Match BookBearded Lady
Mara Altman
2012 · 46 pages · Memoir
How it reads
Bearded Lady is memoir (illustrated personal essay, specifically), and its dominant mood is funny. The humour is the point, not garnish. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a big city setting, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are identity, class and society and art and creativity. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. At 46 pages it's a single-sitting book. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something funny
- you want a complete story in one book
- you're drawn to stories about identity
Maybe not if…
- you need something melancholy, dark or tense
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- memoir
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- funny
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- balanced
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- first person, one narrator
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- identity, class and society, art and creativity
- Ending style
- ambiguous
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in EssaysDamon YoungShares: memoir, funny mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
This Will Only Hurt a LittleBusy PhilippsShares: memoir, funny mood, balanced tone, moderate pace- Broken (In the Best Possible Way)Jenny LawsonShares: memoir, funny mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
- Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary ForgerLee IsraelShares: memoir, funny mood, balanced tone, set in big city
- Why I'm Like This: True StoriesCynthia KaplanShares: memoir, funny mood, moderate pace, set in big city
- The Descent of ManGrayson PerryShares: funny mood, balanced tone, moderate pace, ambiguous ending
Appears in
Find a copy
Reviews on Goodreads ↗Match Book earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Match Book earns from qualifying purchases.