Mary Karr

The author, a poet, recounts her difficult childhood growing up in a Texas oil town.

A Memoir

The Liars' Club

One of those books that makes you feel weightless after the final sentence, even though there’s so much to process. On a by-design level this is also just like….how….. Almost entirely mono/bisyllabic yet entirely casual-southern-English-abiding. Nothing is stopping me from suspecting Mary Karr is one of the most skilled writers, based solely on this book.

Alex Noble

“Wickedly funny and always movingly illuminating, thanks to kick-ass storytelling and a poet's ear.” –Oprah.com The New York Times bestselling, hilarious tale of Mary Karr’s hardscrabble Texas childhood that Oprah.com calls the best memoir of a generation. 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.

rumbledethumps

Emotionally raw and viscerally honest, Liars Club is exactly what we in the 21st century expect from a memoir: a personal recollection of events from a segment of a life, told in a way that makes a complete story. That this is what we expect, is precisely because Karr virtually invented the modern memoir with this book. Highly recommended.

Jade Flynn

A dysfunctional family, one genuinely monstrous childhood and a young girl called Mary who continued to surprise me. The only reason this didn't get five stars is because I felt it dragged slightly about three quarters of the way in but it did manage to pick itself up again towards the end. This memoir is not for the faint-hearted. Brutal and honourable honesty throughout. 

“Sure the world breeds monsters, but kindness grows just as wild...”

Gabe Cortez

Ember Skies

Allison Garber

Lindy

Rebecca C Wright

Martha F.

Jen Sorenson

Lisa

Jill Clark

Amy Thibodeau

Landon Alder

Pia Leichter

Danielle Licata

When it was published in 1995, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, as well as 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 twelve, and an oft-married mother whose accumulated secrets threaten to destroy them all. Now with a new introduction that discusses her memoir’s impact on her family, 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.

The Liars' Club A Memoir

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