Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Liars' Club : A Memoir

The Liars' Club : A Memoir
The Liars' Club A Memoir
Author: Mary Karr
ISBN: 102132
Publication Date: 1995
Pages: 320
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 6

3 stars, based on 6 ratings
Publisher: Viking
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Write a Review

16 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 68 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
First off, my book is not posted so I am not trying to get you to order it.
I was caught up in this story. Anyone who is an adult child of an alcoholic will see their own absurdities in these pages. What I enjoyed most was the author never feels sorry for herself. There is compassion and I suspect at times she kept the less attractive matters private, however, that does not diminish the story in anyway.
Her stories are riveting, she admires her father's stories hence the title, "The Liar's Club" a group of buddies, he was a part throughout his life. Mary Marlene got his genes for story telling ability.
Almost as good as "Change Me Into Zeus' Daughter" or "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight".
tleet avatar reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on
Helpful Score: 1
It was hard to believe this was a true story based on the children's experience.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 93 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very well written, some sad stories, some happy. She wrote the stories the way she remembered them, and then told how her sister remembered the same event.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is an excellent book.

The author tells vivid stories of her childhood. This book made me cry in parts and made me laugh out loud in others. Though she uses her adult perspective to retell the stories, the voice is her as a child. It is uncomplicated and unencumbered.

If you liked Angela's Ashes, you'll like this book.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I absolutely loved this book. It's no surprise it was on the NY Times Bestseller list for such a long time. Mary Karr relates her memoir in a unsentimental, straightforward way that it calls to mind the plain-speaking, frank nature of East Texas people. A beautifully written book - it's rich descriptions were melodic, visual and swept me away into her family drama. I loved my time there.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 9 more book reviews
Wonderful book. Extremely well written.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 9 more book reviews
A fascinating account of a most dysfunctional childhood. You'll marvel at the survivor finesse of the author. The sequel, Cherry, continues the memoir through the author's teenage years.
SuzanneB avatar reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on
Incredible memoir of a turbulent childhood, fascinating and compelling, hilarious and sad, a true masterpiece. I read this after reading "Lit," so I went out of order, but it made no difference in terms of reader enjoyment. Made me appreciate my relatively normal upbringing, but left me longing to know some of the real-life characters Mary Karr describes in the book. Karr redefines "family" in this memoir.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 56 more book reviews
"A triumphant achievement in the art of memoir and in the art of living....Karr fills ter turbulent pages with a prose as pungent and zesty as a Gulf Coast gumbo." -- Newsday
Poet & Pushcart award winning author.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 71 more book reviews
Yuck. Took me nowhere...way overrated. I had to stop in the middle of the book. Boring.
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 16 more book reviews
A must read!
Hissy-Fitz avatar reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 19 more book reviews
I love Mary Karr! The Liars' Club is funny, sad, honest, believable and unbelievable, all at the same time.


I no longer have my copy, to my great sorrow.

Follow this great read up with the sequel, Cherry.
murder101 avatar reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on
I really enjoyed this book!
reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 19 more book reviews
Good memoir of a tough gal!
margaretbx avatar reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 33 more book reviews
ISBN 10 is actually a paperback.
caffeinegirl avatar reviewed The Liars' Club : A Memoir on + 114 more book reviews
I was hoping it would be as good as Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle, but it wasn't. Karr did a terrific job of remembering her childhood, and she has more details about her life in the first chapter than I could remember from my entire childhood. I'm impressed that she recalled (and researched) so much.

The book is called "The Liars' Club" because that's what the group of friends that her father knew called themselves, so I was expecting some revelation about her father or his friends. In the end, I don't think Karr understood her parents -- which is understandable, given their craziness. But if she couldn't understand what makes them tick, I wish she had written more about what their craziness meant to her in her understanding of herself. I came away thinking that this book was an interesting series of events, but not much in the way of analysis. It didn't satisfy me.