The Art of Memoir

Mary Karr puts her considerable experience teaching, writing, and reading memoir to good work in this compelling, readable, and idiosyncratic how-to book. I liked Lit, didn't love it, and I've had some starts and stops while reading Liar's Club -- in spots it just feels like she's trying too hard and the pace is still too slow. Yet this book glides along at a swift clip; it's a fun, often entrancing read. She's a careful, clear writer. At times I feel like she's trying too hard in this book too, but some of this is due to the "cultured & erudite Southerner" quality of her voice, which is just as often funny, surprising, and sharply observed. Plus, her advice is practical. She bids writers to go for the visceral, or the "carnal" as she calls it. Bring details -- smells, sounds, sights -- into your memoir writing, she counsels. I like Mary Karr. She's gutsy and smart; her words feel well-lived. I'm halfway through this book, and wanted to share my enthusiasm with someone. Doubt my opinion will change by the end of the book, but if it does, I'll be back to impugn The Art of Memoir. Until then.....

Engaging and cleverly written. Karr's characteristic brashness might not be for everyone, and occasionally I wish she'd be a little more charitable to those who disagree with her in the slightest, but she's got guts, I'll give her that. This is a woman who's extremely confident in her own method, even if she sometimes pretends otherwise.

The book itself was in excellent condition, even though I selected the "used" option.

This is a wonderful read and a story that resonates with the immigrant's dilemma of nostalgia for homeland even one that was highly dysfunctional. Her previous cookbook is a personal favorite and helped me score points with my Russian born spouse with every recipe I have prepared. Having traveled there many times the book brings back many memories, is well researched and should whet the reader's appetite to head to the closest Russian restaurant.

Mary Karr could make a telephone book a compelling read. This was a helpful book for a would be memoir writer and an interesting book for anyone who's read her books and is curious about her process. She has been teaching memoir writing for many years, which I didn't realize (Lucky students!) The book reflects both someone who has successfully written three memoirs and someone who has been guiding other writers. She also uses examples from a large variety of memoirists. She seems to have read every memoir ever written from time memorial and has laser focus on what each writer has done to make them work for the reader. This is one of the best books on writing I have ever read.

Growing up, I never thought about the human experience of growing up in the USSR. Bremzen tells her story of Russia and the USSR through her family's history and their food, which gives a more visceral, human understanding than just cold numbers could convey.

Excellent book for memoir writers and readers. The book shares tools, concepts, and Mary Karr's unique style.
You Want Me to Do What?

"Food defined how Russians endured the present, imagined the future and connected to their past". In this memoir, Anya von Bremzen serves up a repast that is every bit as rich as the Czarist kulebiaka created in her mother's kitchen in Queens. More than just your run of the mill culinary writing, von Bremzen manages to fuse family history with that of the Soviet empire and adroitly explain how food became a semiotic landscape for cultural and personal expression in times of widespread oppression. Although this may sound overly ambitious, like borscht with far too many ingredients, readers of this memoir are able to sample and savor every element of her experience.

Importantly, with food and family as the centralizing thing, von Bremzen is able to sublimate abstract Soviet history and policy changes into narratives that are accessible and relatable to any reader. I recommend this book to history buffs, foodies and Russophiles alike, as you will not be disappointed by von Bremzen's incisive vignette into life behind the Iron Curtain

Much more than a how-to instruction manual, although it is that, too, in a way, Karr's THE ART OF THE MEMOIR is a broad survey of the genre that sends me to further reading of memoirs, which is rewarding in itself.

This book is funny and useful! It gives you plenty of interesting historical information about life of rank and file people in the Soviet Union. It gives recipes of different dishes which you might want to use. I also love the author's sense of humor.

A little padded in places, nonetheless a great survey of life in the old Soviet empire, which was not so bad if you were an "elite", but pretty miserable if you weren't. Much like, oh, say--the United States.

I just adore this book - great memoir interspersed with interesting recipes. I've made the Salat Olivier a couple of times to rave reviews (I have a Russian grocery near me and can get the proper mayonnaise, so I can't take any real credit).

I read this book never really having been interested in memoirs. Bur I connected to it at a deep level. It's about knowing yourself, it's about observation, it's about seeking the truth. It's a trully wonderful, rich read

I just adore this book - great memoir interspersed with interesting recipes. I've made the Salat Olivier a couple of times to rave reviews (I have a Russian grocery near me and can get the proper mayonnaise, so I can't take any real credit).

I read this book never really having been interested in memoirs. Bur I connected to it at a deep level. It's about knowing yourself, it's about observation, it's about seeking the truth. It's a trully wonderful, rich read

Good read and provides an interesting insight into 20th century Russian/Soviet history. I enjoyed the deep role that food plays on memories and history. It can be confusing at times as the author moves back and forth between time periods and generations.

Reading this book helped me realize that comfort foods are universal. They defy political dogma, soothe rhetorical barbs and leave the belly full, so it may better laugh at the craziness of our circumstance.

This is a spectacular guide to understanding how to write a memoir. It's also an example of The Medium Is The Message because it is written almost AS a memoir ABOUT writing memoir. Great read full of valuable guidance!

The title, The ART of Memoir, is perfect! Mary Karr has created, described and taught me more that is true about this art than I have ever learned from any one source. Already I am a more confident memoirist. THANKS & BRAVO!

This book intersperses personal memoir with a history of Russia/the Soviet Union. It is organized according to decade and the culinary effort to capture the spirit of each decade. By turns extremely funny and achingly sad, it is a painless way to absorb history through the lens of food. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in culinary or Russian history/culture.

Charming memoir-history of a century of Russian life and food. The author has a lovely writing voice, and a fascinating, vibrant, vivid extended family whose stories are the backbone of the book. The recipes, while not many, are good. The only caveat is that the author wasn't in the USSR and Russia in the late 1980s and 1990s, so her history of the time period is filled with mistakes and, to my mind, misjudgments. But if you don't read it for history, it's a good, enjoyable read.