Book Review — “The Art of Memoir” by Mary Karr
How-to tips for writers (and readers) of memoirs
Book: The Art of Memoir. Published date: 2015. Genre: Non-Fiction. Publishing house: Harper Perennial.
This book is like watching a criminal autopsy — you see all the guts; the system in toto, the individual components, and even the character of the cadaver (that being both the author and the memoir itself).
Karr has written what I found to be an engaging, often irreverent, romp through the history of this art form, including glimpses inside many of the most famous and infamous memoirs. She also discusses the conundrums of writing memoir — truth telling, details and accuracy, as well as how to make a memoir hang together as a compelling read, rather than simply being a historical report of events.
My original purpose in reading The Art of Memoir grew from reflecting on my life and wondering how I might make its telling interesting for others to read of it in long-form. On Medium, I’ve made some forays into writing personal stories with snapshots of events and adventures, but I’ve wondered whether I could, or even should, write a full-length memoir.
The purpose of Karr’s book is to address such wonderings and to teach others how to better appreciate reading memoir. She holds up the…
