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    Lit: A Memoir
    Lit: A Memoir
    Lit: A Memoir
    Audiobook12 hours

    Lit: A Memoir

    Written by Mary Karr

    Narrated by Mary Karr

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

    New York Times Book Review • The New Yorker • Entertainment Weekly • Time • Washington Post • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Christian Science Monitor • Slate • St. Louise Post-Dispatch • Cleveland Plain Dealer • Seattle Times • NBCC Award Finalist

    Mary Karr’s unforgettable sequel to her beloved and bestselling memoirs The Liars’ Club and Cherry “lassos you, hogties your emotions and won’t let you go” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times).

    Lit is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. Written with Karr's relentless honesty, unflinching self-scrutiny, and irreverent, lacerating humor, it is a truly electrifying story of how to grow up—as only Mary Karr can tell it.

    The Boston Globe calls Lit a book that “reminds us not only how compelling personal stories can be, but how, in the hands of a master, they can transmute into the highest art."" The New York Times Book Review calls it “a master class on the art of the memoir” and Susan Cheever states, simply, that Lit is “the best book about being a woman in America I have read in years.""

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 26, 2010
    ISBN9780061901584
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for Lit

    4/5

    455 ratings38 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I’ve never heard anyone express raw emotion like Mary Karr does in this writing. Her incredible honesty and candid telling of her experiences both as a child and as an adult moved me in ways that are difficult to express. She’s gutsy and strong ... says what many of us, who were raised in similar circumstances, have said or wish we could say. Her relationship with her mother paralleled my own ... her fierce protection of her son resonated deeply .... in reading this book, I was given the gift of awakening to the circumstances in my life that are mine and mine alone to ponder, confront and heal ... perhaps you’ll have a similar experience.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A riveting memoir eloquently told with a poet's lyricism. Highly recommended!
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      The hird in the trilogy of Mary Karr's memoirs. Her writing is as honest about her family and personal struggles--perhaps as honest a writer as you will hope to ever read. She is a genius at memoir and infuses her story with poetic descriptions that are force you to slow down and appreciate. Her poetic descriptions are pleasing even when she is describing some horror of her history. An inspirational writer with an inspirational story.
    • 4/5
      Non-celebrity memoir has become particularly hot during the last decade or so, and Mary Karr's first work in the genre, The Liars' Club (1995) was one of the books that helped start that fire. Poetic, moving, and both darkly humorous and horrifying in its depiction of her seriously screwed-up Texas childhood, Karr's story was compulsively readable. She continued it into adolescence in Cherry (2000), and brings her audience up to date in her most recent volume, Lit (2009), now out in paperback. I've read them all, and in my opinion, she saved the best for last.As she entered adulthood, Karr was well aware of her problematic past, and tried to get as far away from it as she could while letting it continue to pull her back in. Following an erratic path to a writing life, she found herself in some unlikely situations - poet laureate of Minneapolis - before landing in a New England graduate program and meeting the Ivy-League-educated, old-money poet she would eventually marry. Struggling with her own poetry and the challenges of a marriage of seeming unequals, her long habit of finding refuge in alcohol escalates, and motherhood complicates it more. Fighting the opposing pulls of addiction and sobriety eventually lands her in a mental institution, where she finally begins to accept that she needs to give the "higher power" her recovery supporters keep talking about a fair shot.Lit's basic arc is familiar - downward spiral, hitting bottom, finding one's way back up - but Karr's telling of the story is all her own. While a successful memoir needs a compelling story - and through all of hers, Karr certainly has one - it's her writing that has made her books stand out in the genre. It's clear from her prose that her background is in poetry, and while I'm not a poetry fan, I found myself noting and appreciating her craft. That craft is put to use in sharing a personal history that I couldn't identify with in all aspects - I've never been addicted to anything except books - but which was honest and revealing of thoughts and emotions that I could relate to. I think most mothers would recognize parts of Mary's descriptions of early motherhood; some of us have experienced marital difficulties not unlike hers and "Warren's"; and her reluctant, ambivalent approach to prayer and spirituality (even now) felt somewhat familiar to me. Karr is often hard on herself, and that was another thing I found familiar - and appealing.Karr retells enough from her earlier memoirs that it's not strictly necessary to read them before reading Lit. I have read them, but I don't recall a lot of their details, and I have to admit I read them, at least in part, because they were "everybody's talking about them" books. More universal than the earlier parts of her story, Lit's depiction of coming into adulthood, coming through darkness, and coming into peace is truthful and ultimately triumphant. This was the first of Karr's memoirs that I truly wanted to read for the story she was telling, and I think it's the one I'll remember best (and would consider reading again).

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      Karr found God and lost her fire. Read The Liars' Club and Cherry, skip this one.
    • 5/5
      I love her strong, no nonsense writing and powerful honesty. It seems like this memoir really captures the strength of character, and support system, it takes to quit.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 1/5
      I hated this book even though it was clearly well written.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Hard to put down. Everything I like in a book chocked into every page. Honest, compelling and deeply heroic.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 2/5
      Meh. About 1/2 way, and losing interest . . .

      Really annoying that you can only "finish" a book. This one I abandoned.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant and moving. Life-altering. Makes me want to write memoir, and I don't do memoir.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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!
    • 4/5
      Lit is the third memoir by poet Mary Karr covering the dissolution of her marriage, her battle with alcoholism, recovery and conversion to Catholicism. It was well written and enjoyable to read, not as gut wrenching as some of the other getting sober books I've read like Dry by Augustan Burroughs and A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I'm looking forward to reading Karr's two prior memoirs, The Liar's Club and Cherry.
    • 3/5
      I really disliked this book for the first half. I was constantly wondering why I was reading this and why someone felt she needed to write about it. Basically, I wondered, "who cares?" But towards the end, while the story didn't change, I started to like the story. It's not great. It's not really worth reading, but its not terrible. People who can relate to her struggle may enjoy it more.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      "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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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 Karr
      IS
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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 7

      Recovering 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.