Natural composites have very simple compositions and complex hierarchical architectures consisting of several different levels. These features simultaneously endow them with strength, toughness, functional adaptation, and damage-healing characteristics. Inspired by the microstructural features of natural materials, this work successfully fabricated Al2O3/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) fibrous monolithic ceramics with bamboo-like structures by introducing a thin graphene oxide around Al2O3 fiber cells to form the rGO boundary phase. The detailed evolutions of the crack extension and fracture responses were investigated by a J-integral method, and these bamboo-like composites demonstrated high structural reliability with excellent damage tolerance and progressive plastic failure behavior. With the fiber cell diameter of 0.6 mm, such composites exhibited fracture toughness (29.46 +/- 3.04 MPa m(1/2)) and work of fracture (799 +/- 127 J m(-2)) that were 475% and 1075% higher than those of the monolithic Al2O3 ceramic, respectively. Their excellent fracture-resistant behavior was attributed to the hierarchical architectures that provide crack deflection, delamination, and load redistribution. The results also established the structure-activity relationships to guide the design and fabrication of these bamboo-like composites.