A review by johndiconsiglio
Cherry by Mary Karr

4.0

I fell hard for Karr’s witty & vividly detailed Liar’s Club, a memoir of her dusty East Texas childhood. The only problem with this charming sequel is that it’s kinda more of the same. She takes us through her ‘60s-‘70s coming-of-age, from an awkward outcast to her teenage sex-&-drugs awakenings. (Her acid adventures seem almost quaint in the Opioid Era.) Karr mixes funny & feisty with recollections that are tender, sad & scary—sometimes all at once. Memorably, there’s a Dante-esque journey to a dive bar, the world’s sweetest suicide attempt & a she’s-leaving-home tableau that’d make the Beatles envious.