A trenchant memoir of a troubled American childhood from the child's point of view describes growing up in an East Texas refinery town, life in the midst of turbulent family of drunks and liars, a schoolyard rape, and other dark secrets. Reprint. 75,000 first printing. NYT.

In this funny, razor-edged memoir, Mary Karr, a prize-winning poet and critic, looks back at her upbringing in a swampy East Texas refinery town with a volatile, defiantly loving family. She recalls her painter mother, seven times married, whose outlaw spirit could tip into psychosis; a fist-swinging father who spun tales with his cronies--dubbed the Liars' Club; and a neighborhood rape when she was eight. An inheritance was squandered, endless bottles emptied, and guns leveled at the deserving and undeserving. With a raw authenticity stripped of self-pity and a poet's eye for the lyrical detail, Karr shows us a "terrific family of liars and drunks ... redeemed by a slow unearthing of truth."

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.