Fiction. "STAND-UP TRAGEDIAN is the story of one man's decade-long quest to write a book. It is a coming-of-age story - not of childhood, but of the celebrated twenties, filled on the one hand with deep talks, cheap beer, and romantic notions, and on the other with doubt, dread, and despair. Read this book" - Marianna Cherry. "Bertman's eye is trained towards the subtleties of desire, anecdote, and beauty. Each slice of perception is also a metaphysical proposition, cleanly reflected in his syntax. He is an anthropologist of the awkward; he understands the human condition with the lucidity of a sleep-talking prophet" - Aaron Jai Lee. "A mature, incisive, and frequently hilarious debut, Bertman's hero is an almost ordinary guy experiencing the extraordinary: love, disappointment, emotional ambiguity, and eyes-wide-open faith" - Holly Kulak.