Lit: A Memoir

By Mary Karr

The long awaited sequel to the beloved and bestselling ‘The Liars’ Club’ and ‘Cherry’ – a memoir about a self-professed ‘blackbelt sinner’s’ descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness, and her astonishing resurrection.

‘If you’d told me, even a year before I start taking my son to church regular that I’d wind up whispering my sins in the confessional or on my knees saying the rosary, I would’ve laughed myself cockeyed. More likely pastime? Pole dancer. International spy. Drug mule. Assassin.’

Mary Karr’s prizewinning ‘The Liars’ Club’ chronicled her hardscrabble Texas childhood and sparked a renaissance in memoir, cresting the New York Times bestseller list for more than a year. ‘Cherry’, her ecstatically reviewed account of a psychedelic adolescence and a moving sexual coming-of-age, followed it into bestsellerdom. Now ‘Lit’ answers the question asked by thousands of fans: How did Karr make it out of that toxic upbringing to tell her own tale?

Karr’s longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, blueblood poet who can quote Shakespeare by the yard produces a blond son they adore. But Karr can’t outrun her apocalyptic upbringing. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in ‘The Mental Marriott’ with an oddball tribe of gurus and saviors awakens her to the possibility of joy again, and leads her to an unlikely faith. Not since St. Augustine cried, ‘Give me chastity, Lord – but not yet!’ has a conversion story rung with such dark hilarity.

‘Lit’ is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. This hotly anticipated sequel brings Karr’s story full circle; it will endure in the hearts of readers alongside her influential and beloved earlier books. Simply put, it is a triumph.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Dec 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9780007549160

Mary Karr

Mary Karr is an acclaimed poet. Her memoir, The Liars’ Club , won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award. She is the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University.

Reviews for Lit

[dgmlrhodes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a wonderful memoir showing the origins and downward spiral of addiction and addictive personalities. I loved reading about Mary Karr's emotional and spiritual growth throughout the course of the book. I wish I had read Liar's Club first, but I am definitely ready to read it soon!

[dele2451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a sequel, but "lit" is the first work I have read by this offer. I'd say this book is a lot like the hard liquor she battled so hard to kick. It looks pretty in the package, but burns when you first try to ingest it. Soon you're over the initial shock and a warmth spreads over you. I definitely recommend this book, but I couldn't read too many like this in a row.

[libsue · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Did you ever get part way through a book and wonder-Should I just walk away from this and then all of a sudden you can't put it down? That's what happened with Lit by Mary Karr. It's the story of her life as an alcoholic, parent, wife, daughter, writer, etc. The beginning chapters seemed wrapped in pretension so deep that I found it difficult to wade through the words. While the words were beautifully placed on the page I became entangled in them to the point that the story was swept away in a literary rip tide. Then out of nowhere the water cleared and I found Mary and her story, and what a story she has to tell. How much can you blame your parents for? How much of the mistakes that you make do you have to own? Thought provoking and enlightening for those of us with dysfunctional lives, but written so beautifully we could only dream of being able to convey these thoughts with such beautiful prose.

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

From My Blog...Lit by Mary Karr is her third memoir and the first book I have read by her. By all accounts, Karr had a brutal childhood, which shaped her teenage years as well as her adult years, the years focused on in Lit. Karr opens the book with a letter to her son in which she mentions this book is her way to try and explain to him how she ended up an alcoholic and how she found her way back out and is now the person she is. The short of it is an alcoholic mother who deals with divorce, raising a child, and reclaiming her life.By nature I adore memoirs and the glimpses into the lives of others, and the lessons to be learned from those that have gone before me. I really wanted to love Lit, but I did not, which is not to say Karr did not do a splendid job writing because she did. Her prose is close to perfect and in a laid back manner that makes the reader feel as though Karr is directly speaking to the reader. Karr fluidly goes through the years and her experiences, the good, bad, and downright ugly, sparing nothing, or so it appears, and at a rather fast clip. Karr’s rawness is most likely a trademark she uses in her memoirs, however not having read the other two, I cannot be certain on that account. Karr’s ability to write about her spiraling down to rock bottom, beginning shortly after her son was born must have taken an amazing feat of inner strength, not to mention her sharing her story with the world. I truly enjoyed all of Karr’s literary references (she even mentions my beloved Nabokov) and found Lit an interesting read, but I did not love it.I have been trying to pinpoint what exactly makes my opinion of Lit just average. Certainly it is not based on the writing style, nor the lack of information provided by Karr, for she has an abundance of information at times, to a point where I think some character development was lost. I simply found Lit to be a good book with a narrative I have heard before, different names, and circumstances to be sure, yet sadly an all too familiar tale. It is quite possible my opinion would change if I read the previous two books, The Liars’ Club and Cherry, which would give me the entire picture of Karr’s life, but I can only go with what I have in front of me, which is Lit. Would I recommend Lit? Certainly. Do I believe a lot can be gleamed from Karr’s life and others can learn from her experiences? Absolutely. I would strongly recommend reading the other reviews on the tour, as mine is just one opinion in a vast sea of opinions.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two memoirs. One poetry book. One writing book. Yes, it was a Mary Karr week. My Mary Karr reading frenzy all started quite innocently. I took a writing class last summer at Inprint in Houston. Our teacher told us Mary Karr was coming to Houston in September. I spontaneously decided to buy a ticket, vaguely remembering that I'd read her first memoir, Liar's Club, back twenty years ago or so. When the date of Karr's reading approached, I was exhausted by all the beginning-of-the-year stuff we teachers experience but I remembered a book was included in the price of the reading, and I didn't want to miss out on picking up that book. So I reluctantly decided to go. When I googled the address of the reading, I was surprised to see that it was being held in a church. Must not have been able to book the Wortham for that night, I thought. I was wrong. It was no accident that Mary Karr was at Christ Church Cathedral, an Episcopal Church in downtown Houston, built in 1839; all her readings were being held in churches. I was intrigued. An author in a church. Imagine that. Mary Karr was fascinating. "I was a strange child," she told her audience at the reading. "I was not a happy child. But there was something about reading memoirs that made me feel less lonely." Karr shared her new book, The Art of Memoir, and suggested that through our stories we manufacture a self. "Writing a memoir is like knocking yourself out with your own fist," she told us. All her books, Karr explained, could be summed up: "I am sad. The end." In her life, Karr survived her alcoholic and dysfunctional parents to become an alcoholic and dysfunctional parent herself. And somehow she broke free of all that, mysteriously embracing both writing and the Catholic Church. Mary Karr is a little older, a little less functional Texas-rooted me. Like me, she has both the redneck-storytelling people and the salvation-through-reading people in her family tree. That was enough. I raced home from the reading and put everything I could find of Mary Karr's on hold at the library. I was amazed to find that not only were all three of her memoirs at the library, but that I could also check out and read one of her books of poetry. I'll just tell you that her books are mostly "I am sad." But, happily, there is a little more there before "The end." Beautiful writing. Sad stories. And redemption. Mary Karr.

[jenners26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book OverviewLit is Mary Karr's third memoir. Her first, The Liar's Club, chronicled her toxic childhood in Texas and her volatile relationship with her artistic, raging, alcoholic mother and sad, distant, drunken father. Her second memoir, Cherry, covered her adolescence and sexual coming-of-age. In her third memoir, she writes about her adult life—college, career, marriage and motherhood—and her struggle to overcome her childhood wounds and alcoholism.The book opens with a letter to her son Dev and two short vignettes that set the framework for the story to come. In one of the vignettes, Karr describes herself as a young mother too drunk to see straight, shivering outside on the small porch while chain-smoking and drinking whiskey and promising to change the burnt-out light bulb on the porch tomorrow. Yet when tomorrow comes, the mother finds herself once again shivering in the night air, drinking, smoking and promising once again to change the light bulb. In this one short chapter, Karr sets the tone for the entire memoir.The narrative starts right before Karr's college years and progresses chronologically through her life—her struggle to be a poet and writer, her failed marriage to another poet who grew up in a wealthy but emotionally distant family, her struggles with motherhood, her years of therapy and attempts to come to terms with each of her parents, her desperate struggle with alcohol and then her long and painful process to become sober—which included a stop in a mental hospital. But strip away the rest of it, and this books is really about an alcoholic's struggle to become sober and finding God along the way. It is also about Karr's attempts to make peace with her mother, whose love she never felt sure of and whose personality shaped so much of what she ended up being as a mother and a woman.My ThoughtsThe Liar's Club was one of the first memoirs I ever read and pretty much set the bar for all memoirs I read afterward. The book is powerful and made me realize what memoirs could be. Although she provides a sort of coda at the end of The Liar's Club, you still end up wondering how she survived her childhood and want to know more about the family's fate. This book provides those answers and is a must read for anyone who read The Liar's Club.What makes Mary Karr's memoirs stand out from the pack is her writing. She has a true gift for language and a bluntness that serves her well. She is exceedingly honest in her self-assessment and spares herself nothing. Yet she manages to convey all the ugliness of her life in this beautiful prose that left me marveling. Here are just a few of the passages that I marked while reading.On her feelings about the power of poetry: Such a small, pure object a poem could be, made of nothing but air, a tiny string of letters, maybe small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But it could blow everybody's head off.On describing how she slowly began to see the power of God in her life: This is what an unbeliever might call self-hypnosis; a believer might say it's the presence of God. Let's call it a draw and concede that the process of listing my good fortune stopped my scrambling fear, and in relinquishing that, some solid platform slid under me.On beginning to write again after a long absence: The writing has come back—with a polished quiet around it. Somehow I feel freer to fail. But the work mortifies me. Previously I'd seen the poems as adorable offspring, but they've become the most pathetic bunch of little bow-legged, snaggle-toothed pinheads imaginable. Even the book I published with such pride a few years before—eager to foist it on anybody who'd read it—now seems egregiously dull, sophomoric, phony. If the pages were big enough, I might as well use them to wrap fish.I think at its core, this book is about Mary Karr's struggle to become sober and accept God in her life. Throughout the book—as her drinking leads to more and more problems—she tries to run from the demons of her past. Yet when she is finally scared into trying to stop drinking, she fights the help of a Higher Power tooth and nail. As she begrudgingly begins to accept what her sober friends tell her—that accepting God (in whatever way you perceive God) is the only way to true sobriety and peace—she takes you step by step through her conversion process and it is incredibly revealing and powerful. More than any other book I've read, I think this book probably makes the best case for the power of prayer and why God's presence can make a difference in a life.My Final RecommendationIf you've read The Liar's Club, you really must read this book to get the rest of Mary Karr's story and how her relationship with her mother resolves itself. (The chapter at the end of the book where she moves her elderly mother out of her falling down house and into a condominium was an incredibly powerful piece of writing.)If you've struggled with drinking and been distrustful of the role that prayer and a Higher Power can play in getting sober, this book is a must read as it presents the unvarnished truth about Mary Karr's struggle to get sober and her initial distrust and eventual acceptance of the role of God in her life. Readers will appreciate her skepticism because it makes her eventual conversion all the more believable and powerful.If you enjoy reading memoirs, Mary Karr has both the life and the writing skills to make a top-notch memoir that is both literary and down-to-earth. This isn't the easiest book to read as the subject matter is often sad and disturbing; yet, at the same time, it is often filled with humor and a "humanness" that speaks to us all. Although it took me a while to read (as I often needed a break from it due to the often depressing story), I felt it was well worth my time, and it left me thinking about spirituality and the power of prayer.

[erickibler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the third of poet Mary Karr's memoirs, covering her college days through her success as a writer. Though in the first half of the book she seems whiny, that's the point. The book details her journey from bottomed-out alcoholic mom to AA supplicant trying to find her "higher power". She shops for a church to belong to, finally settling on Catholicism. Her trials include an irresponsible "taker" of a mother (also a recovering alcoholic), and a set of in-laws who, although they're among the most affluent families in America, are hard-wired for only coldness and frugality when it comes to aiding their proud, struggling poet son and his family. I don't want to suggest that this book is depressing. Far from it. Karr's native sense of humor never fails her even in her darkest moments. The final chapters are beautiful and inspiring, tempting even one such as myself, who has given up on faith in a higher power, to give it another go.

[pagewright · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant and moving. Life-altering. Makes me want to write memoir, and I don't do memoir.

[bobbieharv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the Glass Castle and expected to like this more than I did. The writing wasn't as crisp, and the alcoholism and the God stuff just got tiresome after a while. Still, she's a better writer than most.

[samsattler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reading Mary Karr’s latest memoir, "Lit," is akin to catching up with an old friend over a cup of coffee or, perhaps in this case, over something a bit stronger than coffee. Karr’s earlier memoirs, "The Liars’ Club" (1995), which covered her childhood years, and "Cherry" (2000), the story of her adolescence and early adulthood, established for her a well deserved reputation as an exceptional memoirist. Now, some nine years after "Cherry," Karr completes her story, for now, by revealing how she managed to overcome the odds to escape both the insular little town in which she grew up and the quirky upbringing she endured there.One thing is certain; Mary Karr has not had an easy time of it. Growing up in a muggy, mosquito ridden little East Texas refinery town, one in which its residents breathe polluted air no matter from which direction it blows (as I well remember), she was raped by a teenaged neighbor when she was eight years old. Her father, a heavy drinking refinery worker, loved her dearly but was not exactly a role model for his daughters. Her seven-times-married, artistic mother was a bit of a desperado in spirit who struggled with a tendency toward full-blown psychotic episodes throughout much of her life. As she so frankly details in "Lit," Mary Karr is a combination of the good and the bad components of both her parents. Always a bit of a rebel at heart like her mother, she went into the world resenting those born to wealth as much as her father disliked them, taking pride that she could at least outdrink those who “had been born on third base” but who believed “they hit a home run.” And outdrink them, Mary did - all the way to the point of her own debilitating struggle with alcoholism, a struggle that would steal years of her life and ultimately destroy the marriage that produced her son. It was a close thing, but Mary managed to save herself, and she accomplished it by doing something so completely out of character for her that it still surprises her. She turned to prayer and organized religion despite a lifetime spent scoffing at both. Despairing and suicidal, she committed herself to what she calls “The Mental Marriott” and the timeout there that would ultimately lead her to place her future in the hands of God, the possibility of whose existence she previously had not been able to take seriously. "Lit" is a word of several meanings when it comes to Mary Karr. It can be a reference to her success in the literary world or it can be used to describe the drunken state in which she spent so many of her waking hours for so many years. Finally, and most hopefully, it also describes the religious experience that saved Mary Karr’s life when she finally “saw the light.”Fans of Karr’s previous memoirs will be pleased with this inspirational addition to her story, but "Lit" also works well for those reading her for the first time, so well that I suspect the new Karr readers will now want to turn to the first two books. Rated at: 5.0

[josephquinton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book that ends on a different note.. Those who have read her other best-selling previous memoirs: “Liars Poker” and “Cherry” will find many of the same characters, mother, sister, memories of her father. But this chapter of her life takes us beyond the Texas poor town where she was brought up into a completely different world, college in the upper Midwest, Cambridge, Syracuse, marriage and divorce, birth of a child, the vicissitudes of adult life with little money. All coupled with the trials of an addiction and mental disturbances. Told with the verve of an accomplished storyteller and the vocabulary of a poet. Both of which KarrIS

[karenlisa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lit By Mary Karr. Her third memoir, this book portrays the later years of Mary Karr's life. In detail she describes to her reader a childhood full of fear and isolation. Her adulthood leaned immediately toward the center of destruction. As her mother finally finds sobriety, she takes her place in a dangerous world of alcoholism (says the universe can only handle one drunk Karr at a time). Ms. Karr's memoir is real and honest and scary. She doesn't hold back at all to make a picture that is remotely pretty or happy. When she later is sober she searches for religion, god and some faith to hold onto. Ms. Karr's memoir is at times funny (believe it or not) her excellent writing is poetic and unique and her path is one that is taken everyday by many. It can be a depressing read as are most that deal with drugs, alcohol and abuse. She and her sister (seemingly her one and only rock and bright light through her life, bless her) set out to find normalcy, forgiveness and still deeply love their mother and father. While this can be a hard read, mystifying for some, too close to home for others, some books need to be read.

[maowangvater · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the prologue to her memoir Cherry, Karr describes herself leaving her childhood home, an oil refinery town on the East Texas Gulf Coast and striking out for the dream of California surf. When it quickly proves to be an impoverished and frightening nightmare, she heads for college and desperately tries to fit in. Unsuccessful at this, she tries drinking and running off. Fortunately she finds poetry and a mentor, and throws herself, reluctantly at first, into the literary life. A decade later however, marriage to another poet from a wealthy family, publication, academic success, and motherhood fail to bring her the escape she’s seeking. So she finds herself living for the anesthetic comfort of the bottle, but the bottle let her down.“At the end of my drinking, the kingdom I longed for, slaved for, and a the end of each day lunged at was a rickety slab of unreal estate about four foot square—a back stair landing off my colonial outside Cambridge, Mass. I’d sit hunched against the door guzzling whisky and smoking Marlboros while wires from a tinny walkman piped blues into my head. Through hours there were frequently spent howling inwardly about the melting ice floe of my marriage, this spate of hours was the highlight of my day.” Page 7Recovering alcoholics often say that there are only three possible outcomes of their addiction: You either end up locked-up, covered-up, or sober-up. Fortunately for American letters and herself, Karr sobered up.

[hope_h-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lit is poet Mary Karr's third memoir. It is her story of her alcohol-fueled early career. Longing for a stable family, she thinks she and her husband Warren can build one. After she gives birth to her son Dev, she begins to realize the gaps in their relationship and how alcohol is filling in those gaps. When I started reading this, I didn't realize it was the author's third memoir. I felt like I was walking into the play right before intermission. Now I know why - this is one set that should be read in order. Never having read any of Karr's poetry, I can see why she is a successful poet. Her gift for using language is rich and inspiring. I appreciated her honesty about her alcoholism and depression.

[micalhut · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hard to put down. Everything I like in a book chocked into every page. Honest, compelling and deeply heroic.

[jackieblem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love the double entendre that is this book's title, Lit. This third memoir from Karr (the first: Liars Club, the second: Cherry) picks up with Mary finally escaping Texas--but not the family alcoholism. With her characteristic unflinchingly honest prose that's nevertheless penned with a poetic beauty, she tells us about her education, the beginnings of her teaching career, her marriage, and becoming a mother, all under the influence of alcohol. She also takes us through what it took for her to get sober, her kicking and screaming deliverance into belief in a higher power, and the beginnings of her success as a poet and writer. It isn't an easy read--she's had more than her fair share of dark times--but it had no trouble keeping my attention. Don't worry if you haven't read her other two books--she fills in just enough detail from her early years to keep things coherent. This one is bound to be yet another of her books parked on the best seller lists for months.

[tuke_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Meh. About 1/2 way, and losing interest . . .

Really annoying that you can only "finish" a book. This one I abandoned.

[vivalaerin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Her first two memoirs are really my favorites, but this one is one of the best examples of her style. Even when she is discussing the worst parts of her adult life, Karr is poignant and clever. I like her immensely, and I can almost see myself in her son, Dev. There is an excellent circularity to this book; beginning with her letter to Dev as a mom and ending with her own mother. She went through a lot, and I applaud her ability to write it out and remain an entertaining writer.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mary Karr's memoir of alcoholism and recovery is beautifully written, so much so that it has inspired me to read her poetry. It is also a brutally honest and very powerful story.

[judithrs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lit. Mary Karr. 2009. This title concludes the trilogy of memoirs, The Liar’s Club and Cherry. In this book Karr basically describes her life when she went to college, got married, had a child and became established as a poet. Karr spent these years getting drunk and trying to deal with her mother and the scars of her dysfunctional childhood. The book reminds me of The Glass Castle. Karr relates the events of these years with brutal honesty and wit. With the help of AA, her AA friends, and her discovery of faith, Karr pulls herself through this nightmare. If you liked the previous memoirs you’ll like this. Interviews with Karr can be found on YouTube.

[karieh_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I make it a point to avoid any reviews of books that I am reading to review…but I can’t imagine that they don’t all say similar things about “Lit”. The words that come to mind are “brutally honest”…but that’s not quite right. Even though she recounts some truly horrifying events in her life, the effect isn’t brutal. I suppose “unflinchingly honest” is closer...but even that doesn’t capture the feeling of this book.Karr’s words just seem so human. She talks about such sad, hurtful and scary things in her life…and though I am lucky enough to not have much real life experience with those events, they are told in such a way that I am able to relate to her and feel real empathy towards her. She makes terrible mistakes in her life, and yet, I certainly don’t condemn her. It’s as if she’s laid herself out to the reader in such a way that one realizes that our forgiveness (while unnecessary) is far easier to earn than the forgiveness of her toughest enemy…herself.“It’s taken me so much effort just to do as medium-sh***y as I’ve heretofore done. Just to drop out of college, stay alive, and have my teeth taken care of.”Her words have an interesting effect…one can almost feel the Mary Karr experiencing the moment in the past – being watched over and commented on by the Mary Karr that exists in the present writing about that moment. There’s an essence of both women in the tone of the words, and both perspectives are heartfelt.“Touching that triangle of yellowed paper today is like sliding my hand into the glove of my seventeen-year-old hand. Through magic, there are the Iowa fields slipping by with all the wholesome prosperity they represent. And there is my mother, not yet born into the ziplock baggie of ash my sister sent me years ago with the frank message Mom ½ , written in laundry pen, since no one in our family ever stood on ceremony.”I felt a bit anxious as I read her story…like I was watching someone wander around on the freeway – I kept wanting to pull her away from the oncoming traffic and keep her safe; especially during the worst times.“I find myself squatting in the bedroom closet with two incongruent bottles, whiskey and Listerine – the latter with accompanying spit bowl. Despite the dark, it feels safe in here, leaning against the back wall with clothes before my face.”There’s such a ferocity to many of her feelings, you can’t help but root for her to find her way out of the dark. “And that’s it, that instant. My life as I’ve shaped it includes – for that instant only – the daddy I once loved more than beans and rice.”And there’s a beauty to her words as well, especially when she is talking about her son. “Maybe you could loan me some of the shine in your young head to clear up my leftover dark spaces. Just as you’re blameless for the scorched part of your childhood, I’m equally exonerated for my own mother’s nightmare.”Towards the end of the book, I began to realize there was more to the title of the book than the slang definition of the word. I began to see that Karr was going to be successful at fighting off the dark. That instead of searching for the answer at the bottom of a bottle, she might find it in the depths of her soul.This book is a triumph of words and of spirit. And even though it involves finding religion…there isn’t one preachy or false word about it. It’s again the humanity, the honesty of her words that make them ring true.To experience the story of a person who goes from this: “The warmth beaming from her face can’t reach me. I’m too bent over some rotted core, as if to protect it from her.”to this: “Such vast quiet holds me, and the me I’ve been so lifelong worried about shoring up just dissolves like ash in water. Just isn’t. In its place is this clean air. There’s a space at the bottom of an exhale, a little hitch between taking in and letting out that’s a perfect zero you can go into.”Lit…it’s a perfect title for this journey, fits both bookends of the story, and captures the true luminosity of Mary Karr’s words.

[satyridae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The third volume in Karr's series of memoirs covers her adulthood, her addictions, her marriage and motherhood and her eventual conversion to Christianity. Her sardonic powers of observation remain unscathed by any of this, thankfully. It's very raw and funny and well worth reading if you are a fan of her earlier works.

[kayronald · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mary is the funniest authors I have ever heard speak. She had me close to falling off my chair at BookExpo 2009 in NYC. She reveals all of her warts and all and makes her ldevastating ove affair with alcohol hilarious in its hold on her life and all of its events. Her book has as nearly as much charm, wit and honesty as the real deal. I loved her book and now love her through her words.

[clif_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the third memoir that Karr has written about her life. Since she has not been President or a great military general, we know she must describe her life in considerable detail in order to fill three books. We learn from this book that she's had a lot of experience telling her life's story and dredging through the depths of her feelings because she has spent considerable time doing both in counseling sessions with mental health therapists. A book based on this kind of material is not the sort of stuff that would normally interest me. However, this book has been praised by many reviewers as being the ultimate example of good memoir writing. So I wanted to see for myself, and yes I found her to be a good writer. The book kept my interest even though I may not be predisposed to appreciate this type of story.Her story recounts her painful journey to overcome her compulsion to consume alcohol. Before this victory is achieved the story is one of slow disintegration. One would think that once sobriety is achieved that everything would be better. But ironically, once she's free from liquor she experiences suicidal depression. A story such as this of an adult drinking their life into ruin and misery is not as satisfying as other memoirs where a talented young person overcomes the handicap of bad parents to become a successful adult (e.g. The Glass House, Angela's Ashes or perhaps Karr's first memoir, which I haven't read, Liars' Club). One thing I did appreciate about this book is that it comes about as close as is possible to explaining the motivations behind self-destructive behavior (but it's still irrational). However, I want to acknowledge, and I'm thankful, that she checked herself into a hospital prior to doing physical harm to herself when she felt driven to suicide. So the book can serve as a positive and inspirational guide to those suffering similar trials.One interesting thing about this book is that she spends considerable time debating with herself, as a confirmed atheist, about her seeking help from a "higher power" to overcoming her alcoholism. It's a dialog filled with humor, irony and pathos. (UNBELIEVERS BEWARE! This book may threaten your faith.)I have to admire her willingness to say some unflattering things about herself that, frankly, most of us wouldn't put into our own memoirs. She also refrains from bad-mouthing her ex's (hubby or boy-friends) which I presume she could have. She reflects enough on her childhood in this book to make it clear that it was a dozy. The irony is that if she had been spared from her horrible upbringing, she wouldn't have been able to write her best-selling memoir of her childhood, The Liars' Club. And if she didn't have ghosts from her past to conquer, she wouldn't have been able to write this book.So where does this title come from? From various reviews I have learned that it is a triple pun: lit as in literature, lit as in intoxicated, and lit as in spiritual enlightenment.

[sararush · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mary Karr’s Lit is magnificent. It completes her life story as began in The Liar’s Club and Cherry by detailing her marriage, motherhood, her battle with alcoholism and her rise as a literary talent. In this memoir Karr achieves a forceful honesty that holds nothing back in her self examination. Because she is a poet, one expects her writing to compel in story as much as language and will not be disappointed. Sometimes I felt as if I was actually experiencing Karr’s moments right beside her. Instead I felt lucky to be able to read a book that is certain to become a classic. And is sure to please faithful fans and transfix legions of new readers.

[blacksheepdances · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Confession is one of the main tenets of Catholicism, and this memoir by Mary Karr seems to be both the confession and the penance she pays in her late conversion to Catholicism at the final third of the book.Is there such a thing as being too honest? Karr confesses to her lifelong addiction to alcohol, and all the ugly events that occurred during her life because of her alcoholism. She's brutally honest, which takes a ton of guts, because I really couldn't stand her as I read it. She wrote this as a form of atonement to her son for her years of poor mothering and distance. Essentially she had a tragic childhood filled with ugliness and pain. She longs to be a poet, to find a way to make magic with words and leave her mark on the world. But given that, she spends very little time discussing her actual development of poetry, instead she professes her love for the 'look' of poets: the starving artist, the tortured soul who is misunderstood and unappreciated, almost like she's reaching for the costume. It seems like she wants to join the poet's club rather than actually be a poet. Maybe her real gift is in this form of writing, the memoir. It's her third. She has no trouble with words in this respect. She writes well, in a witty, self-deprecating way. She doesn't ask for sympathy or pity, and in many ways that would be hard to give. Is it wrong to say she's selfish and rude, when she's gone so far to be this honest? Because that's the impression she gives. She does have her conversion at the end, which I found a little bit offputting, because again she seems to want to join a club rather than really feel a spiritual connection. And yet she points out the all people have a spiritual need, and I do agree with that. But her roller coaster ride with finding sobriety makes her unpleasant and irritating. No doubt some of it had to do with the alcohol. It's just very difficult to tolerate her reeling off stories of how often she drove drunk with her son in the car, how she avoided caring for her sick son, and how being alone with her child was boring and a chore. I don't get that, alcoholism or not. So many times she put him in danger, when she had the resources to get help and refused it. When counselors told her to count her blessings, she couldn't think of any: not the sweet little boy she had, nor the home, the loving husband, etc. When asked what she wanted in life, her answer was "more money". And while she complained about being judged unfairly, she was the most judgemental of all. It seems so out of touch. In all, it was a good read in terms of learning about alcoholism and the recovery process. There were a few gems of wisdom in it, as when a counselor told her if she worries she will be judged, she should ask herself 'what do you base that on?' If she admits it's her own imagination and worry, than it has to be dismissed. She's repeatedly told to stop imagining what people think of her, and to realize that everyone is worrying about their own problems, not hers. All her worries about not measuring up or fitting in, which she used alcohol to mask, had to go in order for her to not feel the need for the alcohol.I admire her candor, and respect her efforts to make amends. I don't agree with all her premises at the end, but I'm glad she got her life together.

[chrisway · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I hated this book even though it was clearly well written.

[ccayne_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first ebook and I liked the experience more than I though I would. I've read Karr's previous memoirs but didn't remember the details. As with the previous works, she writes from quite a distance from when these events took place. Ultimately, this is about Mary facing her life and her decisions, namely her drinking, her reasons and biology for drinking and her marriage. It's also about her ability to keep the artistic part of herself throught all the turmoil in her life. Religion figures heavily into her success with sobriety and life. My favorite parts were her descriptions of her relationship with her mother and my least favorite were the religious pieces.

[zibilee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this third memoir by famed author Mary Karr, the author explores in vivid detail her slow crawl out of alcoholism, the abandonment of her past and her evolution into a modern spiritual being. As a young woman, Mary longs to be a poet. A free spirit, Mary chafes at the strictures of society and finds herself moving far from home in her quest for an enriching and fulfilling life. Subsisting on meager cash, Mary finds herself working at a string of semi-serious jobs, gradually upping her alcohol consumption in response to the difficulties in her life. During a stint as a student, Mary meets the impossibly intelligent and handsome Warren and discovers in him a kindred spirit. As Mary runs forward to her future with Warren, she makes conscious decisions to leave her past behind: a past that is filled with distant alcoholic parents, mental illness and neglect. But the past doesn't fit neatly into a box, and as Mary runs from one set of circumstances, she ends up straight in the arms of another variation of the life she is trying so hard to leave behind. As Mary and Warren make a life for themselves, she discovers that they are not evenly matched. Mary is as temperamental and volatile as Warren is quiet and uncommunicative. After the birth of her son Dev, Mary finds herself slowly sliding into the realm of serious alcoholism. One night after the unthinkable almost happens, Mary takes the steps to leave alcohol behind. Though it is not easy for her, Mary's biggest difficulties lie in the acceptance of a higher power she does not believe exists. Struggling against poverty, alcoholism and the spiritual nadir, she relates the circumstances of her life that have brought her to this point, realizing with gradual clarity that the God she is so struggling against has her right in the palm of His hand. Funny, honest, and at times very sad, Lit is the memoir that fans of Mary Carr have been waiting for: a glimpse into the heart and soul of one of America's most compelling authors.This is my first time reading a memoir by Mary Karr. Though I have heard a lot about both her and her books and even have her other two on my wish list, I had never had the experience of sitting down and getting to know this praised author through her writing before. At about the halfway point in this book, I wanted to stop reading and go back and read both of her previous books, The Liar's Club and Cherry. I found myself wanting to know so much more about her and the things that led up to this final book, and though I will be reading them out of order, I went out and got a copy of each of her other memoirs. Just knowing that they are patiently waiting for me makes me happy.Mary Karr has the ability to render her memories in clear detail, without overdoing it, and one of the things I most appreciated about this book was the way that she, at times, allows for flaws in her interpretation of the things she is chronicling. She relates her story clearly but also tells the reader in no uncertain terms that the emotional slant she puts to some events may have only been her feelings in the heat of the moment and does not reflect what time does to alter these memories. I liked this a lot. Too often, I read memoirs that rely on past interpretation to be infallible and sometimes I wonder how much of the anger and disappointment of the past colors the perceptions of the author's tale. In order to avoid this, Mary comes at things from several angles, interjecting in her own story the traits and emotional states of the others she comes into contact with. This makes her tale much more informed and well rounded and creates a certain trust between the reader and herself.I also liked the fact that she doesn't fall into the trap of villainizing everyone but herself. Often, Mary admits that she could be a beastly companion and mother, and that although she tried to be as altruistic as she could, she sometimes failed miserably. That she was honest enough to admit this made her appear to me more human and fallible and made me realize that often the way we see ourselves is just as important as the stories we tell. She freely admits that had this story been told from the pen of her husband, the reader would probably not like her very much at all, but for the most part, I felt that she was able to see herself and her actions without the rose colored glasses that often hang on the nose of authors telling their life stories.I felt a real affinity for Mary's spiritual search because, in essence, a lot of it mirrored my own problems with spirituality. She speaks of not being able to find the God that is right in front of her face and talks at length about her antipathy towards humbling herself in prayer. Mary is a free thinker and somehow feels that religion is the opiate of the masses, a phrase that I have uttered on many occasions. Her gradual involvement in worship felt very real and heartfelt to me and I loved the fact that she learned that to embrace God was not the same as erasing her sense of self and her individuality. It made me joyous to see her embrace prayer and for her to realize that her prayers were being answered.There were also a lot of sections about her love of poetry and her struggles to become a poet of acclaim, her struggles to be a good mother to her son, and her heartache over the dissolution of her family. In these sections the book became like a prism that reflected the secret parts of her heart. Karr has a way of opening herself onto the page and becoming someone that you can deeply care for, both in her brokenness and in her healing. I think the sections that dealt with her early family life were those that resonated with me the most. It is a mighty thing to see a child's unswerving love for parents who have consistently done her wrong. Her spirit of forgiveness was mammoth, and although she did a much better job raising her son than her parents did with her, she never shot forth with recrimination and bitterness for all she had suffered.This was an amazing read that had both spirit and flavor, and Mary Karr surely knows how to tell a story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and frantically flipping pages. The book had a remarkable feel of both a confessional and an accounting, and in the author's very capable hands she takes readers right along with her in her journey through life. I would definitely recommend this book both to readers who relish a good memoir and to those who are interested in matters of spirituality. I know that I will be enjoying more from this author, for she has won me over with both her candidness and forthright writing style.

[2chances · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"At the end of my drinking, the kingdom I longed for, slaved for, and at the end of each day lunged at, was a rickety slab of unreal estate about four foot square - a back stair landing off my colonial outside Cambridge, Mass. I'd sit hunched against the door guzzling whiskey and smoking Marlboros while wires from a tinny walkman piped blues into my head. Though hours there were frequently spent howling inwardly about the melting ice floe of my marriage, this spate of hours was the highlight of my day...My sole link to reality was the hard plastic baby monitor. Should a cough or cry start, its signal light stabbed into my wide pupils like an ice pick."That's Mary Karr. With just a handful of words, she snatches you into the bleak world of her alcoholism, the images of the alcohol melting her icy marriage, washing her away, the only thing tethering her to the world her intense guilt over the damage she is doing to her son. She uses language like a poet, her images gripping yet subtle, darkly comic at times, gut-wrenching at others. I read her previous memoir, THE LIAR'S CLUB, a few years back; it's much funnier than LIT, but it does not have the humanity and vulnerability that illumines LIT.Perhaps that is due to the story itself. THE LIAR'S CLUB is the story of a younger, feistier Mary; LIT is the story of a mature woman, one who has finally confronted the demons that an earlier Mary merely mocked and taunted. The Mary Karr of LIT is a more disciplined, insightful, and spiritual woman; she can't help being funny, bless her, but this time her wit is not directed outward, to shore up bravado, but is instead self-deprecating and realistic, as if to say: "This is the flawed world I live in, and I too am flawed; but flaws are not what define me." I found the story of her fight with alcoholism often painful and bleak to read, but unlike her earlier memoirs, these dark times are lightened with her burgeoning spirituality and ultimate conversion. Her stories of the wisdom she found in her AA meetings are some of the most powerful in the book, and - does this sound naive? - I felt genuinely inspired by them. LIT reveals a much more open and vulnerable Mary ; this time I felt I actually got to know her, and I truly liked the person I was meeting.