Match BookThe Birth Dearth
Ben J. Wattenberg
1989 · 210 pages · Narrative nonfiction
How it reads
The Birth Dearth is narrative nonfiction (demographic social commentary, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.
It's set in an international setting, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are class and society, family and power and politics. 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 210 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 melancholy
- you have time to settle in
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something funny or hopeful
- you're reading in five-minute gaps
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- narrative nonfiction
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- prolific veteran
- Setting: place
- international
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- melancholy
- Pace
- slow burn
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- third person, one viewpoint
- Publication era
- classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- class and society, family, power and politics
- 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.
- Regretting MotherhoodOrna DonathShares: narrative nonfiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, ambiguous ending
- Critique of Practical ReasonImmanuel KantShares: narrative nonfiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
- Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in AmericaLaila LalamiShares: narrative nonfiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
The GamblerFyodor DostoevskyShares: melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn, ambiguous ending- Women & Power: A ManifestoMary BeardShares: narrative nonfiction, heavy and literary tone, slow burn, set in international
The Left Hand of DarknessUrsula K. Le GuinShares: melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn, ambiguous ending
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