Books like Bastarda

Bastarda by Dorothy Allison reads as raw, gritty. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

Ava's Man

Rick Bragg · 2001

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure

Dorothy Allison · 1995

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

74% genome match

Manchild in the promised land

Claude Brown · 1937

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Nigger

Dick Gregory · 1965

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Free Lunch

Rex Ogle · 2019

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Riding in Cars with Boys

Beverly Donofrio · 1990

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls · 2005

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Poverty Safari

Darren McGarvey · 2017

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Can't Hurt Me

David Goggins · 2018

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Down and Out in Paris and London

George Orwell · 1933

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt · 1996

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match

All souls

Michael Patrick MacDonald · 1999

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

69% genome match