Book Review: Hyperbole and a Half

Back in August I wrote about the 11 books I couldn’t wait to read once I finished the current series I’m reading.

Well, I started that series back in May, and I’m still not done. Womp.

So, I cheated and read one of those books in the mean time.

I have a free trial to Scribd, and one of the first books I noticed was Hyperbole and a Half.

It was only 391 iPhone-6-sized pages, most of which were cartoons. So what the heck.

It only took me two days, most of which was short five-minute breaks at work and while Stanley was chewing on a bone.

The author, Allie Brosh, started sharing her artistically crude drawings about her life on her blog of the same name in 2009. The book is a compilation of her best comics, as well as some new material.

It was a really quick, easy, and fun read. I hadn’t read most of her blog posts before, so none of it was repeat material for me.

I can definitely say I’m a fan now.

In addition to her humor, she’s also very real. Two of her chapters talk about her experience with depression and suicide.

These really connected with me, because I have my own experience with mental illness. I have bad anxiety, and take medication for anxiety and depression.

With such a social stigma against mental illness, it’s refreshing to hear about people who struggle with it just like I do.

And to hear it from someone who makes her living being funny? It really makes it seem conquerable.

She also talks about her struggle to find her own identity, and realizing that she is incredibly selfish. I connected so well with these chapters. Holy cow.

It made me uncomfortable how much I could identify with her selfishness. But it also made me laugh.

That’s how I feel about the entire book. It was a deep and complex book, told through humor and basic drawings. I really connected with it and would recommend it in a heartbeat.

Plus, hearing about how stupid her dogs are made me optimistic about Stanley’s future. At least he knows how to get out from under a blanket.

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