Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

Allie Brosh has changed the internet, and all for the better. Her blog, Hyperbole and A Half, is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to internet humour. By combining acerbic wit and wonderfully ‘amateur’ MS Paint drawings, Brosh has created some of the best comedy on the internet. If you’ve ever seen the “All the Things!” meme, you’ve been impacted by Allie’s work. I’ve been keeping tabs on the blog since I first found out about it a couple of years ago. There was a time when Allie updated regularly; after a while, there was a big stretch of time when she didn’t. The reason for the gap in posts is that she was struggling against depression – and when she did update, she posted what is one of the best ways that people can understand what it’s like for those with depression. Her “Adventures in Depression” and “Depression Part 2” make for seriously compelling reading. That’s the beauty of her writing – it details intensely personal struggles intermixed with sweet humour and a real zaniness to which practically everyone can relate. Once you add in the professional amateurism of her drawings, its difficult to start reading her work without finishing ALL the posts. The same is true for the book. I was reticent to start reading it at 1am, because I knew that it was something I wouldn’t be able to put down before I finished the entire thing. Of course, I was right – I read the entire book before going to sleep. As it’s a mixture of some previously published work and never-before-seen stories, I figured that I would have a leg up on finishing it because I’d read some of it before. I ended up re-reading the stories I’d read before, so that was entirely not the case! It was well worth it, because even in the work I’d seen before there were some moments when I was struggling not to laugh out loud and wake my wife. In fact, I had to get up and get out of bed at one point because I was laughing so hard that I really thought that despite the Tempurpedic mattress’ inability to transfer kinetic energy that she might wake up terrified there was an earthquake. I really can’t recommend this book enough. Buy it, and make Allie Brosh deservedly rich!

I got the book this morning, and as I was hobbled by pain from an ACL surgery and unable to take painkillers because they would make me loopy at work, instead I read this all day. (Shhhhh. It is okay. I also helped customers.) There are a million things I love about this book, but I can start with the fact that each chapter is printed on different-colored pages than the ones on either side of it, which makes the book look like a rainbow when it is closed. A RAINBOW, GUYS. The Depression chapters (previously published on her blog) are revelations to those who have experienced depression and touchstones of understanding for those who have not. The Dog chapters are hilarious to both dog-lovers and cat-lovers (AKA dog haters). The chapters that peek into her childhood make me wish I remembered anything about my life before I was twelve. But you know what? I'm going to take a page from this book, and just imagine that my childhood was just as fantastical, wild, revelatory, unintentionally hilarious, and unique. Yes, there are a few chapters that are repeats from the blog. Sadly, the fish incident did not make it... that one is still my favorite. But the ones that did make it are definitely worth the re-read. Also, the majority of the book is new material, including some introspective chapters ("Thoughts and Feelings" and the two-part "Identity" chapters). Those, to me, were the best ones of the whole book. I love that the author is so freaking honest (can you swear on Amazon? Imma go with no) about EVERYTHING. She holds this mirror up to her guiding principles and then picks everything apart until she's left with this uncivilized and selfish husk, which she then covers up in a sparkly jumpsuit to make it all better. WHICH IS SOMETHING WE ALL DO. We're all basically uncivilized and selfish. But this author has the guts to admit it. YOU ARE BRAVE, ALLIE. YOU ARE. I feel strangely proud of the author for producing this book. Proud like a father, even though she is no relation to me and I have never really met her. I want to give her all the gold stars possible. If there were more than five available for this review, I would have gone with more than five. All the way up to eleventy. Buy this book. Read it. Go read the blog. Re-read everything. Then buy the book for your friends.

I was a huge fan of Hyperbole and A Half, the blog, back when the only internet connection I had was 40kbps dialup (on a good day), coming from a laptop with a duct taped case, flickering screen, two missing keys, and a USB dongle modem to replace the original which got fried by lightning. Back then, I would wait a small eternity for each image to load and lean in, squinting at the dying screen, just to laugh at the entertaining and relatable content. Back then, I couldn't afford the book, and as with most meme-like things it faded to the back of my mind leaving only the "ALL the things!" meme in its place. At some point between then and now, my best friend related a story from this very book - one of her favourite books of all time - to me in order to explain that I wasn't alone in how I handled my depression and how frustrating I found others' responses to it. In the story, Allie (the author) explains that the empty lack of joy caused by depression is akin to having a dead fish. Everyone keeps telling her to just try not having dead fish or reassuring her that someday she'll have not-dead fish, completely ignoring that she is upset that her fish are dead and refusing to acknowledge that they cannot just be magically resurrected. All she wants is for someone to just acknowledge that the fish are dead and understand that having dead fish sucks. That story resonated with me, and for roughly a year, I used the metaphor to let my friend know when I was feeling depressed but not looking for magic fixes - just comforting acknowledgment. Eventually, it faded from mind, replaced by more modern references or direct honesty. Then Allie's second book happened recently. I pre-ordered it on that very same best friend's urging and absolutely loved the experience. Allie's art is so charmingly expressive even in its simplicity and she writes about things which make me feel far less alone in how I experience the world. I was excited to have everything I remembered loving about the blog in a modern book. When I related this to my friend, she bought me this book and I was overjoyed to have more of the same - I hadn't even remembered this existed! So, here I am, having just finished reading Hyperbole and A Half, the ebook rather than the blog, on a lovely flagship phone with a beautiful screen... in a format which makes me squint and lean in to read the pictures, on a mediocre wifi connection, through a router which was purchased to replace one that got fried by lightning. Some things never change. Or perhaps, they shift a bit in ways which remain achingly familiar. The relatability of the fish story is one such thing... and the urge to meme "ALL the things!" once again is also quite strong. That said, however, I wish I had read the books in order. This one is slightly dated in the language choices and in my opinion Allie has grown significantly as an author in her newer book, Solutions And Other Problems, which made it feel a bit like I was reading a regression in this order. The relatability and entertainment values are still very much there, but some stories drag too long and others are very clearly written from an early-2010s perspective. For example, in a story about discovering that one of her dogs is developmentally challenged, Allie refers to the dog's apparent lack of mental acuity by saying her dog might be r*t**ded [censored for Amazon; written fully in the book]. I couldn't help but cringe at this, even though she was using the term in a literal, pseudo-medical sort of assessment and this was written before we as a society came to the conclusion that the word needs to be avoided for all its harmful associations. It only happens in a single chapter, after which she refers to this dog as "the simple dog," but even that feels a little unpleasant. Everything else, however - even when the stories drag on longer than they should - is great. There are interesting, entertaining, heartbreaking, fascinating, relatable, and hilarious things in relatively proportionate doses. Allie's narrative voice is as conversational and smooth as listening to a good friend talk to you at a social gathering, creating a sense of camaraderie despite the obvious barrier created by being total strangers. Even the stories about "the simple dog" and the other dog adopted to be her companion are fun, especially when the dynamic between them is explored. As with the sequel book, I found the mental health issues extremely relatable. Much like Allie describes in this book, I also beat myself up internally every time life with depression makes simple tasks difficult... and then get even more demotivated by the self hatred, creating a perpetual cycle of uselessness. I imagine many people with clinical depression can relate. Additionally, I enjoyed the bits about self image and having intrusive thoughts. Here, Allie explains how she struggles with self-loathing because she wants to do bad things (like kick sand at people or make fun of people) but chooses not to because she wants to be a better person. For her, it's difficult to reconcile the realization that she has the potential to be a bad person with the effort she expends to make sure she's not. It's a refreshingly honest exploration of human nature, self image, and the existential crises caused by the places where those things don't quite properly align. It's also the source of my favourite quote in the book: "...so, you'd rather know the truth and be mad?" / "No. I want the truth to be different." That feels oddly timeless and appropriate to many situations, especially this year. Overall, I think this book deserves 4.5 stars, but we're still stuck in a world without half-star ratings on Amazon, so I'm going to round it down to properly indicate that I feel it's not quite as good as the sequel which I gave five stars. I enjoyed it and I'm sad that it's over because I want so much more from this author. The format and voice are so unique, I'm not sure I'll be able to find anything else of the sort - at least not easily. But, hey, at least I feel a little less alone in how I experience the world, now. And I both got some good laughs and a chance to enjoy my best friend's favourite book. I'd say that's very much a win.

I've been following Allie Brosh's blog for a while now (the incomparable Jenny Lawson recommended her) and I've been anxiously awaiting the release of her book. I waited so long for her book, that I actually forgot about the release date; hence, I bought and read this book a few months after its release. If you're familiar with Allie's blog, her book will make complete sense to you. Her writing is peppered with awesomely terrible illustrations. At first, I found the illustrations distracting. The more I read Allie's blog, though, the more they grew on me. So much so, that by the time I read her book, I found myself looking forward to her pictures. They are dark humor at its best, with a simple kind of attraction, and they complement her writing to a tee. Allie writes openly about depression and her experiences with it. The way she describes her feelings (or lack thereof) while depressed is the most honest and relatable description of depression I've ever read. I found myself nodding my head so many times while reading Hyperbole and a Half. Allie shares so much about herself, and I found myself really relating to her. Her chapters on using fear and shame as motivators were some of my favorite parts of the book. The chapters on identity were also so intuitive, deep and real, that my eyes teared up in recognition and compassion. Hyperbole and a Half is also hilarious! I laughed so much that my cat jumped out of my lap in anger (I was doing the rare belly-laugh and it was shaking my cat, which infuriated her). I loved that Allie included so much humor in her book, right alongside the deeper chapters about depression. I read Hyperbole and a Half in one sitting, which is so rare for me these days: it was that good. I kept saying, "just one more chapter" until I looked up and the book was over. I immediately purchased a copy for a gift, and see myself giving this book as gifts in the future as well. I highly recommend Hyperbole and a Half!

"Hyperbole and a Half" by Allie Brosh is something of an edgy, animated "memoir" partly comprised of "stories about things that happened to me" and jam-packed with hilarious self-vitriol, profound dog thoughts, simplistic yet poignant "pictures," and yuks aplenty. Brosh presents her animated self as a frog-eyed imp with stick legs, stick arms, and a solid-colored, androgynous torso. A teensy, meandering triangular yellow hat juts out from atop her head. Her pliable, expressive mouth sometimes stretches across her entire amoebic-shaped head. It is absolutely remarkable what she does with so little. A primitive personification, in a way, but, so damm telling. And, adding to the yuks, pitch perfect timing between her set-ups and their ensuing picture(s). I got to a point where I was almost cheating (okay, I cheated one, or ten times) by sneaking a peek at the next picture(s) while reading the preceding text. Many of her best set-ups are on a preceding odd page so that one has to flip to the next page before seeing the panel delivering the pictorial punch line. Pure comedic, and graphics layout, genius. Dog, and cat, lovers should laugh their asses off. Dog-lovers because the frustrating actions of Simple Dog (who is slightly retarded) and Helper Dog (pear bear, part psychopath) evoke a familiar spectrum of mischievous, destructive canine behavior that will remind them of their problematic canines. Cat lovers (dog haters?) because Brosh spares no quarter debasing her dogs, and their profound lack of common sense, throughout the book, but with specific venom in the chapter entitled "Dogs' Guide to Understanding Basic Concepts." One basic concept she believes Simple Dog should readily grasp: DO NOT eat bees. But, he does. All the time, and pays the price, every time. That neither dog exercises any restraint when it comes to bark-wailing in response to any noise, well, Brosh can only wonder why, "Are you trying to scare it?" (One might wonder, about Brosh, "Why dogs? Why not cats, or paperweights?") It is also worth noting the physical product--the hardcover book, anyway--is quite lavish, with white and pastel-colored pages delineating one chapter from the next; pages that have the look and feel of poster board. (I think I could throw the hardcover through a wall.) Well done, Ms. Brosh, and Simon& Shuster!!! If you, as I do, share Ms. Brosh's dark, vibrant sense of humor, check out my collection of humorous stories, "Turn Up The Heat, I'm Thinking!"

I'm happy that this book exists. If I had known about the blog, like millions of other people, before the book came out I would have been happy that it had existed. But I didn't. Who knew there was good stuff out there on the interwebs? I couldn't believe how much I was actually laughing out loud at the first story when she finds a letter from her ten year old self to her older self and then responds with writing letters to various aged younger versions of herself. This is literally (and I mean literally, literally here) the most I've ever laughed at something in a book. A few of the later stories I was not a huge fan of, but they didn't do much to diminish my overall enjoyment of the book. Eight days after reading the book I can't even remember which ones those were. In my memory they are all great, so yay s***ty memory! I love mixing genres. You can't be all about the serious stuff (well, you could, but you'll be a victim of a massive dullness, and that's fine by me). I love humor and I'm so glad I find books like this one, once in a while. People often think it's easy to write a funny book. Well, it's not. It's not like putting a bunch of stupid words all together. And believe me, I read one of those and that's not how it works. Well, for me, at least. These people seem to be clever, witty, charming. All things I can only imagine, but I'm guessing that's how they are (?) If they're not, don't tell me. Do not kill my illusion. Anyway, this book has funny anecdotes and hilarious drawings. You can look at this picture with some random sentence next to it, and still can't help a good laugh, no matter how serious that sentence is meant to be. An overwhelming excitement . (Kind of my reaction when entering an old-looking library.)

Allie Brosh writes with a manic sadness, the kind of clear voice that is still looking for what exactly it's supposed to say. Hyperbole and a Half has always taken the awkward and the uncomfortable and turned it into comedy; one of the early articles on the website suggested self-immolation after a conversational faux pas. In translation from website to book, the slant has gone more towards the terror of realizing that life doesn't make any sense. Galloping insanity with her two idiotic dogs eventually leads to chapters on what it's like to feel nothing in the grips of depression. (These more serious sections are color-coded so that readers may be warned ahead of time. It's a neat trick that also makes the binding more attractive.) The simplistic--often childlike--drawings are funny, but they also play into the larger point of Ms. Brosh's stories. The subtitle "unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, and other things that happened" sums it up perfectly: Allie doesn't have it quite figured out yet, where "it" is "how to be a functional human" and "quite" is "no one does and if you do you're lying." She draws herself as a pointy-headed caricature no matter if she's a girl or a woman in the story, always shown in this same crude and rudimentary shape. She's still grasping at meaning, still attempting to figure out what she's supposed to do. Every story in the book starts with the universal idea that everyone else has figured out the thing you're still very bad at: moving, training your dog, speaking in public, not eating all the cake. We're all in unfortunate situations. We're all screwing up our coping mechanisms. We're all still figuring it out. In her very personal stories Allie Brosh speaks to that age-old feeling that we're always screwing up. Maybe there's nothing we're "supposed" to say. Maybe we're just supposed to make the best of it, screw up, and then laugh about it later. Hyperbole and a Half is the best testament to simply muddling through. We may hate ourselves, we may struggle to get there, we may have our minds betray us and all of our plans go to seed. But we survive through all the things that happen. For those who have struggled with depression, for those who need reminding that we're all imperfect, or for those who just want to laugh a lot, Hyperbole and a Half is highly recommended.

A few years ago, I received this book as a gift after adding it last minute to the Christmas list after I read a review about it. I had never heard of Brosh or her blog, so I really didn't have any expectations other than to be amused. And I was amused -- the essays (chapters? sections? rants?) on motivation and the goose incident were really funny, and even though I wouldn't say I'm really a dog person, the dog stories gave me a few snort out loud moments -- anyone who owns a dog can relate. If you're not a dog lover, you will get tired of the dog stories, which take up considerable space. The drawings are quirky and were a good addition to the book, though there were some times when they seemed random and didn't really line-up with the writing. Then again, that's really a metaphor for Brosh's life & writing and what makes her/it real. There was a poignant essay about the author's struggle with depression, and I understand now that it is part of what springboarded (yes, I made-up a word) her into the limelight. However, the numerous self-deprecating, look-how-screwed-up-and-superficial-I-am stories got a bit tedious. Even as she seems to be soul searching, she pounds the readers with her perceived shallowness and "s***iness," as she says, and that wasn't too funny. Depression is a heavy subject, so the book gets heavy and Brash doesn't hold back any punches. Yes, the main theme behind all the writings is depression, but the book lacks a continuous thread to hold it together, and it wasn't satisfying to go from still feeling an ache in my cheeks from smiling to reading something dark and a little uncomfortable. Maybe the thing to do would have been to take this in chunks instead of reading it straight through, but the last third of the book dragged a bit, so maybe take it in chunks but hop around. It is a very quick read and appears that the content is really straight from Brosh's blog, Hyperbole and a Half. My recommendation is to check-out the blog (and anything posted after 2013 would be material that's not covered in the book), and if it's your thing, then try the book. Brosh has a new book, Solutions and Other Problems, expected to publish in October, 2016, which is supposed to be all new material not posted on the blog. If you like this review, visit my blog Hall Ways for book views, reviews, and news you can use - or not.[...]

It is a fun read, I can see why it is popular. I can’t wait to read her 2nd book. I find it relatable, hilarious and such a comforting read: I wish it was a longer book! The page quality is top notch and the illustrations are cute!

Allie Brosh is the best human on the earth. Purchasing this you will assure yourself a better life. It isn't just silly comics. It so much more: if you let her soothe your mind with her funny little stories, you will find some kind of relief. I was having some bad times at the time i read this book and i felt so much better.

Leitura leve e divertida, adorei! Não conseguia parar de ler!

Muy recomendable.

Allie Brosh is some kind of genius. Her ability to express complex concepts and life situations-- using only her Macbook touchpad (!!!)-- is a testament to this fact. She succeeds where even literature has often failed, such as in accurately capturing profound depression and nailing animal psychology. This book included the best of the online blog, and added some instant classics. I was happy to find that they did not recycle some of the earlier blog entries which I never found to be at quite so high a standard. Unfortunately, the vibrant "MS Paint"-type colours did not translate well at all in this print edition, resulting in a dull aesthetic compared to viewing the comic on a computer monitor. This is clearly no fault of the author's, but slightly disappointing nevertheless. Well worth the wait to see the new entries, and to see that Allie is (hopefully!) doing better.