Mary Karr: Kind of Boring

Can someone mount a defense of Mary Karr? I read an interview with her in The Paris Review a year or two ago, and ever since I’ve been meaning to read one of her books. They sounded controversial, and I was curious. So while wandering the library aisles last week I came across her name and pulled The Liar's Club and Viper Rum (a selection of poetry) off the shelf and into my shoulder bag. I hate—really hate—to quit reading a book once I begin, but The Liar's Club was making me crazy after the first twenty odd pages. It was a combination of boredom and constantly being pulled from the narrative while Mary Karr explained how clear a memory was, or how fuzzy a memory was, or who else could confirm a memory. The writing felt very self-conscious and defensive.

So, I’m not going to finish, although I'll still sample Viper Rum and see if Karr’s poetry strikes me as any more interesting. In part, I feel a professional obligation to at least read a poem or two so I can talk about it if students ever ask, or, more realistically, if it comes up at a fancy cocktail party and I need to hold forth while furrowing my brow and sipping from an old fashioned.  

After I quit The Liar's Club, I started reading Then We Came to the End, a novel by Joshua Ferris, who I've never heard of (another random library grab), and so far it's satisfying the craving for fiction I developed last week. I also picked up The Adventures of Augie March, which I’m going to try and finish this month, although it’s a fat one. I read Henderson the Rain King several years ago and loved it.

My wife has an ipod touch that until recently I never used, but now I’ve started downloading apps, and when I read I keep the dictionary.com application open. It’s so awesome. For instance, in The Bad Wife Handbook Rachel Zucker has a line about a “duomo,” so I paused for a moment and looked it up. (It’s a cathedral in Italy.) Very helpful. In general, the poetry I've been reading this month has been amazing, and the prose mediocre. You'll have to wait to see the November list if you want specifics, although it's been a long time since I've reviewed a book on this blog, and those are the bread and butter of my random internet visitors (a.k.a. "cheaters").

Another week beginning, and I’m excited to revise some poems. Since my computer is on the fritz, I’ve had to email poems from my wife's computer, print them, then make revisions on paper, which is a pleasant method (mostly because it's new to me) but also a pain in the ass because then I have to plug in the revisions on a computer later. Actually, that's what I should be doing right now, but instead I'm going to put it on my to-do list for tomorrow, drink a glass of orange juice, and read some more of Then We Came to the End. Glug-glug-glug. Check you later.