Helpful Score: 4
Great story, but not very well written. It wasn't terrible, but the author tends to use the same words over and over (a pet peeve of mine). If I saw the word "parlance" one more time I thought I was going to to scream... ;) Over all a good read though.
Helpful Score: 1
After reading her first novel, The Liar's Club, and loving it, I had high hopes for this one. It didn't disappoint. The author takes us on a wiiiiiiild ride as she reminisces about her growing up in the '60s and surviving it (barely)! She has a way of saying the obvious like no body else, she names names, rats out her mom, her mom's boyfriends, her old boyfriends, her old girlfriends, and anybody else who made for a good story. And there are a lot of 'em! I laughed out loud, I went, 'oh, yea' at times, and I felt like I had a friend when I finished this one. Go for it.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed "The Liar's Club" and I thought "Cherry" would be as good, maybe better. I was disappointed. While I could relate to the feelings (and even some of the situations) she described in "The Liar's Club", I couldn't relate to a lot of the goings on in this book. She was apparently a very wild child in her teens and the easy sex and prevalent drug use really turned me off. I also got very distracted by Ms Karr's use of the word "you" in the narrative. Since it is her story, it would make sense that she would tell it in the first person, but she doesn't.
From Mary Karr comes this gorgeously written, often hilarious story of her tumultuous teens and sexual coming-of-age. Picking up where the bestselling The Liars' Club left off, Karr dashes down the trail of her teen years with customary sass, only to run up against the paralyzing self-doubt of a girl in bloom. Fleeing the thrills and terrors of adolescence, she clashes against authority in all its forms and hooks up with an unforgettable band of heads and bona-fide geniuses. Parts of Cherry will leave you gasping with laughter. Karr assembles a self from the smokiest beginnings, delivering a long- awaited sequel that is both "bawdy and wise" (San Francisco Chronicle).
