Liars' Club : A Memoir

When it was published in 1995, Mary Karrs The Liars Clubtook 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. Karrs comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J. D. Salingersa 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 memoirs 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.

Mary Karr-'s three volumes of poetry are Abacus, The Devil-'s Tour, and Viper Rum. Her memoir, Cherry, published in 2000, was also a New York Times bestseller. She is a Jesse Truesdale Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University.