CHERRY

In the follow-up to her award-winning first memoir, The Liars' Club, the tough-talking, scrappy, poetry-loving Karr confronts adolescence. And it doesn't get any prettier. Both of Karr's memoirs are a unique combination of precise, poetic language (she has been a practicing poet for 20 years) and the straight talk of East Texas, a hard-scrabble landscape of swamps and oil refineries. Karr's outstanding reading offers the same "take-it-or leave-it" stance as her stories; at the same time, her intelligence and unique American charm shine through every word. If you came of age in the '60s amid a working-class background, the sharp details of her memory (melamine dinnerware, wrap-around sunglasses with a slit from ear to ear) will make you smile. As she takes on the risks of adolescence with a frightening bravado, you'll gasp at her survival--and perhaps your own. E.K.D. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]