Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh – A Review

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
Graphic Novel | Humor | Mental Illness | Nonfiction
Published by Gallery Books
Released October 29, 2013
Goodreads | Amazon
Rating:

This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative–like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it–but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book:

Pictures
Words
Stories about things that happened to me
Stories about things that happened to other people because of me
Eight billion dollars*
Stories about dogs
The secret to eternal happiness*

*These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!

I remember the first time I came across Allie Brosh’s webcomic, Hyperbole and a Half, and I read her comics on dealing with depression. They immediately struck a chord with me, and I understood her own plight completely, as it wasn’t that far from my own.

Hyperbole and a Half is Allie Brosh’s first book, which is a collection of stories from her webcomic. The book is made up of several topics, with Brosh’s recognizable drawing style. The topics deal with depression, finding a letter that her younger self had written to her future self, her lack of motivation, childhood mischief, her two dogs, and so much more.

This collection is so hilarious that I was literally laughing out loud, while my boyfriend looked at me as though I were crazy (books rarely make me laugh). I loved this book so much and identified with so much of it that I’m definitely going to be buying my own copy to read over and over again.

Unfortunately, Brosh doesn’t appear to be updating her blog anymore, the last update coming in 2013, which is a damn shame. She did write a second book, called Solutions and Other Problems that I will for sure be seeking out.

If you’ve dealt with depression, psychotic dogs, a lack of motivation, or just being plain weird, you’ll probably find this book very relatable. It’s so wonderful to read. It was so easy to give this graphic novel five stars – it absolutely deserves it!

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