Cherry - A Memoir (Paperback, New edition)

A memoir about a rebellious teenage girl with poetic ambitions in a mind-numbingly dull Texas town during the 1960s probably doesn't sound terribly original or exciting. But readers who pick up this book are in for a big surprise. Mary Karr's sequel to The Liar's Club is brilliant. She captures the feelings and the atmosphere perfectly and her writing is poetic, funny and down to earth. The text bewitches the reader with its musicality and richness, yet it is never pretentious or over the top. This second instalment follows Mary from a misfit 12-year-old to an acid-dropping 17. She is still stuck in a small town with parents whose behaviour can be downright disturbing and dangerous. Throughout these wasteland years of high school, Mary's two main ambitions are realizing her poetic self and getting as far away from Leechfield as possible. And no less important is her quest for love and her developing sexuality. It is only as you read Karr that you realize how seldom you come across a true depiction of the fantasies and fears of a teenage girl. This memoir looks at the author's teenage self warts and all, and does not flinch away. Mary is tough, she is funny, she is vulnerable, she is not always very likeable. The book takes in every experience from flaunting the dress code at school to ending up in jail with a possible drugs charge hanging over her. At the end there is a tantalising glimmer of hope that Mary's quest for self-actualization will finally start to bear fruit. Let us hope that Karr will allow us to follow her further along, and that her writing will continue to be blessed with the same energy and candour. (Kirkus UK)

This memoir of adolescence follows the earlier volume by Mary Karr, "The Liars' Club". In "Cherry", we find Karr once again trying to run from the thrills and terrors of her psychological and physical awakening by violently crashing up against authority in all its forms, shuttling between the principal's office and the jail cell. Yearning, like a typical teenager, for the ideal love or heart's companion who will make her feel whole again, she throws in her lot with a varied and outrageous band: surfers, yogis and bona fide geniuses.

General

Imprint:	Picador
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	April 2002
Authors:	Mary Karr
Dimensions:	197 x 130 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	288
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-330-48576-0
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Literary Books > Biography > Literary
LSN:	0-330-48576-8
Barcode:	9780330485760

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