I want to start some drama, so I decided to write a memoir and needed to know how.
Or I was listening to a podcast that kept referencing the book and decided to check it out.
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr is sort-of a how-to and sort-of a general exploration of memoirs, including what works and doesn't work. But at its core, it's about storytelling. Even if you don't intend to write a memoir or tell stories about your life (like the podcaster/comedian who recommended it), you can take elements of storytelling away. And at times, the advice doesn't even vaguely feel like it's directed at memoirs, so you might as well take what you can.
This book can be a very quick read or a very long one depending on how you go about it. It stressed me out when I was first reading it, so I let it sit around for a while. And then when I actually decided to just finish it, it took a few days of light reading.
Because it's not really telling a story itself, it was difficult for me to really get into a flow, and it wasn't set up in a way where reading a chapter at a time worked like I'd hope. Some chapters were 10-20 pages. Some were 1.
But it was a good book overall. 4/5 stars for me. It's not something I'd just widely recommend, but it was interesting and worth checking out if you're into the craft of writing.
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