This is a memoir of a few years in Karr's childhood mostly in Texas. She had a pretty rough childhood, with a hard-drinking mother who was a misplaced would-be cultured cosmopolite and a rough (though loving and, apparently intelligent) father, and not a lot of money. There's mom getting sent to the mental hospital and a horrible grandmother and plenty of childhood terrors familiar and not.

Karr remains upbeat throughout, like a child might, and has a nice attitude through it all. Some people claim this makes the book "funny" but I couldn't disagree more. No matter how I slice it, it's a downer. Though very well written, sometimes lyrical, I just don't think it was worth it. It's like a picture of an accident. OK, clear enough, but did I have to see that? What for?