"The Liars' Club": The Truth Revealed

When choosing my book for the AP Comp summer work, I didn't expect to like it or want to read it more than I normally would. So, with that mindset, I just picked a book, more or less based on the title, and chose "The Liars' Club", a memoir by Mary Karr. The result was a book that I have immensely enjoyed, with its quirks, its turns, and its overall good storytelling.

One of the first things I noticed about the book was how much it felt like another book that I've read. It sounded vaguely like an adult version of "To Kill a Mockingbird". Karr is Scout, her sister Jem, her Grandma is Mrs. Dubose, and the parents show characteristics of Atticus. It's not just the people that are similar, it feels like it, with the descriptions of each small character, the way each little quirk is put in ink, it just feels very simple, but very effective.

It's also to the author's credit that she doesn't shy away from subjects like rape, death, cancer, etc., in a way that almost just shrugs and grunts indifference. What's interesting about this is that it isn't facing such situations with a brave face, but it is accepting that such things are just a part of life, and maybe even not really caring.

Karr's most distinguishing characteristic is her love for her father. She is constantly devoted to him, especially when she has to stay with her mother, her sister, and her stepfather. By writing constantly to him, by imagining him with her, and by the happiness she expressed by going back to him, there's no questioning that the daughter and father relationship in the book is a strong one, and is definitely the main focus of the memoir.