“Lit”

In “Lit,” poet Mary Karr recounts her descent into alcoholism and her relationship with her mother, her family, and her faith.

The author of “The Liars’ Club” and “Cherry” has written an honest (and, at times, funny) account of some of her darkest times. The story is compelling, but it’s not so much what Karr says as how. Samantha Dunn writes, in a review for the Los Angeles Times, “Karr could tell you what’s on her grocery list, and its humor would make you bust a gut, its unexpected insights would make you think and her pitch-perfect command of our American vernacular might even take your breath away.”

And the Washington Post says:

This is a story not just of alcoholism but of coming to terms with families past and present, with a needy self, with a spiritual longing Karr didn’t even know she possessed. It sounds as if she was hellish to be around for much of the time she describes here, but she is certainly good company now.