For those who cringe a bit at their teenage photos, the memoir Unabrow: Misadventures of a Late Bloomer is sure to be a source of enjoyable catharsis. Una LaMarche (writer of the popular blog The Sassy Curmudgeon) specializes in confronting the types of memories most of us try to repress--years of puberty absent from many family albums because they've been "crudely defaced with marker or ripped out in order to be ritually burned." Having sported at various points in her life a thick unibrow, troll doll earrings, prominent acne and "bulbous-toed platform sneakers that looked to have been cobbled by cartoon elves," LaMarche is intimately familiar with shame, and knows how to share hers in a way that's hilarious and accessible. Through clever guides, charts and lists (for instance, "The Seven Deadly Sins of DIY Bangs"), LaMarche provides snappy "advice" on some of life's silliest struggles.
Beneath the continuous humor, Unabrow sends a heartfelt message about self-acceptance. LaMarche offers her own past as evidence of universal imperfection, while including sly allusions to the absurdity of beauty standards in general. Having a unibrow, she points out, was once desirable in ancient Greece, Russia and Iran.
Reading Unabrow can feel akin to flipping through a yearbook with a grounded friend--one who possesses an unusual knack for apt pop-culture references, devising belated comebacks and generally making everyone feel better about themselves. --Annie Atherton