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Cherryby Mary Karr |
Kim Sisto Robinson: A professor friend of mine asked recently, "Have your read any of Mary Karr's books because at the moment I am filled with her delectable words." I had not. But I immediately ordered one of her first memoirs, "Cherry," which I fell in love with.
"Cherry" is a powerful memoir about Karr's coming of age in a backwoods East Texas town. She is the daughter of a Platholian suicidal mother and a hard-drinking-whiskey-absorbed father. And believe me when I say, Karr doesn't hold back ANYTHING. At fourteen, she is a foul mouth, dirty talking, pot smoking, adventure seeking, boy obsessed,impertinent young teen. But don't let the bad girl image fool you; she is also a girl who reads Dickenson, Shakespeare, and can recite Plato.
Karr's memoir is the sort of narrative I continually gravitate toward. It is another scrumptious
story about dysfunction, discovery, transformation, and fulfillment. Because Sistahs, even in a world
of a suicidal, obnoxious drunks; one can not only survive, but write a bestselling memoir afterwards!
I find that quite cool.
Rating: ***
