I found The Liars' Club to be an engrossing read, largely for the simple reason that it is so well-written. I feel as if Mary Karr's experience as a poet feeds into the natural rhythm and lyricism that is steady throughout the majority of The Liars' Club. Much of Mary Karr's imagery and figurative language was genuinely shocking in its accuracy and beauty. Mary Karr has the ability to word the simplest and smallest of actions in a lyrical way. An example of this is the following: "Anyway, there were little runs in her stockings, narrow black ladders starting up over her toes"(107). Another example of this is the following: "Ahead of us in the green water, I can see Lecia's pale white feet like the neon tailfin of a mermaid slipping away just out of reach" (117). Simply the way Mary Karr makes words sound together and the images she creates were a large part of the reason I so much appreciated this book.
Of course, Karr's family provides a wealth of material for the memoir. Karr's most argumentative and yet only consistent relationship is with her sister, while their mother deals with a mental instability that affects the entire family. Even their grandmother, who comes to stay during the last portion of her life, adds a dynamic to the family that is the subject of many paragraphs of The Liars' Club. These relationships and the emotions that they entail are surprisingly interesting, as Mary Karr, being a writer, is able to word them in a way that makes sense to the reader.
My first impression of this book was that it would be a little less intense than the actuality, which was extremely intense. I feel as though The Liars' Club focused more on the familial relationships and emotional conditions than actual events (for the most part), which makes it dissimilar to the memoirs we have read in class. Ultimately, I found that The Liars' Club painted a detailed "literary portrait" of Mary Karr's family.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Entry 5: Connections
The other work I selected is a poem entitled "All This and More", which is also written by Mary Karr.
The link for the entire poem is as follows:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171882
A specific excerpt of this poem is as follows:
"So your head became a tv hull,
Obviously, an extremely large connection between "All This and More" and The Liars' Club is that they were both written by Mary Karr. In addition to penning novels and memoirs, Mary Karr is a poet and essayist. I thought it would be interesting to compare The Liars' Club, in which she shares a great deal of her life in an explicit manner, to a poem she wrote, in which she uses a significant amount of figurative language and symbolism to express her thoughts and ideas.
The tone of "All This and More" is surprisingly similar to that of The Liars' Club. Admittedly, Mary Karr uses few figurative symbols in her prose writing. However, both this poem and The Liars' Club are filled with examples of similes, metaphors, and imagery. The mood of each respective work is, however, vastly different. The mood of "All This and More" is dark and disturbing, while still deeply philosophical. The Liars' Club is, at base, the story of a family, and while it certainly contains its fair share of troubling moments, the overall focus is the analysis of the various family relationships. Although it is filled with heavily philosophical thoughts and inner ruminations on the part of Karr, these are expressed in an analytical tone with her ideas explicitly stated. In "All This and More", because it is a poem, symbolism is used heavily to communicate concepts, which is a significant difference between the two literary works.
I personally was interested in this poem because it is a window into the more creative and interpretive side of Mary Karr. After reading a memoir, I often feel somewhat strange knowing such personal details of a virtual strangers life. With this memoir, I feel as though I know the author, not because of the information Karr shared but because I became accustomed to her writer's voice and style of thinking. However, my personal perception of Mary Karr is entirely limited, as it is based on only one of her literary works, and no in-person contact whatsoever. For me, it was fascinating to read a work by Mary Karr that is of an entirely different genre and tone. This added a new and different shade to my perception of Mary Karr.
The link for the entire poem is as follows:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171882
A specific excerpt of this poem is as follows:
"So your head became a tv hull,
a gargoyle mirror. Your doppelganger
sloppy at the mouth
and swollen at the joints
enacted your days in sinuous
slow motion, your lines delivered
with a mocking sneer. Sometimes
the frame froze, reversed, began
again: the red eyes of a friend
you cursed, your girl child cowered
behind the drapes, parents alive again
and puzzled by this new form. That’s why
you clawed your way back to this life."
Obviously, an extremely large connection between "All This and More" and The Liars' Club is that they were both written by Mary Karr. In addition to penning novels and memoirs, Mary Karr is a poet and essayist. I thought it would be interesting to compare The Liars' Club, in which she shares a great deal of her life in an explicit manner, to a poem she wrote, in which she uses a significant amount of figurative language and symbolism to express her thoughts and ideas.
The tone of "All This and More" is surprisingly similar to that of The Liars' Club. Admittedly, Mary Karr uses few figurative symbols in her prose writing. However, both this poem and The Liars' Club are filled with examples of similes, metaphors, and imagery. The mood of each respective work is, however, vastly different. The mood of "All This and More" is dark and disturbing, while still deeply philosophical. The Liars' Club is, at base, the story of a family, and while it certainly contains its fair share of troubling moments, the overall focus is the analysis of the various family relationships. Although it is filled with heavily philosophical thoughts and inner ruminations on the part of Karr, these are expressed in an analytical tone with her ideas explicitly stated. In "All This and More", because it is a poem, symbolism is used heavily to communicate concepts, which is a significant difference between the two literary works.
I personally was interested in this poem because it is a window into the more creative and interpretive side of Mary Karr. After reading a memoir, I often feel somewhat strange knowing such personal details of a virtual strangers life. With this memoir, I feel as though I know the author, not because of the information Karr shared but because I became accustomed to her writer's voice and style of thinking. However, my personal perception of Mary Karr is entirely limited, as it is based on only one of her literary works, and no in-person contact whatsoever. For me, it was fascinating to read a work by Mary Karr that is of an entirely different genre and tone. This added a new and different shade to my perception of Mary Karr.
Entry 4: Title Significance
Literally speaking, the title The Liars' Club refers to a group of men residing in Leechfield, Texas, among them Mary Karr's father, who form an unnofficial "club". Mary Karr writes, "In fact, my father told me so many stories about his childhood that it seems in most ways more vivid to me than my own. His stories got told and retold before an audience of drinking men he played dominoes with on days off. They met at the American Legion or in the back room of Fisher's Bait Shop at times when their wives thought they were paying bills or down at the union hall. Somebody's pissed-off wife eventually christened them the Liars' Club, and it stuck" (14).
The Liars' Club did not plan ahead or arrange any meeting time or place. The members simply appeared to "meander together, seemingly by instinct..." (14). Once gathered, the men would drink, talk, play dominoes, and tell highly enjoyable but debatably exaggerated stories. No women or children were allowed, with the singular exception of the author of The Liars' Club herself, Mary Karr, who immensely loved and enjoyed her time spent with the club.
While the title of this memoir literally refers to the club of liars her father was an integral partaker in, it also has a deeper figurative meaning. For starters, Mary Karr's father was considered to be the best story-teller in the club. These stories ranged from hovering closely to the truth and being completely made-up. As Mary Karr belonged to what could safely be described as a fairly dysfunctional family, it is likely that the stories Karr's father shared were his own method of expressing himself. It is likely that the stories she heard were a part of the influence for her embarking on a career as a writer.
More importantly, this title employs the literary device of irony. While spending time with the club, Mary felt safe, protected, and happy, despite her company of liars. Meanwhile, outside of the Liars' Club, despite her company of (only supposedly) more truth-telling beings, Mary feels exposed and misplaced. Writes Karr on page 106, "I keenly felt the loss of my own trust in the world's order." Mary is more trusting of a group of males widely branded as liars than she is of a world that claims no such description. While the Liars' Club is a group of liars, they are in fact honest in that they do not attempt to deny their title as liars.
Furthermore, the Liars' Club meetings provide extremely vivid memories for Mary Karr. As she describes a particular experience with the club, she writes the following: "Even now the scene seems so real to me that I can't but write it in the present tense" (15). This further illustrates the irony of the title in that this memory is so real for Mary Karr despite the fact that it took place with a club of liars.
The Liars' Club did not plan ahead or arrange any meeting time or place. The members simply appeared to "meander together, seemingly by instinct..." (14). Once gathered, the men would drink, talk, play dominoes, and tell highly enjoyable but debatably exaggerated stories. No women or children were allowed, with the singular exception of the author of The Liars' Club herself, Mary Karr, who immensely loved and enjoyed her time spent with the club.
While the title of this memoir literally refers to the club of liars her father was an integral partaker in, it also has a deeper figurative meaning. For starters, Mary Karr's father was considered to be the best story-teller in the club. These stories ranged from hovering closely to the truth and being completely made-up. As Mary Karr belonged to what could safely be described as a fairly dysfunctional family, it is likely that the stories Karr's father shared were his own method of expressing himself. It is likely that the stories she heard were a part of the influence for her embarking on a career as a writer.
More importantly, this title employs the literary device of irony. While spending time with the club, Mary felt safe, protected, and happy, despite her company of liars. Meanwhile, outside of the Liars' Club, despite her company of (only supposedly) more truth-telling beings, Mary feels exposed and misplaced. Writes Karr on page 106, "I keenly felt the loss of my own trust in the world's order." Mary is more trusting of a group of males widely branded as liars than she is of a world that claims no such description. While the Liars' Club is a group of liars, they are in fact honest in that they do not attempt to deny their title as liars.
Furthermore, the Liars' Club meetings provide extremely vivid memories for Mary Karr. As she describes a particular experience with the club, she writes the following: "Even now the scene seems so real to me that I can't but write it in the present tense" (15). This further illustrates the irony of the title in that this memory is so real for Mary Karr despite the fact that it took place with a club of liars.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Entry 3: Emotional Reaction
In The Liars' Club, Mary's sister Lecia, who she cares for deeply but fights with constantly, is seriously injured by a jellyfish on a family outing to the beach. "The next instant I can see, they've somehow gotten all the tentacles off, and there are bright red welts around Lecia's leg in a swirly pattern, like she's been switch-whipped with willow branches" (116), writes Mary Karr of the extent of her sister's malady.
Lecia is subsequently taken to the hospital, an aspect of the plot that Mary Karr only vaguely remembers. As she describes it, "Mother and I are flying underwater like light-green phantoms. It reminds me of the Matisse painting that she'd razored out of one of her art books and taped up over the bathtub" (117). Personally, when I read the aforementioned quote, I felt an absolute click of understanding and total agreement. Most have experienced such a feeling, as though the world has turned blurry and rushed, as though the colors are literally blending together. Mary Karr, however, was able to describe this feeling in a way that few others could.
I began to feel highly emotional through reading this scene, as it is evidence of Mary's attachment to her sister. This is demonstrated by the following quote: "I wrapped my arms around my knees, bowed my head, and prayed to a god I didn't trust a prayer that probably went something like this: "Please let Lecia not die... Don't let them chop off her leg either..." (115). Although Lecia and Mary fight, argue, and perpetually squabble throughout the entirety of the novel, she is one of the most important people in Mary's life, and arguably the only one Mary can truly trust and rely on.
Mary and Lecia's day-to-day relationship is, of course, not permanently altered. Mary Karr writes, "Sometime during those transactions, she got mad at me and eventually got out of bed to stuff me once more into the dirty clothes hamper that pulled out from the bathroom wall... I wished her dead again, Lecia" (118). However, despite their ever-constant disagreements, it is now clear the depth of love for which Mary feels for Lecia. My emotional reaction to this was a "warm and fuzzy" sense of being touched by this sisterly devotion.
Lecia is subsequently taken to the hospital, an aspect of the plot that Mary Karr only vaguely remembers. As she describes it, "Mother and I are flying underwater like light-green phantoms. It reminds me of the Matisse painting that she'd razored out of one of her art books and taped up over the bathtub" (117). Personally, when I read the aforementioned quote, I felt an absolute click of understanding and total agreement. Most have experienced such a feeling, as though the world has turned blurry and rushed, as though the colors are literally blending together. Mary Karr, however, was able to describe this feeling in a way that few others could.
I began to feel highly emotional through reading this scene, as it is evidence of Mary's attachment to her sister. This is demonstrated by the following quote: "I wrapped my arms around my knees, bowed my head, and prayed to a god I didn't trust a prayer that probably went something like this: "Please let Lecia not die... Don't let them chop off her leg either..." (115). Although Lecia and Mary fight, argue, and perpetually squabble throughout the entirety of the novel, she is one of the most important people in Mary's life, and arguably the only one Mary can truly trust and rely on.
Mary and Lecia's day-to-day relationship is, of course, not permanently altered. Mary Karr writes, "Sometime during those transactions, she got mad at me and eventually got out of bed to stuff me once more into the dirty clothes hamper that pulled out from the bathroom wall... I wished her dead again, Lecia" (118). However, despite their ever-constant disagreements, it is now clear the depth of love for which Mary feels for Lecia. My emotional reaction to this was a "warm and fuzzy" sense of being touched by this sisterly devotion.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Entry 2: Passage Analysis
On page 100 of The Liars' Club, Mary Karr writes, "I remember leaning across the front of his blue work shirt to tell Lecia that was some good crying she did, to which she lowered the paper towel so I could finally see her face. It was like a course brown curtain dropping to show a mask entirely different than the grinning one I'd expected. Her eyes and nose were red and her mouth was twisted up and slobbery. All of a sudden, I knew she wasn't faking it, the grief I mean. It cut something out of me to see her hurt. And it put some psychic yardage between us that I was so far from sad and she was so deep in it."
Lecia and Mary, two sisters, are informed that their grandmother has passed away, and are subsequently pulled out of school and driven home by an uncle. Mary, who blatantly abhorred her grandmother, assumes that Lecia's hysterical crying is a spurious act of sadness. Once the two have arrived at their home and have reached their father, Mary attempts to compliment Lecia on the emotional display. It is from this event that the aforementioned quote arises.
The previously mentioned quote contains an example of both a metaphor and a simile, in addition to illustrating Lecia and Mary as foils for one another. By stating that seeing her sister's face unencumbered by a paper towel was "like a course brown curtain dropping"(100), the author has composed a simile. Furthermore, by discussing the "psychic yardage" between them, caused by their contrasting reactions to their grandmother's death, and through stating that, though Mary is far from sadness, Lecia is "so deep in it", a metaphor has been created. Additionally, this illustrates the fundamental differences in the natures of Lecia and Mary. From this, the literary device of a foil emerges.
The death of Lecia and Mary's grandmother is a pivotal plot point of The Liars' Club, not least because it marks both the end of a tense era in the family household and a negative turning point in their mother's mental health. This passage is significant because it chronicles the reaction and mindset of Mary towards their grandmother's death. More generally speaking, it provides viewpoint into the mind of a young child's perception of the death of someone who cast a negative shadow in their life.
Lecia and Mary, two sisters, are informed that their grandmother has passed away, and are subsequently pulled out of school and driven home by an uncle. Mary, who blatantly abhorred her grandmother, assumes that Lecia's hysterical crying is a spurious act of sadness. Once the two have arrived at their home and have reached their father, Mary attempts to compliment Lecia on the emotional display. It is from this event that the aforementioned quote arises.
The previously mentioned quote contains an example of both a metaphor and a simile, in addition to illustrating Lecia and Mary as foils for one another. By stating that seeing her sister's face unencumbered by a paper towel was "like a course brown curtain dropping"(100), the author has composed a simile. Furthermore, by discussing the "psychic yardage" between them, caused by their contrasting reactions to their grandmother's death, and through stating that, though Mary is far from sadness, Lecia is "so deep in it", a metaphor has been created. Additionally, this illustrates the fundamental differences in the natures of Lecia and Mary. From this, the literary device of a foil emerges.
The death of Lecia and Mary's grandmother is a pivotal plot point of The Liars' Club, not least because it marks both the end of a tense era in the family household and a negative turning point in their mother's mental health. This passage is significant because it chronicles the reaction and mindset of Mary towards their grandmother's death. More generally speaking, it provides viewpoint into the mind of a young child's perception of the death of someone who cast a negative shadow in their life.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Entry 1: Initial Impressions
I chose to read The Liars' Club by Mary Karr for my memoir project based on the advice of my father, who was unusually praising of a book not written in iambic pentameter. My perception of the book at this point (in which I have only read the back cover), is that it details the turbulent childhood of Mary Karr, an American author, poet, and essayist, who, as I know from my dad, ran away from her Texas home and family as a teenager.
I am predicting that the book will end with Mary Karr either leaving home or deciding to leave home, meaning that while I have a fairly solid prediction for the end, I am completely unsure as to the events and circumstances that lead up to what I am guessing will be the denouement.
I have the general impression that Mary Karr's immediate family is rather quirky, which is often considered to be an endearing trait. However, it is hard to believe that Mary Karr was inspired to leave her home because her family displayed a few oddities, which makes me think that they may have been "quirky" in a more serious way.
I am unsure as to whether I should expect any humor whatsoever, as I know there are some extremely serious moments and less than sympathetic characters who contribute to what I perceive as the general intensity of the novel. Furthermore, I know that the author had a serious drinking problem later in life, which she also wrote a book about. It seems likely that the childhood roots of this problem will be addressed in The Liars' Club.
Ultimately, I am fairly sure that the book will conclude with some phase of Mary Karr's decision and subsequent action of leaving home. However, I have no idea what will drive her to take this action. Through reading The Liars' Club, I hope she will explain the thought process that preceded this decision, and the events that triggered such a thought process.
I am predicting that the book will end with Mary Karr either leaving home or deciding to leave home, meaning that while I have a fairly solid prediction for the end, I am completely unsure as to the events and circumstances that lead up to what I am guessing will be the denouement.
I have the general impression that Mary Karr's immediate family is rather quirky, which is often considered to be an endearing trait. However, it is hard to believe that Mary Karr was inspired to leave her home because her family displayed a few oddities, which makes me think that they may have been "quirky" in a more serious way.
I am unsure as to whether I should expect any humor whatsoever, as I know there are some extremely serious moments and less than sympathetic characters who contribute to what I perceive as the general intensity of the novel. Furthermore, I know that the author had a serious drinking problem later in life, which she also wrote a book about. It seems likely that the childhood roots of this problem will be addressed in The Liars' Club.
Ultimately, I am fairly sure that the book will conclude with some phase of Mary Karr's decision and subsequent action of leaving home. However, I have no idea what will drive her to take this action. Through reading The Liars' Club, I hope she will explain the thought process that preceded this decision, and the events that triggered such a thought process.
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