Gripping memoir of a girl growing up in the south during the 60's & 70's. It is at times really touching and at other very funny. If you grew up in the south, the people and places described will remind you of ones you knew. They did for me. The descriptions and the language are so perfect. I really enjoyed this one and plan on ordering the follow up.

I liked it, but did not love it. I have read other similar memoirs that I liked better. That being said, the book kept my interest. It was a dark story, but had a good message about a family's closeness enduring thorough troubled times.

I liked this book, although I wouldn't rank it as one of the best memoirs I have read lately. It was disturbing on some levels, but not so much so that I couldn't get through it. It was also comforting in an odd way. The members of the Karr family are obviously very close, and that is always a good thing in my book. I can't say that I can relate to having my father beat a man to a bloody pulp for disrespecting me or my mother.

Mary's family was complicated by parental drinking, mental illness, a dying grandmother, and a long ago secret that festered into guilt.

I am always amazed when reading a memoir such as Mary Karr's The Liars' Club. I had to remind myself, several times, that this was not a work of fiction as she recounted a litany of abuse and neglect that astounded. Karr is a strong writer, and though the subject matter could have dragged one down, she told her story with wit and wisdom and actually had me laughing at times! Highly recommended!!

I enjoyed this book. The writing was very good if a bit dis-jointed. Sometimes the author jumped around too much, but I loved her choice of words. This is a story of a truly dis-functional family. I am sure that anyone who grew up in that part of Texas during the same years has similar stories to tell. What makes you keep reading this book, is the feeling that deep down inside the family members really love each other, they just don't know how to express it.

This, and Angela's Ashes, began my love affair with memoirs. This is a beautifully written book. Karr tells the story of her often horrific childhood from a place of forgiveness and with affection. If you grew up in Texas in the 60s/70s, this book will also resonate with you.

This was an extremely well written memoir but just a little too dark for me. But I could see how it was a major bestseller. A childhood filled with dysfunctional alcoholic parents just isn't my cup of tea, no matter how terrific the writing.

Beautifully written memoir of a childhood far from idyllic, but marked with the sweat-stained honesty of a blue-collar Texas town.

This family is majorly disfunctional and this memoir takes you along for the ride. Great story and worth a read.

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This is an interesting memoir about growing up in Texas with an absent and self-centered mother. The author relates the trials and tribulations of her and her sister's struggle for normalcy admidst a rocky home life.

---------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'sâ€"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. 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.-------

I wouldn't call this memoir comic, more tragi-comic; but the work apocalyptic certainly fits!

Great stories about growing up in a strange family from a childs perspective!

Good book. Fairly quick read, but with substance.

This is an incredible story that is written incredibly well. It will make you laugh and cry at the same time. Read this book!

When I started reading this book I thought it was purely fiction. Then I discovered while reading that it is actually a "memoir". It is very true to life, a wonderful read, sometimes sorrowful, often funny and upbeat, set in an E.Texas in the '60's and 80's. The survival of spirit over circumstance.

Loved this book! What a life!

"A triumphant achievement in the art of memoir and in the art of living. An essential American story."

If you enjoy tales of disfunctional family life, you'll love this book. If peeking into life on the wrong side of the tracks is not your idea of a good time, pass this by.

The memoirs of a complicated childhood. Authobiographic.

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