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Perv - A Love Story
Jerry Stahl
1999 · 342 pages · Literary fiction
How it reads
Perv - A Love Story is literary fiction (transgressive coming-of-age, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. 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 recent past, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are coming of age, family and survival. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
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 342 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a hidden gem — known to relatively few readers.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something dark
- you want something to chew on
- you like finding books before everyone else
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy, heartwarming or funny
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- literary fiction
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- recent past
- Mood / feeling
- dark
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- first person, one narrator
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- hidden gem
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- coming of age, family, survival
- 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.
Before Women Had WingsConnie May FowlerShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- Bastard Out of CarolinaDorothy AllisonShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, recent past setting
The Boatman's DaughterAndy DavidsonShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- The Speed QueenStewart O'NanShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
Why the Tree Loves the AxJim LewisShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, ambiguous ending
The FountainheadAyn RandShares: literary fiction, dark mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
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