Author: Allie Brosh
# of Pages: 513 (hardback)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Adult, Autobiography
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: 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.
Review: I wanted to like this book, but I just didn't enjoy it.
This is something I picked up on a whim - I haven't read Brosh's first book, Hyperbole and a Half, nor have I heard of these books before. I was picking up a different non-fiction book from the library and saw this on a recently-returned cart, standing out amongst all the boring travel guides. The book blurb was simply "this is a book," which was hilarious enough for me to check it out without further investigation.
Despite the thickness of the book, it's a very quick read due to it being mostly pictures. I was able to complete it in one sitting, although it felt like much longer than it should have taken had I enjoyed it. Brosh claims that this book, much like life, has no point. This is mostly correct - this book is a stream of consciousness loosely tied to loneliness and death. The lack of focus would be fine if not for two things: I was not entertained and hearing about these random thoughts/experiences felt like a waste of time.
Reminiscent of Diary of the Wimpy Kid or Dear Dumb Diary, this book might have been more appealing to a younger audience. The lack of focus here (and lack of substantial things HAPPENING on this book at all) is what makes it struggle to be a successful book. I can imagine this being a webtoon or some brainless content to doomscroll through, but not something worth the effort to sit down and "read."
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