If I had to sum up the first chapter of The Liar's Club in two words they would be; confusing and descriptive. Mary Karr did a very good job of thoroughly describing everything, I just had trouble figuring out what exactly she was talking about. It seemed as though she jumped around a lot, and changed which tense she was writing in very frequently. I suppose she did warn us of this with this comment "Even now the scene seems so real to me that i can't but write it in the present tense" on page 15, but it was still a struggle to keep up. When it comes to her jumping around, on page 9 Karr talks about how some parts of her life went uninformed to her for a long time, and she planned to keep it that way for us. Although this may add to my confusion, I really enjoy her style of writing. It was as though she really was just telling her story as it came into her memory. It wasn't planned out, or edited to go in a certain order. It was her story as she remembered it, which appears to be somewhat of a jumbled mess in her head. I think this is going to make the story even more interesting.
Even in the first chapter, and with her jumping around a lot, I got a good idea of how she felt about the people in her family. It was as though she really looked up to her father, even though she wasn't sure if she should or not. I got the impression that she loved her mom, but not in the same way she loved her dad, and I think later on she may begin to blame her mom for somethings. Also, she didn't talk too much about her sister, but I felt as though they had somewhat of a competing relationship, and I think there will be much more to come about their childhood together.
I cant say that I really related to anything that was discussed in the first chapter. The only this that seems to be somewhat close is that I believe we all have at least one "nervous" person in our family, and although these people may cause some issues, they are the ones that keep us on our toes. I am very interested to see what kinds of things Mary went through in her childhood, and throughout her life.
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Good first reflection, but I encourage you to be specific about the ways Karr describes. Include some text in your posts and write closely about it, how it compels you, mystifies you, and so on.
ReplyDeleteDo you see a method to the chronological madness? See page 9.
Hope you continue to enjoy.
I agree with your perception of how the first chapter was confusing and unorganized, but compelling at the same time. I hope she organizes her thoughts as the story goes on just to make it easier to read. What did you think of the memoir and memoirist story?
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what you said. I was definatly confused at first and still am, so i can realate there. I really like what you said about the mom. I was trying to figure that out and i think you put it in the best words, that she loved her mom but just not like she loved her dad.
With the whole present tense, past tense problem you were having, she said "Even now the scene seems so real to me that i can't but write it in the present tense." (Karr 15) So she did give a little warning about how she was going to switch tense on us.
I like what you said about how you pointed out everyone had a "nervous" person in their family. That is definatly true, and i didnt think about it like that in a way that i could relate to her.
Great job blogging!
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments about the difficulty of following what exactly is going on. I think maybe Mary's memories of her earlier childhood were jumbled in her brain and sometimes hard to pick out. I also enjoyed how you mentioned every family having at least one "nervous" personality in them. Besides that I agree with the importance of referencing the novel at times so it is easier to depict what your trying to say.