Solutions and Other Problems

 Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh (2020) 518 pages

The first time I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. (I did not know yet that the author is a popular blogger who had disappeared from the electronic world for some years as her health and personal life suffered.) One thing I learned by delving in, is that graphic lit, as used by Allie Brosh, is a medium that causes me dueling feelings: On the one hand, her drawings are whimsical and adorable. However, these whimsical drawings are sometimes used to depict intense subject matters, such as looking back at relationships that have ended, loneliness, even death. In such chapters, Brosh shows her vulnerable side and I ache for her. But then those chapters are juxtaposed with bonkers, off-the-wall humor in other chapters, humor that just gets weirder and weirder as it plays out.

The animals she draws, along with her descriptions of them, are especially realistic and sweet, rather different from the strange portrayals she makes of herself. Very effective use of drawings and words—you can't help but feel like you know her after reading this book.