When first beginning to read The Liar's Club I was very confused. From reading it over and trying to decipher what the author was explaining to us of two different events. I hope this is right. I think she is telling us a dark memory from her childhood about her doctor/pedophile trying to look at scars, which are not there. But then it switches to a story of a father killing his family when she was 20. The book interests me, but i think it will take a little time to really get into it. The author is very descriptive in her writing. An example , "There must have been an ambulance outside, because at intervals big triangles of red light slashed across the room. I could almost feel them moving over my face.' (Karr 5) One of my favorite parts is when she is talking about the Republicans being the "bogeyman" of her childhood. "Daddy said a Republican was somebody who couldn't enjoy eating unless he knew somebody else was hungry." Sort of comical. When she gets to the actual Liar's Club which is held in the American Legion it reminds me of home. In the little town I live in, there is an American Legion. The same kind of actions happenat home as they do in the book when the wife is looking for her husband, he is usually down at the Legion. Some of my family members go down there and everyone knows each other. All these men tell stories about the past and present. It has been a part of my family even before i was born. Reading about the legion and how the author explains what goes on there, may hook me into the novel more.
Out of the two sections of reading that I read my favorite was the The Memoir and the Memorist. It grabbed my attention right away. I like how he talks about writing his own memoir and helping others trying to write theirs. "To write memoir is to be selective; to write one's biography is to be indiscriminate."(Larson 2) That quote caught my eye in the beginning. Another quote in the same paragraph, "Don't worry about remembering events: they have already shaped themselves in your mind and emotion, though you should be on guard for how you reshape them as you write today." I believe when writing that is true. You remember the events that have really affected you, whether they are good or horrible memories. As you write those memories they may come back to you about facing the truths of the past. They can impact positively or negatively. In this memoir the author mentions that the people he is helping have all read The Liars Club. It was interesting to me when the author was mentioning ways of how to write a memoir. I liked how he said that anybody can be an author. But, my favorite part is when the author says, "..above all try to be honest about the slipperiness of telling the truth. I say try because honesty is never simple. And telling the truth, to ourselves and to others, guarantees emotional anguish. In fact, trying to be honest about the difficulty of unearthing what's painful may be the truest thing one can do." I think this can relate to everyone. So far from reading this novel writing is never easy especially when it is about your own life and I can't wait to read deeper into the writing of Thomas Larson.
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I also was confused by the beginning of The Liar's Club. When I read the first page of The Liar's Club, I thought the dark memory she was talking about was something the doctor had done to her, but as I kept reading I felt the author was leaning towards something else. Something else that she'll explain later.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Memoir and The Memoirist, I felt the first chapter was really dry. It seemed like I was reading a text book and not an actual book.
It was a very descriptive account of what you read. It was also interesting to see how you connected "the liars' club" to something in your own life. Perhaps as you read more you will find more of a similarity between the two which would create for an interesting blog! It's also refreshing to see you admit that you were confused about the first chapter because a lot of information was offered in those pages because I must admit, at times I was a little lost too. My suggestions for next time would be to maybe make some predictions about what you think the story is about or how the background information offered in chapter 1 might have affected the author. Why was the information offered so important? How might this have impacted the author's life? All in all, a good first post :) Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteHey Amanda. I too was confused when I started reading the book. I at first thought that the Sheriff was a inanimate object that, due to her child like vision, seemed to come to life. After multiple readings, I finally figured out what was going on.
ReplyDeleteI wholehearted agree with your analysis of The Memoir and the Memoirist. Just the first 10 pages opened me up to a lot of information that I hadn't thought of. Time to wrap it up!