Inspired Memoirs With Depth & Insight
Book Review on Memoir
The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Each of these memoirs dip into the rich loam of storied family—in particular, the deeply flawed, hell-bent-on-chaos family. The word calamitous comes to mind and Mary Karr’s adult telling of her wayward family story serves up fires, floods, and hurricanes against an apocalyptic, industrial, Texas swampland backdrop.
Jeanette Walls’ memoir is less steeped in place. She lights only briefly in the various settings upon which her mobile family touched down. Their extended stay in the impoverished coal-mining town of Welch, West Virginia is an exception. […]