Match BookI Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays
Sloane Crosley
2008 · 230 pages · Narrative nonfiction
How it reads
I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays is narrative nonfiction (humorous personal essays, 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, friendship and class and society. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 230 pages it's a quick read. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something funny
- you want an escape
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something melancholy, dark or tense
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- narrative nonfiction
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- funny
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- light and escapist
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- first person, one narrator
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- identity, friendship, class and society
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
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.
- Why I'm Like This: True StoriesCynthia KaplanShares: funny mood, light and escapist tone, moderate pace, resolved and happy ending
Big Mushy Happy LumpSarah AndersenShares: funny mood, light and escapist tone, moderate pace, resolved and happy ending- Just Keep Buying: Proven Ways to Save Money and Build Your WealthNick MaggiulliShares: narrative nonfiction, light and escapist tone, moderate pace, resolved and happy ending
- Spook: Science Tackles the AfterlifeMary RoachShares: narrative nonfiction, funny mood, light and escapist tone, moderate pace
When You Are Engulfed in FlamesDavid SedarisShares: narrative nonfiction, funny mood, humorous personal essays, moderate pace- Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and DeliveryGarr ReynoldsShares: narrative nonfiction, light and escapist tone, moderate pace, resolved and happy ending
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