Story Circle Network

Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide

October 2006

Cherry
Mary Karr

The child of The Liars' Club (1995) recaptures her teenage years, starting with her leaving home at 17 in 1972, taking off from her tiny Texas town with a handful of boys and a beat-up truck heading for Los Angeles. That prologue then spirals back to earlier days in high school...

  1. In what ways did Mary try to escape the parental boundaries in place during the book?

  2. What was your impression of the change in tenses she uses for the book? Third person at the beginning and first person after that? What do you think her purpose as a write was in doing this? Was it effective?

  3. Describe Mary's relationship with her father and how it affected her actions.

  4. What are some of the examples of Mary coming up against different standards of behavior for boys and girls and how did she handle it?

  5. What do you think of the choice of title for the book? What do you think its meaning is and and its tie-in to the cover picture.

  6. How did Mary's mother's character tie in with Mary's actions? What was their relationship like?

  7. How much do you think is true in this memoir? Do you think it holds truth?

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