Dark at the Roots: A Memoir

Thyre, an actress, fashions a somewhat flat memoir about growing up in the middle-class South of the 1970s. Corny and unfocused, her work ambles episodically, from the early years living with her parents and younger sisters in Kansas City, Mo., where her mother took turns holding the Catholic Prayer Group at their house and mixing up the martinis for Father Don, to their move to the sticks of Louisiana and celebrating their hostile parents' eventual divorce. Thyre as the young narrator is a kid with moxie, known as the "liar in the family" and not above correcting her teacher's grammar. The memoir proceeds by anecdotes (stealing money from their skinflint father's bank account for camp and vacation, managing her asthma medication, watching her mom run over a turtle with the lawn mower, losing her virginity to Tommy Cusimano after her Our Lady of Prompt Succor's Autumn Celebration), but Thyre's writing lacks a cohesion determined by strong, memorable characterization. There are, however, many iconic '70s moments, e.g., listening to "Little Willy" on her mother's Gremlin AM radio, learning about rape from a Barnaby Jones TV episode, reading Paul Zindel books; and experiencing her sexual awakening while watching Looking for Mr. Goodbar . Packed with dippy dialogue and only a little raunchy and irreverent, Thyre's work amuses in small doses. (Apr.)