Lit

A really great read. Mary Karr doesn't spare herself as she writes about her descent into alcoholism and her long crawl to sobriety, but she does take every opportunity to highlight any humor there was to be found in her situation (sometimes very dark humor indeed).

Her sharp but affectionate treatment of AA meetings reminded me of some of David Foster Wallace's descriptions of the program in Infinite Jest, where the characters hilariously acknowledge that the behavior that is being asked of them is absurd, undignified, embarrassing, they don't want to do it, but they do it anyway because they know it is saving their lives. Then a bandanna wearing David Foster Wallace made his appearance in Karr's memoir, and I thought, “of course.” The two met in AA.

Mary Karr's struggle for sobriety is entwined with her spiritual journey to Christianity, and as an adult convert I was especially interested in that part of the story. She's very matter of fact about her scepticism and her reasons for getting baptised in the Catholic church (her kid was getting baptised, she liked the particular church they had found), but then once she had committed herself she jumped in with both feet, undertaking the spiritual exercises of Ignatius under the direction of a nun.

From this memoir I learned that Mary Karr is one tough, funny woman who is becoming more loving through grace and the help of an impressive array of people who love her.