Lab Girl

How it reads

Lab Girl is memoir (scientific memoir, specifically), and its dominant mood is heartwarming. It's kind, generous and emotionally satisfying. 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 several locations, in the recent past, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are nature, identity and friendship. 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 bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 290 pages it's a quick read. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.