Research Paper on:
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
beg to differ--but what an average family looks like. At least, that is how the author sees it. Karr has seemingly come to the conclusion that indeed, while her family  appears crazy, it is really not all that different from other American families. Still, the book is chock full of frightening and electrifying tales, and while some women have experienced  similar things, the childhood of Mary Karr is rather sad. The work is really a compilation of events. It is a memoir that includes a variety of memories from a  rape to drunkenness to a time when she had been taken away. While these ideas are certainly indicative of the dysfunctional nature of some families--and perhaps more dysfunctional than the  average--it is hard to argue that this family had no love at all. It did. Seemingly, it was hidden beneath the surface and the author and her sister Lecia seemed  to be filled with emotion much of the time. Although there are a lot of negative tales which come through the work, some memories are not all that sad or  tragic. For example, the author writes: "The one time wed spent the night there, Lecia and I wound up in the bathroom eating toothpaste past midnight" (Karr 8). One can  imagine that the girls were starving, but perhaps a better way to look at it were that these memories are the kind that endears one to a sibling. In a  sense, they were having fun. These are the kind of memories that never leave and seem to take on a life of their own. This is a good thing. Yet,  not all the memories were inconsequential. It is the matriarch in the family who is most interesting. Marys mother is flighty, yet creative, and adds a mysterious aura to this