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kloughlin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, and Chronic illness
ratxheart's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Car accident, Grief, Drug use, Alcohol, Death, Excrement, Cancer, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Animal death, and Suicide
Moderate: Body horror and Cursing
jhbandcats's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Wow. This follow-up to 2013's Hyperbole and a Half is compassionate, painful, wildly funny, painful again, and overall powerful. Brosh went through all sorts of awful things that would rock the most stable person, and she wasn't a stable person. For someone teetering on the edge of uncontrollable depression, she has turned that awfulness into a beautiful book about vulnerability,
strength, and resilience.
Every word - and picture - is so true. She describes an argument with her husband in a grocery store, and I
ached for both of them. She describes the mental confusion of depression, when reality isn't quite real. As in her first book, there is a lot about dogs here, plus a cat, and lots of horse poop.
I can't recommend this highly enough
strength, and resilience.
Every word - and picture - is so true. She describes an argument with her husband in a grocery store, and I
ached for both of them. She describes the mental confusion of depression, when reality isn't quite real. As in her first book, there is a lot about dogs here, plus a cat, and lots of horse poop.
I can't recommend this highly enough
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide
djinnandtea's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Reading this book was an experience, especially as a long-time fan of Allie Brosh. If you’re also a long-time reader, then you know the wait for this book was a long one, especially for how long we were aware of its existence and eventual release. Learning of its legit release in September was thus a lovely surprise.
I don’t know if I can say the wait was worth it. I think it was, but I also almost wish it’d never come out. I’m not sure of how to express my feelings here, so bear with me. Hyperbole and a Half was such a ride back in the day. I don’t know that any book or blog has given me the same amount of serotonin for such an extended period of time before, and her first book just continued the experience. Following Allie’s struggles with depression also felt very special and relatable, like we readers were growing alongside her. The first book felt like a culmination of that relationship, like the ultimate success after everything else we’d collectively been through, and as her blog was seemingly defunct, like a nice high to end on. That’s how it felt to me, at least. No new posts, but this great book with the classic comics and some new stories. She’d laughed at corn under the fridge and so had I, life was gonna be okay.
During the eight year wait for the follow up, Allie Brosh kind of disappeared from my thoughts. I wondered about her every now and then (hard not too—the memes she left in her wake are still kicking) but I figured we were never really going to get Solutions and Other Problems, and that was okay for me because Hyperbole and a Half was so satisfying. Then, suddenly, the release. Then suddenly, it was in my hands. Another set of stories by Allie Brosh; I never thought I’d see this day.
Reading the stories certainly had a familiar feel, I’ll start there. But it also became clear very quickly this was not the same Allie Brosh telling the stories. The art’s a little different. Duncan’s largely MIA. The dogs we used to love are almost entirely absent. This doesn’t mean the book is bad. This doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. Of course things are going to be different—Allie Brosh has lived her life in the eight years since we last saw her, and so have I. We’re both different people now. But reading a new work from an author I have such a nostalgic love for meant I couldn’t stop missing what used to be, even as I appreciated what she was giving to me now.
Trust, I still laughed a lot. I still cried harder than I have in a while. She’s still a very good story teller. But Solutions and Other Problems is so much sadder than I thought it would be. It’s real. I admit it’s been a long time since I read Hyperbole and a Half (the book or the blog), so maybe I’m misremembering the tone. But there’s a lot less lightheartedness in this book. I didn’t inhale it like I expected I would. I spaced it out, read it only when I knew I wouldn’t need to be functional right after. Never before work, never before bed. Because there’s an existential reality in the pages I couldn’t always handle in the dark, or before I had to log on Zoom to teach second graders.
I said earlier I sort of wish it’d never come out, and I mean that for very selfish reasons. I sort of wish I still had the sweet nostalgia of her earlier works as the last taste in my mouth, rather than the bittersweet truths of this one. On the other hand, I am immensely grateful Allie Brosh is still here. That she’s still creating. That’s she’s still storytelling. I’ll buy anything she publishes, even if it hurts, because the journey with her has been a special one. I really don’t know how this book will read for people just coming to Allie Brosh’s work. I don’t know if it’ll feel stilted and underdeveloped. I certainly think readers familiar with her style will benefit the most. There are stories in the book that feel particularly abrupt and out of order, and I haven’t decided if that fits the structure or is just a poor editing choice yet.
As with DuMaurier's Rebecca, it’s evident I don’t know how to talk about this book without talking about my emotional attachment to it. Allie’s comics have been part of my life for a decade. At the end of the day, I think it’s a worthwhile read. But beware: it’s not always the easy read you might be looking for.
I don’t know if I can say the wait was worth it. I think it was, but I also almost wish it’d never come out. I’m not sure of how to express my feelings here, so bear with me. Hyperbole and a Half was such a ride back in the day. I don’t know that any book or blog has given me the same amount of serotonin for such an extended period of time before, and her first book just continued the experience. Following Allie’s struggles with depression also felt very special and relatable, like we readers were growing alongside her. The first book felt like a culmination of that relationship, like the ultimate success after everything else we’d collectively been through, and as her blog was seemingly defunct, like a nice high to end on. That’s how it felt to me, at least. No new posts, but this great book with the classic comics and some new stories. She’d laughed at corn under the fridge and so had I, life was gonna be okay.
During the eight year wait for the follow up, Allie Brosh kind of disappeared from my thoughts. I wondered about her every now and then (hard not too—the memes she left in her wake are still kicking) but I figured we were never really going to get Solutions and Other Problems, and that was okay for me because Hyperbole and a Half was so satisfying. Then, suddenly, the release. Then suddenly, it was in my hands. Another set of stories by Allie Brosh; I never thought I’d see this day.
Reading the stories certainly had a familiar feel, I’ll start there. But it also became clear very quickly this was not the same Allie Brosh telling the stories. The art’s a little different. Duncan’s largely MIA. The dogs we used to love are almost entirely absent. This doesn’t mean the book is bad. This doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. Of course things are going to be different—Allie Brosh has lived her life in the eight years since we last saw her, and so have I. We’re both different people now. But reading a new work from an author I have such a nostalgic love for meant I couldn’t stop missing what used to be, even as I appreciated what she was giving to me now.
Trust, I still laughed a lot. I still cried harder than I have in a while. She’s still a very good story teller. But Solutions and Other Problems is so much sadder than I thought it would be. It’s real. I admit it’s been a long time since I read Hyperbole and a Half (the book or the blog), so maybe I’m misremembering the tone. But there’s a lot less lightheartedness in this book. I didn’t inhale it like I expected I would. I spaced it out, read it only when I knew I wouldn’t need to be functional right after. Never before work, never before bed. Because there’s an existential reality in the pages I couldn’t always handle in the dark, or before I had to log on Zoom to teach second graders.
I said earlier I sort of wish it’d never come out, and I mean that for very selfish reasons. I sort of wish I still had the sweet nostalgia of her earlier works as the last taste in my mouth, rather than the bittersweet truths of this one. On the other hand, I am immensely grateful Allie Brosh is still here. That she’s still creating. That’s she’s still storytelling. I’ll buy anything she publishes, even if it hurts, because the journey with her has been a special one. I really don’t know how this book will read for people just coming to Allie Brosh’s work. I don’t know if it’ll feel stilted and underdeveloped. I certainly think readers familiar with her style will benefit the most. There are stories in the book that feel particularly abrupt and out of order, and I haven’t decided if that fits the structure or is just a poor editing choice yet.
As with DuMaurier's Rebecca, it’s evident I don’t know how to talk about this book without talking about my emotional attachment to it. Allie’s comics have been part of my life for a decade. At the end of the day, I think it’s a worthwhile read. But beware: it’s not always the easy read you might be looking for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide
Minor: Animal death
honeycuttsp's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Suicide, Death, Medical content, Car accident, Cancer, and Animal death
amyacowan's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
ydnavarro's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Suicide
menomica's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
relaxing
sad
God, I love Ally Brosh’s style of writing and comedy. It is so nonsensical and discombobulated yet perfectly so. I love how the book managed to talk about serious topics such as death and loneliness with an approachable cynical humor. This is the perfect companion book to Hyperbole & A Half
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide, Drug use, Dysphoria, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Animal death and Medical content
kelleyo2l's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
qqjj's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Suicide and Drug use