Warehouse Stock Clearance Sale

Grab a bargain today!


Sign Up for Fishpond's Best Deals Delivered to You Every Day
Go
Lit: A Memoir

Rating
27,883 Ratings by Goodreads
Already own it? Write a review
Format
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
UK, 8 July 2010

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.

Show more

Our Price
$22.36
Ships from UK Estimated delivery date: 2nd Jun - 9th Jun from UK
Free Shipping Worldwide

Buy Together
+
Buy together with The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober at a great price!
Buy Together
$44.51

Product Description

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.

Show more
Product Details
EAN
9780007362608
ISBN
0007362609
Writer
Publisher
Dimensions
19.8 x 12.9 x 2.4 centimeters (0.22 kg)

About the Author

Mary Karr is a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry. She has won Pushcart Prizes for both verse and essays, and is the Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University. Her previous two memoirs, The Liars' Club and Cherry, were New York Times bestsellers.

Reviews

‘Searing. . . A book that lassos you, hogties your emotions and won't let you go. . . Chronicles with searching intelligence, humor and grace the author's slow, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes painful discovery of her vocation and her voice as a poet and writer.’ Michiko Kakutani, New York Times ‘A brutally honest, sparkling story.’ Glamour ‘Dazzling. . . Lit 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.’ Boston Globe ‘Scrappy, gut-wrenching, irresistible. [Written] with trademark wit, precision, and unfailing courage.’ Pam Houston, O Magazine ‘Karr could tell you what's on her grocery list, and its humor would make you bust a gut. She holds the position of grande dame memoirista.’ Samantha Dunn, Los Angeles Times ‘An absolute gem that secures Karr's place as one of the best memoirists of her generation. . . [She] writes with a singular combination of poetic grace and Texan verve.’ Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

'Searing. . . A book that lassos you, hogties your emotions and won't let you go. . . Chronicles with searching intelligence, humor and grace the author's slow, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes painful discovery of her vocation and her voice as a poet and writer.' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

'A brutally honest, sparkling story.' Glamour

'Dazzling. . . Lit 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.' Boston Globe

'Scrappy, gut-wrenching, irresistible. [Written] with trademark wit, precision, and unfailing courage.' Pam Houston, O Magazine

'Karr could tell you what's on her grocery list, and its humor would make you bust a gut. She holds the position of grande dame memoirista.' Samantha Dunn, Los Angeles Times

'An absolute gem that secures Karr's place as one of the best memoirists of her generation. . . [She] writes with a singular combination of poetic grace and Texan verve.' Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Karr performs her brave memoir about alcoholism, getting sober, and getting God in a confident Texas drawl. Readers familiar with The Liar's Club, Karr's account of her childhood will find parallels-her descent into alcoholism differs from her mother's addiction only in the details. Karr revisits her past with rare candor and humor, recounting her role in the disintegration of her marriage to "Warren Whitbread," the reserved scion of a fabulously wealthy family (whose other members are deliciously skewered here), and her most shameful moments (leaving her feverish toddler to take a long swig from the bottle of Jack Daniels stashed in the oven). When Karr undergoes a hard-won spiritual awakening through the combined efforts of AA; her spiritual director, Joan the Bone; and a stay in the "Mental Marriott," listeners will be cheering. A Harper hardcover. (Mar.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Show more
Review this Product
Ask a Question About this Product More...
 
Item ships from and is sold by Fishpond World Ltd.

Back to top