The Liars' Club

For my non-fiction book I read Mary Karr's "The Liars' Club". Let me just say, before I start talking about the actual book, that I have the highest respects for Miss Karr. This book is a powerfully written memoir based off her own childhood. At first, I assumed it was going to be a typical book about a little girl who might learn a life lesson by the time I turned the final page. Surprisingly, she learned/experienced more things than I personally think a seven-year-old girl should have to.

Throughout a good duration of the book, Mary Karr spends her time in Groves, (she calls it Leechfield) Texas in 1961. She lives with her two years elder sister, Lecia, (pronounced: Lisa) her father, an oil refinery worker, and her mother, an amateur artist/drunk.

In the beginning, I was afraid I was never going to get through the book because it didn't exactly leap off the page. Like most books, it introduced all its main characters and explained their backgrounds. To be honest, I don't think I got into the book until chapter two or three, where she, her sister, and her mother are trapped in a car that is ambushed by thousands of locusts.

But later on, the book started to turn grim. Mary Karr spends a lot of her time talking about the process her grandma was going through while experiencing cancer. I knew I was in for details when she described the odors of mustard gas, and the sight of her grandmother's blackened stump that used to have a leg where the cancer lived. By chapter four, I think, her grandmother had died. Mary herself was the first to find her grandma dead in the bed. She didn't say anything; she only waited for her mom to walk in the grandmother's bedroom to find her lifeless body sprawled out along the bed sheets.

Speaking of Mary's mother, she was quite a tormented character herself. Of course, she only claimed to be tormented by life because she always blamed her husband, Mary and Lecia's father. In the beginning of the book, we learn that Mary's mother has never really been satisfied with the man she's been with. She would sleep around with a guy, say she loved him, got wasted like no other, blamed the man, and then bailed. Mary Karr never let go of the subject that her mother and father were always fighting. The mom would get drunk, blame everything on the dad, go berserk, then they would just shut up until the next chapter. Mary Karr always mentioned how her mother threatened to leave her husband, but never committed.

It wasn't until about chapter ten I want to say, where the family took a trip to Colorado. By the end of the trip, her mother said she wasn't going to leave. Mary's father said he had to go back to Texas, so that was the end of their marriage. The girls decided to stay with their mother, mainly because they knew she would never be able to survive without someone watching over her.

Personally, I found that to be an unfortunate responsibility for two little girls. Then again, I figured it would be best the parents split up because before the family went to Colorado, they spent Mary's birthday fighting. The fight was so extreme, Mary's mother tried to kill the family by almost driving the car over a bridge, in spite of hating her husband.

After the parent's split up, the chapter wasn't even finished. Mary still had to mention that her mother had found some hard-drinking bum named Hector. I remember the end of that chapter very well. Mary's mother saying all sunny, "Say hello to your new daddy!" and the girls response, literally, "Oh, sh%$!"

I'm not going to get too detailed with the section of the book where the girls spent their time in Colorado with their drunken mom and their low-life "step-father". All I'm going to say is the girls decided to leave their mom and go back to their dad after she pulled a gun on Hector and threatened to kill him for being such a "useless sonofabitch". (this is literally how the book spelt out son-of-a-bitch).

Mary Karr's father was definitely my more favored parent in the book. He always called Mary "Pokey" as a nickname. Even Mary and Lecia favored their father more, I believe. I felt bad for the dad because I kept getting the vibe that he wished his daughters never had to see and experience the things they did during their parents' fights.

In case you thought this book couldn't get anymore uncomfortable, you're dead wrong. The whole children witnessing one-too-many fights was just the tip of the iceberg as I read this novel. Okay, most of you might agree with me that a lot of kids these days lose their virginity at some point in their teens. But how would you react if I told you Miss. Karr lost her virginity to a teenage boy, on some cushioned ground in a garage, at the age of seven? Well it's true; Mary Karr was taken advantage of by a thirteen year old boy. She definitely didn't shy away from description during the experience, either.

If that wasn't bad enough, the sexual activity didn't stop for her at such a young age. During her time in Colorado, she was taken advantage of by a much older man. But they didn't engage in intercourse, no, more like oral sex. I can remember cringing while reading this part of the book; mainly because Miss. Karr once again didn't shy away from description. I swear, I felt like I was reading an erotic novel during those two pages of description. Yes, two pages of describing the point of view of a nine-year-old girl giving some guy oral.

Lecia's most interesting experience in the book was when she got attacked by I think either an octopus or a jellyfish. While she and Mary were hanging out at the beach, her leg was snagged by some kind of creature of the deep. The tentacles that wrapped around her leg supposedly stung her like no other. This was the one time during the book where Mary had to be the strong one. It was sad, I believe, because the younger sibling usually looks to the big brother or big sister for guidance, just as Mary looked at Lecia. But this was the one time where she had to try to play big sister.

Mary's personality as a child was very hardened by the tough life she lived at home. It says how she would never shy away from using swear words; and she never cared about the consequences of constantly getting into fights. However, she did have a very intelligent side as well. In the beginning of the novel, it said she was very good at beating upper classmen at chess.

Like I said, when I started reading, "The Liars' Club" I was afraid I would never get through it. I don't read a lot of non-fiction novels. Mainly because I like reading stories that are completely made up by the author. I think I do this because the make-believe world is always more compelling to me. Of course, this book, based off the real life experiences of a seven/nine-year-old girl, can be just as unbelievable and breathtaking as any fictional story. I highly recommend this book, because I never gave away the ending of the story (which Mary Karr said made even her cry). So if you aren't hesitant with reading stories that you thank God you can't relate to, then pick up "The Liars' Club", because it's a real trip.