Mary Karr

The author reveals how, shortly after giving birth to a child she adored, she drank herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide before a spiritual awakening led her to sobriety.

A Memoir

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.

Fraser Simons

Really well written and disarming in its erudite prose married to a blunt honesty that vacillates between endearing and funny, and tragedy. The through-line in the title embodies Karr herself, who embodies many different meanings of lit in her adulthood. 

The structure is also pretty stand out. It keeps the more-or-less linear progression of Karr’s dissent into alcoholism and unhappiness, but when compelling parts of her life intersect there will be digressions that wrap-up that thread that often keeps tensions high, or otherwise strums the chord of that particular person or event. I found it a deft tactic that often worked well. A lot of the time memoirs will be laser focused and never divert from the theme or series of events, or else they are rampant with diversions and feel muddled. 

At times this is easily a five star read, but I was, at times, a little exasperated with what felt to be a bit overly granular in detail of a specific event. You can tell Karr has kept notes and a diary to expound on something that’s happened and to give it due consideration and reflection now. But I was hoping the same amount of rumination would be given to her writing, rather than a string of let-downs for the people in her life due to her alcoholism.

Lit A Memoir

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