Are you one of those people who scrupulously read reviews before embarking on a new book? Do you scan the New York Times book review section and earmark the New Yorker for their favorite recent literary discoveries? If so, I have a lot of respect for you. I’m not one of those people; in fact, I’d never really thought about book reviews until we talked about it the other day in class. 
Sure, I’d scanned them with a vaguely interested eye in magazines and newspapers, but I never considered choosing my next book or altering my opinion of one I’d already read based on a reviewer’s words. Reviews seemed like longer versions of the book reports that haunted my middle school years and since I didn’t give them more than a cursory glance, book reviews did not really have a chance to redeem themselves in my mind.
I recently read the The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr. In this unique, intricately described portrayal of her tumultuous childhood, Karr brings her atypical parents into a vivid light with anecdotes and recollections. With curiosity, after hearing about the significance of book reviews, I decided to do some research after the fact and see what the critics had to say about this memoir. I’d already formed my opinion and I loved it.
At random, I chose Jonathan Yardley’s review from The Washington Post archives. * The review is ten years old, but such is the nature of books to stay the same over time, so it remains applicable. After reading his thoughts on the memoir, I had a few of my own. Yardley comments on the nature of Karr’s parent’s marriage: “[It] had its moments of tenderness and happiness, but much of the time it was fractious, noisy and self-destructive.” He also addresses Karr’s relationship with her sister, which was a “Far from tranquil alliance.” I agree with these insights, as Karr’s youth was clearly not ideal or normal. However, it is his final conclusions regarding Karr’s motive for writing that I can’t exactly align with. Yardley observes that The Liar’s Club, similarly to other memoirs, is “A tribute to and lament for a world its author no longer occupies…she most surely regrets what she left behind, and she makes us regret it too. The Liars’ Club is a beauty.” Yes, it is a profound and inspiring memoir, but I do not think that Karr intends for the reader to mourn for the life she has left behind. I was not left with a longing for Texas in the 1960’s, and I don’t believe that Karr has this feeling either. Instead, she has an enlightened perspective that, without the cathartic act of writing this book, could have remained allusive. Ultimately, it is apparent that the interpretations and observations of reviewers can alter a reader’s opinion towards the book. This can be seen as both a supplementary, or potentially unhelpful, element to the process of choosing a book and then reflecting on it afterwards.
*http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/09/AR2009110901993.html