [poetry]
The Devil’s Tour. 1993. [poetry]
Abacus. 1987. [poetry]
 
About Mary Karr
 
“Fellow Update,” Radcliffe Quarterly, Spring, 2003.
 
Karr, Mary. “How I Told My Friends I Was Writing about My Childhood—and What They Said in Return,” Slate, March 27, 2007.
 
Interviews
 
Garner, Dwight. “A Scrappy Little Beast: Mary Karr Talks about the Ongoing Success of ‘The Liar’s Club,’ the Memoir,” The Salon Interview, Salon.
 
Hogan, Ron, “Mary Karr: “Everybody Thinks the title Is Ironic, But I Mean It Completely Sincerely,” Beatrice Interview, 2000.
 
 Miller, David Ian, ”Mary Karr, author of ‘The Liar’s Club,’ on Why She Converted to Catholicism,” Finding My Religion, SFGate, March 27, 2006.
 
ReadingGroupGuide
 
Awards for The Liar’s Club
 
American Library Association, Notable Books, Nonfiction, 1996
 
“1995 The Best & Worst/Books,” Entertainment Weekly
 
National Book Critics Circle Award, Finalist, Biography/Autobiography, 1995
 
PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of Non-fiction
 
Texas Institute of Letters
 
Discussion Guides for The Liar's Club
 
 
 
Reviews of The Liar’s Club
 
Brown, Mary Daniels, Notes in the Margin, August 5, 1998.
 
Daniel, Nita, “Focus Tight & Pull No Punches,” ToxicUniverse.com, September 17, 2002.
 
The Little Bird, January 12, 2006.
 
McQuay, Angela, Curled up with a Good Book, 2005.
 
Wille, Andrew, The Richmond Review
 
 
Place 
 
Although Leechfield, Texas, doesn’t seem to be on any map, it’s very close in environment and temperament to Port Arthur, East Texas, a Southern, swampy, petrochemical nightmare, victim to industrial accidents and violent weather, but a town that employed hundreds with all the petrochemical industries.  
 
National Weather Service Forecast Office. “Texas Hurricane History: Late 20th Century,” [includes Hurricane Carla, a particularly frightening experience for Mary and Lecia]
Sam Kittner, Photographer. “Environmental Documentary….an ignored story about the chemical warfare being endured daily by those who live along the fence-lines of the petrochemical industry.”
Anderson, Dave, photographer. Rough Beauty. 2006
 
Others Who Lived in East Texas
 
Cimarolli, Mary. The Bootlegger’s Other Daughter. 2003.
Foote, Horton. Farewell: A Memoir of a Texas Childhood. 1999.
Swift, Edward. My Grandfather’s Finger.  1999.
 
 
 Dysfunctional Families 
 
After speaking to many people at her book signings, Mary Karr has come to the conclusion that any family numbering more than one person is dysfunctional. She refers to her own family as her ‘”less than perfect Texas clan.” Her mother had a tragic secret which affected her mental health, and her father, the storyteller par excellence of “The Liar’s Club,” was a hard-drinking, narrow man, ready to fight at the least provocation. Other people have grown up in “less-than-perfect” families too.
 
Fonda, Jane. My Life So Far. 2005.
Franzen, Jonathan. The Corrections. 2001. [Fiction]
Steinke, Darcey. Easter Everywhere: A Memoir. 2007.
Thyre, Sarah. Dark at the Roots: A Memoir. 2007.
Trussoni, Danielle. Falling through the Earth: A Memoir. 2007.
 
Alcoholism in the Family
  
Alcohol is one of the biggest contributors to the dysfunction of the family, whether it’s abused by a parent (or both) or a child. 
 
Antrim, Donald. The Afterlife: A Memoir. 2006.
Black, Claudia. ‘It Will Never Happen to Me!’ Children of Alcoholics: As Youngsters –Adolescents—Adults. 2d ed. 2001.
Montgomery, Lee. The Things between Us: A Memoir. c. 1980, reprint, 2007.
Stephens, M. G. Where the Sky Ends: A Memoir of Alcohol and Family. 1999.
Zailckas, Koren. Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. 2005.
 
Sisters 
 
Often the behaviour of the parents will bring siblings closer together, as certainly was the case with Lecia and Mary. Mary was often noticeably grateful for the support and comfort of her sister during the most difficult incidents. 
 
Foster, Patricia. Sister to Sister: Women Write about the Unbreakable Bond. 1995.
Ginsberg, Debra. About My Sisters. 2004.
Lansens, Lori. The Girls. 2005. [Fiction about conjoined twins]
Ortlip, Carol A.   We Became Like a Hand: A Story of Five Sisters. 2002.
Tomlin, Jenny. Silent Sisters: The True Price of Growing up in the Shadow of Abuse. 2006.
 
Overcoming Adversity 
 
Mary Karr is an award-winning poet and a Trustee Professor at Syracuse University. Perhaps it was her feisty nature that pulled her out of her environment, enabling her to do well for herself. Sometimes, though, it’s not the family's fault, and it's the family who saves you from yourself.
 
Conroy, Frank. Stop-Time. 1967.
Flacco, Anthony.  Tiny Dancer: The Incredible True Story of a Young Burn Victim’s Journey. 2005.
McCall, Catherine. Lifeguarding: A Memoir of Secrets, Swimming, and the South. 2006.
McCarthy, Mary. Memories of a Catholic Girlhood. 1957.
Moyers, William Cope. Broken:  My Story of Addiction and Redemption. 2006.
 
 
(Created with the help of the Orangeville Workshop participants. All sites accessed July, 2007.
 
Maureen O'Connor, WordsWorthy/Connecting Books and Readers/maureen@wordsworthy.com)

 

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