Solutions and Other Problems

CW: sudden death of family member, divorce, death of a petA lot has happened in the world, and in Allie Brosh's life, since the mind-bending [b:Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened 17571564 Hyperbole and a Half Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened Allie Brosh https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409522492l/17571564.SY75.jpg 24510592] was published. She has several suffered traumatic losses that kept her out of the public eye, while at the same time the world went to hell in a handbasket. So how does another collection of her unique cartoons and intense self-reflection feel in 2020? At first I thought the book was weaker than its predecessor. The stories about dogs and kids seemed less developed and funny than the ones in Hyperbole. And hey, we are dealing with so many more important things these days than one person's neuroses. Then I got to the chapter entitled “Losing” that explained what happened to her immediately after Hyperbole became an unexpected bestseller, and my heart broke. Suddenly I saw her stories through a new lens, and they became so much more impactful and meaningful. Brosh is all about trying to figure out why weird or bad things happen, and how to find meaning in a seemingly cruel, random universe. And you can't get much more cruel and random than the events of 2020. So her observations are at once very personal and extremely universal. The best we can do is to just keep on going and to be nice to everyone, especially ourselves. Or as she puts it, “if you can't win, start playing a different game and score just as many points.” So in the end, I still don't think this book has quite the same impact as her first one, but Hyperbole was such an out of left-field surprise blockbuster that it would have been hard to top. I hope Brosh has smoother sailing from her on. We need her.