Name: Sang Park's review of Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh
Item: Solutions and Other Problems
Rating: 4
Author: Sang Park

Allie Brosh

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 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. Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh’s childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life. This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features all-new material with more than 1,600 pieces of art. Solutions and Other Problems marks the return of a beloved American humorist who has “the observational skills of a scientist, the creativity of an artist, and the wit of a comedian” (Bill Gates). Praise for Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half: “Imagine if David Sedaris could draw….Enchanting.” —People “One of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.” —Marc Maron “Will make you laugh until you sob, even when Brosh describes her struggle with depression.” —Entertainment Weekly “I would gladly pay to sit in a room full of people reading this book, merely to share the laughter.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “In a culture that encourages people to carry mental illness as a secret burden….Brosh’s bracing honesty is a gift.” —Chicago Tribune

Solutions and Other Problems

Sang Park

Gelaine Trinidad

You should read this if you need a loving embrace, a feeling of validation in these lonely times, or if you want to cycle through crying and laughing at the turn of a few pages. Allie Brosh's humour can be so poignant and relatable. Similar to her first book, this one also contains funny stories about her previous pets and other childhood adventures. There were some truly sad moments in her life that recently occurred in her past, and she talks about this in her own unique and quirky way.

The existential and philosophical parts in this graphic novel can make one feel seen—especially one that dabbles on the concept of nihilism once in awhile. She writes about her own absurdities and weird thoughts; and she expands to equally nonsensical actions humans make every day. More importantly, what I truly love about Allie Brosh's work is her ability to talk about mental health. It's hard to explain feelings of depression and anxiety to someone, but she does it so well and in such a simple way.

This is not to say battling mental health is easy, but she at least gives readers the benefit of the doubt by saying it's possible to live with it. She talks about being supportive and loving to yourself. These are things we've all heard once or twice before, but she does this in a way that makes you believe those clichés are more than words. I thank Allie Brosh for being strong and brave enough to share her life with us after years of being on hiatus (no thanks to the added grief, loneliness, and heartaches she experienced).

My heart goes out to you, Allie.

Sarah Sammis

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh is the follow up to Hyperbole and a Half, a book that came out of a webcomic of the same name. Originally this second book was expected the next year or so but health problems and other random life events prevented that from happening. If you're curious, the author has been sharing a digital collage of what happened in those seven years on Facebook.

Like the previous book, Solutions and Other Problems is an exploration of life events and her ongoing struggle to figure out social interactions and other things. It also goes into some of the awful stuff she experienced between books, some which started just as the previous book was launching.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Absolutely amazing. Laughed so hard in the first few chapters that my boyfriend and I ended up reading it out loud nightly. 

Katie Buchanan

Julie Burszan 

Funny and poignant. Also very large and good for fending off attackers.

Lara Engle

Hilarious, sad, relatable, and still hilarious

matej yangwao

** spoiler alert **
           A few nuances inside are definitely worth a smile
An interesting takeaway is to learn to live on your own terms with your very first friend, yourself.

>The scariest thing about decisions is that you don't know where they will lead until you try.

≥The dreaming process works like medicine where we are our own doctors.

≥When you're in full-on rage-ejection mode, there is nothing more infuriating than a reasonable point.

>If everything around seems meaningless to you, keep moving forward — looking back, you will see that there has always been meaning.

>If you cannot win, change the game to score more points.

>The situation in which you are trying to act at ease turns you into the strangest eccentric in the world.

 >Hans Christian Andersen forgot to add that sometimes time passes, and you remain weird-looking.

>If you consider yourself a strange person, there will always be someone looking for a friend like you.

>All the best stories of her life happened through interactions. They may be funny, sad, or weird — but they were always full of life.

>Experiencing real loneliness for the first time is like realizing the only thing you've ever loved is your home planet after migrating to the moon.

>After deliberation, Brosh decided to become her own friend. At first, this idea seemed creepy and looser-like, but she had a significant advantage — this friend was always nearby. So how do you make friends with yourself?

>You learn how to manage friendship from the very beginning of life because your first friend is yourself.

Sarah Schumacher

No other comic artist has the ability to make me laugh so hard I’m crying—at dog and cat illustrations. The stories are the icing on the cake, but her MS Paint drawings? Just masterful. This book is existential, dealing with more serious subjects than you might expect.

Gavin

Just glorious, a cracked mirror. I can’t think of any other cartoonist who can make me laugh without words, who assumes the mantle of slapstick. But on top of that she cuts very deep into the weirdness of things, the tears of things.

The book is also large: 25 stories where 10 would have been marketable, people would’ve bought that.

After years I finally understand why she’s so funny: she depicts herself, all of us, as animals. Bug-eyed, chaotic, mechanical, inexplicable, barely in control of this great noble and ignoble body.

It may be the best depiction of humans as confused, out-of-distribution animals in all of pop culture.

Belle

Classic Allie Brosh. Easy to read, fun, and really funny in some parts.

Callie Anna

Cindy Lieberman

I struggled to read this on my Kindle more than a year ago - a black-and-white Kindle with no real zoom ability is not the ideal platform - so I was thrilled to win a giveaway copy of Solutions and Other Problems in hardcover. This is a 500+ page, very heavy book with thick pages and color illustrations. Either it is a newly expanded edition, or I simply forgot a number of the chapters and images from reading it on the Kindle. Some great stuff in here, even on re-reading, - especially for dog lovers, anyone who has been in a relationship that went bad, anyone who was a weird kid, the sibling of a weird kid, or had weird neighbor kids, etc. The author deals with some significant life issues including a cancer scare, her sister's suicide, and her feelings of isolation and depression. Some topics went on a little long, such as her "field trip" exercise to conquer fear, but many others were just brilliant in their ability to capture emotion in their brief text and artwork. I found myself flagging multiple chapters to share with others. The newer artwork featured smeared colors in some panels - an unwelcome departure from the simpler line drawings in her first book and in most of this one. I'm not opposed to digital art, but the author needs to become more proficient so it adds to rather than detracts (and distracts) from the book.

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. Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh’s childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life. This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features all-new material with more than 1,600 pieces of art. Solutions and Other Problems marks the return of a beloved American humorist who has “the observational skills of a scientist, the creativity of an artist, and the wit of a comedian” (Bill Gates). Praise for Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half: “Imagine if David Sedaris could draw….Enchanting.” —People “One of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.” —Marc Maron “Will make you laugh until you sob, even when Brosh describes her struggle with depression.” —Entertainment Weekly “I would gladly pay to sit in a room full of people reading this book, merely to share the laughter.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “In a culture that encourages people to carry mental illness as a secret burden….Brosh’s bracing honesty is a gift.” —Chicago Tribune

Sheila

YOU GUYS.

I read this in one go yesterday after I had let it sit in my house for a few weeks as I had preordered a copy for myself but I had library books to go through first. After 7 whole ass years, I genuinely didn't know if Allie Brosh would come back again but I am so incredibly thrilled that she decided to resurface in (of all years) 2020.

The amount of existential despair, fear and genuine suffering she has gone through and expresses in this book is very appropriate for the year that we have had, and I'm so glad that we have someone like Allie to help us get through it with a bit of humour. I laughed so hard at a ton of her stories (I'm still not over the knitting pirate one), but the Serious Part is a Very Intense experience.

The only let down for me personally is that her art in this book won't become iconic memes like her earlier blog posts purely because they're only available in this printed format. So much of what's in here is gold.

Caroline Lewicki

I really loved "Solutions and Other Problems." Some of the chapters made my heart hurt a little but just about every one had me laughing and thinking "yeah, I know that feeling." Some of my absolute favorite stories were "Neighbor Kid" and especially "Cat." If you like graphic novels and little humorous anecdotes, this is a must read.

Rose Stanley

Me, ordering this book: YES ANOTHER ALLIE BROSH GIMME
Me, starting this book: Ah yes, I forgot how utterly weird Allie Brosh is
Me, partway through Chapter 10: WELL THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY : ( : ( : (
Me, finishing this book: ...
Me, after rereading: So...I think Brosh wrote this book more for herself than anyone else. 

Which...I get it TBH

I don't think I can honestly say I liked this book, but that's hardly Brosh's fault; she's writing about various absurdities in her life, some positive, some negative, some just horrendous...it's inevitable I'm not going to connect with most of them.

Chulandon leanday Bradley 

I think that this book touches on some good topics close to the end. I also like the art work done in the book and think it was refreshing to see such a big book with that many pictures in it ,but I was just hoping for more when I first looked up this book to read I saw it was classified in humor. While some parts were humorous I was just expecting more funny moments.

Lewis John Fisher

b.andherbooks

I've been waiting for this book for so long, and I don't think it could have come at a more perfect (or needed) time. Allie Brosh opened my eyes with Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened so many years ago, and while this tome is definitely tinged with more darkness, it a worthy successor.

Now that I'm a mother to two of my own impetuous children who, while not probably quite on the "Richard" level of creepy, definitely give me a run for my money and sanity a lot of the days. Seeing an adult unpack their childhood in this way really helps me be a better parent to them. We'll all be okay I hope.

I'm so glad I bought this for my keeper shelf. I'll be returning to it often.

Katie

I've been a fan of Allie Brosh's since the dawn of time (or the dawn of the Internet), so Solutions and Other Problems was a real treat to read. I found a lot of the stories in the book genuinely hilarious, with my favorite being about her childhood neighbor, Richard. I only find myself wishing that she could've written more for some of her stories--they sometimes cut off rather abruptly. Overall, a great pick-me-up and a wonderful book. Will continue to be on the lookout for more work by her in the future.

Jeremy Cote

This book was definitely just as good as the first. Again, it had a combination of levity and depth that I found myself wondering how Brosh was able to fit the two so perfectly well together. The writing is great, and the mileage she gets out of her drawings is unbelievable. Well worth a read.

Sang Park &
Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

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