The Liars' Club

The Liars' Club Summary | Chapter 1 Summary

Mary Karr begins telling her life story with the most striking memory from her childhood. At the age of seven, she trembles on a bare mattress in her bedroom as the family doctor, Dr. Boudreaux, gently asks to see where she is hurt. She has no bruises, though the room is torn apart with furniture upended and emptied drawers. The local sheriff holds her sister, Lecia, who is pretending to be asleep. Eventually, Mary's daze clears up, and she realizes that the neighbors are outside watching her yard. Her parents are nowhere to be found. Her father Pete is working the graveyard shift at the oil refinery, and her mother Charlie has been taken away for being Nervous.

The concept of Nervousness weighs heavily on Mary. She knows that members of her family are prone to this state, but no one ever bothers to explain what it is. When she is older, in her twenties, she comes home from college to hear that a Leechfield resident has shot his family and himself and burned the house down. Mr. Thibideaux is deemed Nervous even though his behavior was obviously extreme. As Mary stands confusedly outside, she gets the sense that her family is Not Right and will be deemed so from this day forward. She has a childish anxiety about which neighbor will come forward and offer to take her in for the night, but more than anything she feels self-conscious about the spectacle. The adult Mary acknowledges the giant blank spot she is leaving by not finishing the story of this night. However, this is how she experienced the events for most of her life, and so she wishes to leave it this way for now.

The story really begins with Mary's parents, Pete and Charlie, and how they came to be married. A chance encounter brought them together. A blown tire on Charlie's car sent her to the nearest gas station, where Pete happened to be filling in for a friend. Charlie was headed west to stay with her mother after the ruin of her fourth marriage, but Pete caught her eye. She stopped in Leechfield. Charlie's husband eventually came from New York to win her back, but he insulted her in the process. Pete fought for Charlie's honor, which endeared him to her. They were attracted by each other's differences. Pete loved Charlie's intelligence and sophistication; Charlie loved Pete's loyalty and straightforwardness. At their wedding reception, Pete toasted Charlie by saying, "Thank you for marrying poor old me."

Pete grew up on a logging camp during a time of simplicity that is long gone. Mary knows most of his childhood stories by heart because Pete takes her to gatherings of the Liars' Club. The Club is nothing more than a group of male friends who spontaneously come together to drink and tell stories. The name "Liars' Club" came from one of the men's irritated wife. Mary is the only child allowed to come to the Liars' Club, an indication of how much Pete spoils her. She knows it, though, and she fully appreciates the honor. Mary revels in listening to her father's stories and feels that he is the best storyteller in the group. Pete has the gift - the ability to keep his listeners enraptured no matter how long or tall the tale.