Match BookWeird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World
Olga Khazan
2020 · 320 pages · Narrative nonfiction
How it reads
Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World is narrative nonfiction (popular psychology, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. 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 an international setting, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are identity, class and society 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 resolves happily. At 320 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. 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 hopeful
- you want a complete story in one book
- you want to be sure it ends well
Maybe not if…
- you need something melancholy or dark
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- narrative nonfiction
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- international
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- hopeful
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- balanced
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- first person, one narrator
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- identity, class and society, friendship
- 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.
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't KnowAdam M. GrantShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
- The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight BiasDolly ChughShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
- Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in MathematicsJo BoalerShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
- The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and FeminismJennifer GunterShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed As You AreAlicia MenendezShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace- A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur BuilderMichael PollanShares: narrative nonfiction, hopeful mood, balanced tone, moderate pace
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