If I were to have any quibble, it’s that Solutions and other Problems is about an inch taller than Hyperbole and a Half, and I’m irrationally annoyed that they don’t quite match on my bookshelves.For the first time in seven years, Allie Brosh-beloved author and artist of the extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller Hyperbole and a Half-returns with a new collection of comedic, autobiographical, and illustrated essays.
It’s excellent present material too, for that special someone. I am normally an advocate of ‘the medium doesn’t matter’ but this is one which I would heartily recommend being read in physical form. Chapters and sections are separated by numbers (occasionally), titles (often, random and obscure), and colours (fire-engine red through eau-de-nil). The book itself is a beaut - paperback, but quality glossy pages with gorgeous colour drawings, and a tactile quality which had me running my fingers over the pages more than once. I’m not even going to try to summarise it because it would be the most dilute of experiences, so please just get this book and enjoy with me the depictions of reality-distorting chemicals and the challenge of summoning a stranger in a car in the wee hours when even unlocking your phone (with a “weird number riddle”) is a near-insurmountable challenge. Not just the wee sharp nasal exhalation of breath that we often endow with that acronym, but actual belly laughs that serve to dispel tension that we may or may not be aware we are carrying deep in our souls. Her decision to face every fear she has in one weakness-defeating overnight masterplan had me literally lol’ing. I doubt it though, and the genius of these books is to make us all feel less alone in that.īrosh’s long dark night of the soul is, for me, the highlight of Solutions and other Problems. I might be the only person who has a constant internal monologue that is predominantly utter nonsense interspersed with “why is my brain DOING this?”. Brosh has an unerring ability to juxtapose the worst of what the universe can do to us with the ridiculous pathos of life’s minutiae. The middle portion of the book is The Serious Bit, covering some of the life stuff mentioned above. You may not see much potential in there for humour, but somehow Brosh simmers this unholy soup into a gorgeously reassuring door-stopper of a book that covers everything from becoming your own best friend to a debilitating fear of dandelions. Since Hyperbole and a Half, and throughout Solutions, we discover that a divorce, the suicide of her sister, the divorce of her parents, and a new relationship is just some of what kept Brosh incognito for 6+ years. The new book covers an even greater diversity of life experience than the first.
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