Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

[katekintailbc]

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and other Things That Happened
by Allie Brosh

I've enjoyed many strips on this author's website, so I've been wanting to read this book for a while now. I came across it at the library and knew this was my chance.

It did not disappoint. By page 3, I was laughing so hard the book shook and I could barely read it. By page 4, I was laughing so hard tears streamed down my face. This book had more than just a humorous look at incidents in the author's life. It had things so crazy they couldn't possibly be true--but were! It had heartfelt observations about the author's experiences and personality. It had adorable (albeit kind of crazy) dogs. What more could you want from a book? With a range of essays from "The God of Cake" to "Adventures in Depression" this book really did have everything.

Each essay was portrayed in words and illustrations in Allie's unique style. Some of the essays have appeared on her website, but most were new-to-me. So it was a fun read to get to know her better as well as be entertained. I especially liked the stories about her dogs and the one about the attack goose. OMG!

FROM THE AUTHOR:
This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative—like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it—but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book:
Pictures
Words
Stories about things that happened to me
Stories about things that happened to other people because of me
Eight billion dollars*
Stories about dogs
The secret to eternal happiness*

*These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!