Sinners Welcome - by Mary Karr (Paperback)

About the Book

From Mary Karr, the prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Liars' Club and Cherry, comes the paperback edition of Sinners Welcome, her fourth and most recent collection of poetry. Published to coincide with the hardcover release of her newest memoir, Lit, Sinners Welcome traces her improbable journey from a tormented childhood into a resolutely irreverent Catholicism.

Book Synopsis

"What gives Sinners Welcome its sharp edge is the poet's eloquently passionate struggle at the junction of doubt and devotion." --Washington Post

From Mary Karr, the prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Liars' Club, Cherry and Lit, comes Sinners Welcome, her fourth collection of poetry that traces her improbable journey from a tormented childhood into a resolutely irreverent Catholicism.

From the Back Cover

In her fourth collection of poems, self-described black-belt sinner Mary Karr traces her improbable journey from the inferno of a tormented childhood into a resolutely irreverent Catholicism. Not since Saint Augustine wrote "Give me chastity, Lord--but not yet!" has anyone brought such smart-assed hilarity to a conversion story.

Review Quotes

"So much trickery has been got up to in relgion's name that it's natural to get nervous when a writer starts talking about salvation, but Karr never tries to substitute faith for sound poetic practices. If anything, by adding prayer, she just makes the poems that much stronger." -- David Kirby, New York Times

"What gives Sinners Welcome its sharp edge is the poet's eloquently passionate struggle at the junction of doubt and devotion." -- Judith Kitchen, Washington Post

"Fans of the smart-mouthed hell-raiser need not fear. Karr brings the same unstinting truth-telling sensibility to her spiritual concerns as she has to her earthly struggles." -- Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Sinners Welcome mixes her beloved stories from the wrong side of the tracks with new notes of care and forgiveness and pure, often angry, hymns to God. . . . It's a daring mix. Before she had her fists up; now she strips herself bare, a far braver act." -- Laurel Maury, Los Angeles Times

"Searing, not sentimental." -- Sam Hodges, Dallas Morning News

"These poems...demonstrate poetry as religion's kin. While not for the unquestioning devout, this book should stand beside works by writers like Thomas Merton or William Everson (a.k.a. Brother Antonitus) in both poetry and spiritual collections." -- Rochelle Ratner, Library Journal