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A review by plannedandplanted
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Here’s the thing. This book actually does have a lot of good information about how the author writes memoirs, and her analysis of why other memoirists’ works are so compelling.
But so much of the book just felt like… posturing? “Look how many authors and titles I know, and look how good my analysis of their work is!” Like it legit felt like certain sections were straight out of an essay I would have written in college for one of my Lit courses.
I needed less “here’s why this work is so good and why I think the author wrote it this way” and more “here’s how they likely got to that point.” The parts where Karr explains her own process and then uses examples from other memoirs to back that up were super engaging, helpful, and practical. The rest was like slogging through a literary sandpit
But so much of the book just felt like… posturing? “Look how many authors and titles I know, and look how good my analysis of their work is!” Like it legit felt like certain sections were straight out of an essay I would have written in college for one of my Lit courses.
I needed less “here’s why this work is so good and why I think the author wrote it this way” and more “here’s how they likely got to that point.” The parts where Karr explains her own process and then uses examples from other memoirs to back that up were super engaging, helpful, and practical. The rest was like slogging through a literary sandpit