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babayagaofficial's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicide
Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Medical trauma
There’s also a mention of people suspecting pedophilia in one situation, but no pedophilia is actually taking place.kelsea's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Suicide
Minor: Medical content
bookwyrmknits's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This is a series of illustrated stories that are very much in line with her first book and her blog. If you liked those, you will probably like this as well. I enjoyed it alot (yes, that's intentional, if you are a fan you already know why).
One thing needs to be said, though: a lot of sad/troubling things in Brosh's life happened after she wrote her first book. They are included in this book, partly by way of explanation, and partly (I think) because she needed them to be included. Don't expect this one to have the same ratio of humor that her first book does. Don't get me wrong: there are still some very funny bits. But the serious bits are, I think, a higher percentage of this book than they were in her first one. This is still a highly important book, and I would recommend it to everyone. Just don't go into it expecting it to be exactly like Hyperbole and a Half. (Also, there is still no alot in this book. Alas.)
One thing needs to be said, though: a lot of sad/troubling things in Brosh's life happened after she wrote her first book. They are included in this book, partly by way of explanation, and partly (I think) because she needed them to be included. Don't expect this one to have the same ratio of humor that her first book does. Don't get me wrong: there are still some very funny bits. But the serious bits are, I think, a higher percentage of this book than they were in her first one. This is still a highly important book, and I would recommend it to everyone. Just don't go into it expecting it to be exactly like Hyperbole and a Half. (Also, there is still no alot in this book. Alas.)
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
leighsnerdlife's review against another edition
emotional
funny
slow-paced
5.0
Solutions and Other Problems is compelling, and shows what Allie was going through during the time she had disappeared off the internet. It sounds like it was an awful period in her life, but she manages to wrap it all up in humour and her special brand of drawing. Please take a gander at both books - you won’t regret it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
katethekitcat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
2.75
When considering what to write in this review, I had a lot of thoughts floating around in my head akin to, “a book doesn’t HAVE to funny to be good, you just made a pre-assumption the author is funny,” “it’s not up to you to decide how someone gets to describe their experiences,” etc. Which are both true. But they also obscured the fact that, at the end of the day, I didn’t enjoy Solutions and Other Problems very much.
I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to. Like every other person and their mother on this page right now, I loved the Hyperbole and a Half blog. I still google “allie brosh pain scale” anytime I want to rip out my sides laughing. I enjoyed her first book (didn’t love, but enjoyed). I wondered where she had gone and was thus delighted to see when this emerged from pre-order. In short, I had a lot of stake in the game.
But, although I tried, reading this book just wasn’t fun. First, it isn’t funny. Senses of humor are of course somewhat subjective and I know other reviewers already hard-core disagree with me, but in over 500 pages I chuckled maybe 4 or 5 times and, of the 25 stories, would classify only one (“Cat”) as funny; even then, not to the level of her previous work. Which, on its own, is completely fine. This style of book doesn’t have to be funny. Just because I historically place Allie Brosh’s writing in the “comedy’ bucket doesn’t mean she has to continue that way. Her work can evolve and her style translated to much more series topics.
Except reading these comics didn’t feel like someone who was intentionally using her style to share said serious topics. It felt like someone who was still very much in the middle of being incredible sad and lonely and possibly self-destructive vomited her misery out into this public format in a “HA HA LOOK AT ME ISN’T MY PATHETICNESS FUNNY?” kind of way that left me as a reader deeply cringing. I’m drawn back to her famous comic, Adventures in Depression, where she first shared her struggle with depression. The comic ends leaving the reader thinking she’s ok – but after two years of utter silence, we got part 2, which revealed she had been about to hit rock bottom and hadn’t known it. To me, this book feels like that: like the writer is portraying what are supposed to be funny clever stories, but they’re covering up something much sadder.
I want to clarify that I am absolutely 100% not passing judgment or making assumptions about Allie Brosh or her mental health. Rather, I am describing the sentiment I – the reader – was left with. (Writing this has also made me realize I do think she was trying to be funny; it just didn’t land.)
Structurally, this book didn’t work very well either. Allie has previously commented on her blog FAQ how much time she spends considering story structure, and that she’ll often pull a comic if the underlying skeleton isn’t sufficient. That self-editing didn’t happen here. I particularly recall the story where she talked about a fight she had with her ex-husband, Duncan, that climaxes in a squabble about bananas. I think the story was supposed to be talking about how ridiculous arguments are at the end of the relationship, but the comic itself so completely failed to have a beginning, middle, and end that it instead it just came off as a random series of interactions that (once again) left me cringing and uncomfortable (and not in a reflective way). Quite a few of the comics had that wandering randomness: ok…here are some thoughts and things that happened…moving on to the next one. I found myself skimming the pictures to skip to the text because, in the majority of cases, the pictures didn’t add much to the storytelling. They were just there. The nuance of observation that has previously marked Allie’s work has slipped into the humor of randomness: “ha ha isn’t this arbitrary ha ha.”
Finally (and this is going to sound odd considering how much I’ve been complaining about her book being all dark and unfunny) but at times the book would have benefited from going more into the sad shit happening in her life. She would insert it into comics like she wanted to talk about it, but then it would never come up again. It was that socially awkward moment where someone is just waiting to be asked about Topic X, but no one asks them so instead they keep dropping cryptic hints.
I would not have finished this book if it hadn’t been written by Allie Brosh. If the manuscript had been submitted to a publisher by a complete unknown, I think a good editor would have said, “This is a brilliant idea. Take another year to emotionally process all this content, and then come back and try again.” It breaks my heart, but after reading this I really just hope that Allie has found real-life support and community, that terrible awful things stop happening to her, and also that I don’t ever need to re-read Solutions and Other Problems.
(Three stars because I can’t emotionally put it in the same category as my 2-star books – if nothing else, it’s a huge amount of work and creativity.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Suicide
thefourthvine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
4.0
I think it's safe to say a lot has happened to Allie Brosh in the seven years everyone I know spent going, "Man, I just hope Allie Brosh is doing well, wherever she is." And this book really peels back the layers on that -- there are funny chapters and heartrending chapters and chapters that talk about truly awful things in small, simple sentences that sit there in your head like a rock.
Basically, this book is a testament to the power of keeping on, even when things are awful, and also on being yourself, no matter how weird and unlikable and unnecessary you find yourself to be. (Yes, it is #relatable.) It's also an oddly -- since it was written over the course of seven years -- relevant book for this year, 2020, in the way it talks about loneliness and rarely leaving your house. I guess you could say Brosh has been in lockdown a lot longer than the rest of us.
I read this in one sitting. I can't say I enjoyed every chapter, largely because this book made me feel things and I very much prefer not feeling things, but I'm glad I read it.
Basically, this book is a testament to the power of keeping on, even when things are awful, and also on being yourself, no matter how weird and unlikable and unnecessary you find yourself to be. (Yes, it is #relatable.) It's also an oddly -- since it was written over the course of seven years -- relevant book for this year, 2020, in the way it talks about loneliness and rarely leaving your house. I guess you could say Brosh has been in lockdown a lot longer than the rest of us.
I read this in one sitting. I can't say I enjoyed every chapter, largely because this book made me feel things and I very much prefer not feeling things, but I'm glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Animal death
Minor: Ableism
wolffe's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
4.5
Brosh is skilled at discussing tough hitting topics through humor. I laughed, I cried, I finished the book feeling like I learned a little more about myself.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
sionnac's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I love her. If this was difficult to write/draw because of trauma I can only say there was so much I related to I just want her to be ok. Different than Hyperbole and a Half I felt, so if you loved that you will love this but there is a lot of pain. And I laughed so hard, especially bc I put the awk! in awkward many times. Still do. Thank you Allie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Animal death and Drug use
gracew's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Oh my gosh y'all. I know we've been waiting for this book for a very long time and I know saying "It was worth the wait" is cliché as all hell but! I am just so happy this book exists in the world. At once both so funny I almost dropped the book a few times and so deep and sad that I cried into its pages. There is so much hope and humor inside these pages. It feels like talking to a friend you haven't seen in awhile but still 100% gets you and you get them. I highly recommend this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Animal death
rachaelbunny's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Animal death
Divorce