Solutions and Other Problems

By Allie Brosh

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

For the first time in seven years, Allie Brosh—beloved author and artist of the extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller Hyperbole and a Half—returns with a new collection of comedic, autobiographical, and illustrated essays.

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.

This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features all-new material with more than 1,600 pieces of art. Solutions and Other Problems marks the return of a beloved American humorist who has “the observational skills of a scientist, the creativity of an artist, and the wit of a comedian” (Bill Gates).

Praise for Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half:
“Imagine if David Sedaris could draw….Enchanting.” —People
“One of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.” —Marc Maron
“Will make you laugh until you sob, even when Brosh describes her struggle with depression.” —Entertainment Weekly
“I would gladly pay to sit in a room full of people reading this book, merely to share the laughter.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
“In a culture that encourages people to carry mental illness as a secret burden….Brosh’s bracing honesty is a gift.” —Chicago Tribune

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Release date: Sep 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781982156961

Allie Brosh

Allie Brosh is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Solutions and Other Problems and Hyperbole and a Half, which was named the Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Humor Book of the Year. Brosh has also given herself many prestigious awards, including “fanciest horse drawing” and “most likely to succeed.” Find out more at HyperboleandaHalf.blogspot.com.

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Cover: Solutions and Other Problems, by Allie Brosh

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Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh, Gallery Books

For Kaiti. There’s so much I wish I could have said to you.

Introduction: Balloon

I saw a balloon going 90 miles per hour.

It was tied to a truck, so there was an explanation for it, but I don’t know… I guess you still just never expect to see a balloon going that fast. Balloons aren’t designed for that. They aren’t aerodynamic enough. This one was wobbling all around in spastic little circles, making a sound like wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp-wp. It seemed genuinely out of control.

I was laughing so hard I had to pull over.

I feel just like that balloon.

1. BUCKET

The first time I can remember feeling truly powerless, I was three, and I was trapped sideways in a bucket in the garage.

The bucket belonged to my dad. He used it for washing the car.

I don’t remember exactly how or why this started, but through some contortion of childhood logic, I decided that I needed to get my entire body into the bucket.

The bucket had other plans.

Maybe I had something to prove. Maybe there was a compelling reason to need to be entirely inside the bucket that I don’t remember. But I couldn’t let it go. The fact that I couldn’t fit my whole body into the bucket infuriated me.

Initially, attempts were confined to car-washing days. Slowly, though, I sought out opportunities to make extracurricular assaults. I’d sneak into the garage by myself to try out different configurations.

That’s how I ended up alone in the garage trapped in the bucket.

When both my shoulders finally dropped below the bucket’s rim, I felt only the briefest flash of triumph before the sensation of being trapped kicked in.

I had done it: my entire body was in the bucket.

Except now, the only thing I wanted was to not be in there anymore.

No amount of thrashing could free me, but it did make the bucket tip over.

And suddenly, there I was—sideways, four limbs deep in a plastic car-wash bucket—only three years old, and already doomed to spend my life scooting around like the world’s saddest upside-down hermit crab.

This is not what I’d been trying to accomplish. I didn’t even realize it was possible. That’s the scary thing about decisions: you don’t know what they are when you’re making them.

Fortunately, it wasn’t permanent. I was rescued when my parents accidentally walked close enough to the garage to detect screaming.

And the bucket was relocated to a high shelf to prevent me from interacting with it.

It wasn’t enough.

The incident had only strengthened the drive to exert my will upon the bucket. I wouldn’t be content with anything less than total domination now. A bucket shouldn’t be able to stop a person, and I was willing to do whatever had to happen to prove it.

The only thing worse than getting trapped in the same bucket nineteen times is surrender.

Explanation

That was the first chapter. The second chapter is next. It is loosely related to the first, but this isn’t some perfectly sequential masterpiece of order where every segue makes sense.

For the sake of trust building, the third chapter will follow the second. But then we will jump directly to chapter five, do you understand? No chapter four. Why? Because sometimes things don’t go like they should. This is an inescapable property of reality, which we all must learn to accept. There just isn’t enough power in the universe for everybody to have all of it.

Anyway, the numbering structure will continue as normal thereafter. This was a charitable decision on my part, and we should take a moment to appreciate the fact that I did not explore the full extent of my power. And believe me, I could have. I could have made these chapters be any number I wanted. I could have invented a totally unrecognizable number system based on snake pictures. Shit, I could’ve called them all chapter 2 and refused to acknowledge that I did that.

But we are civilized, friendly people, and sometimes it is best to restrain ourselves.

2. RICHARD

For the first few years of my life, the only people I knew how to find lived in my house.

We had a neighbor, Richard. But Richard was quiet and rarely outside for long, so I didn’t know about him.

One afternoon, though, Richard went outside.

That’s how I found out about him.

I did not interact with Richard. I just saw him. He probably didn’t even know. He stood in his driveway for a minute or two and then went back into his house. But I saw him. I think that was the main thing.

It was very exciting. A person lives next to us! A person! He lives right there! And I SAW him! When will he go outside again? What else does he do? Does he know about Dad? Who is his friend? Does he like whales? Is his house the same as ours? Which room does his grandma live in?

Desperate to catch another glimpse of him, I’d lurk near the windows all day, just staring at his house.

I think I expected it to go somewhere. You can’t find out there’s a person living right next to you and then never get any answers. Maybe if you’re 100 years old and you know everybody, but not if you’re 3. Not when it’s the first stranger you know how to find. I just wanted to know more. Anything.

And this is as far as it would have been able to go if it wasn’t for the dog door.

My grandma usually supervised me while my parents were at work. She’d drink screwdrivers and do the crossword, I’d run around the house and do whatever. If she hadn’t seen me in a while, she’d check to make sure I still had all my fingers, but escaping wasn’t a big concern. The doors were locked. Just in case, there were jingle bells on the handles.

The dog door was the single weak point in the fortress.

The revolutionary impact the dog door had on my ability to observe Richard was second only to the discovery of Richard himself.

I was cautious at first.

I just wanted to get a little closer. Just a little. I’d sneak out through the dog door and go stare at his house from the edge of our driveway, hoping this would summon him. When it didn’t, I’d sneak a little closer. Maybe it’ll work if I stand in Richard’s driveway… or, actually, maybe I’ll just go over to this little window here and see what I can see…

I started sneaking out more frequently. I started sneaking out at night. And the fact that I was sneaking seems to suggest I might’ve been at least partially aware that this type of behavior should be a secret, but I don’t think I’d reached that crucial developmental point where you’re capable of recognizing how creepy you’re being.

However, on the night I found the cat door in Richard’s garage, even my undeveloped, fish-level brain could sense that a boundary was about to be crossed. A tiny, instinctual trace of doubt—the wisdom of my ancestors whispering through the ages: This might be too weird of a thing to do…

Of course, one of the main features of undeveloped, fish-level brains is poor impulse control, and before I could complete the thought, I was in Richard’s living room.

I hadn’t prepared

Reviews for Solutions and Other Problems

[Autumn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Do not read this book in public. You may laugh so hard and so wildly that everyone around becomes slightly concerned. Most sane people do not cackle loudly to themselves over and over again and then start bawling their eyes out only to begin cackling again. While sitting by themselves. And potentially falling off of the chair they are sitting on, at a table, by themselves. Look like a lunatic in your own home or at least in a park.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have nothing but admiration for someone who can illustrate the essential wierdness at the heart of humanity with such raw honesty, and make it both hilarious and relatable. It's also heartbreaking, but it's better not to dwell on that. I am particularly in love with the strange and terrible drawing style, which is so extraordinarily compelling. This book is a real gift to the universe.

[eklein86 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I laughed, I cried. This one was a bit more serious than Allie's prior book, but still very good.

[electrascaife · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't know why I waited so long to give Brosh a try but I'm so glad I finally have. Her weird is exactly my favorite kind, and this volume is equal parts weirdo hilarity and emotional punches to the gut. I *adored* it.

[dirt006-231082 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a good book and I like the art style. It's not all fluff and (just like the last one) she touches on serious topics such as depression, loneliness, a severe medical issue, and death. But there is SOME fluff and at least one story about a dog.

[ladyoflorien_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book, especially Chapter 2: Richard which made me laugh out loud.

[julesjones_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Back in 2013 Allie Brosh published a book compiling some of the posts on her very funny blog, capturing what it was like to be one of those Weird Kids and what the Weird Kid did as an alleged adult. There was supposed to be a sequel within a couple of years. Instead the blog went mostly dark, and the sequel didn't appear until 2020. There was a reason for this, and that reason makes the middle section of the book much sadder and darker than the first one. Brosh was very ill with endometriosis and nearly died, the publicity tour for the first book was while she was recovering from surgery, and it took her so long to recover from all the strain that she didn't make it home for Christmas. Then her sister died on New Year's Eve. Although it isn't spelt out in the book, it's clear from the phrasing of one single-sentence paragraph that it was suicide. Most of the book is once again laugh out loud, but there were two pages in this section which made me weep out loud.And yes, it is laugh out loud in most parts, from the silly stories like the strange case of the horse poop to the ruthless self-examination laying bare the weirdness that is daydreaming, and the things you would be very ashamed of should other people be able to see inside your head. There's a literal shaggy dog story, because the Simple Dog and the Helper Dog were followed in Brosh's life by the Pile Dog, who was a brown pile when lying down and bore a remarkable resemblance to an ambulatory shag pile rug when she stood up. Once again hyperbole is used to bring out the point of the underlying reality. It's mixed in with sadness, because that's what life's like; a mix of both. And it ends with a poignant story that demonstrates this. Brosh's life fell apart at some point after the first book came out, with her own divorce and the divorce of her parents, and for a period she lived alone with no companionship other than herself. As an act of self-preservation she learned how to be friends with herself, and this last section crystallises a theme that has run through both books - have compassion for yourself. The final page is full of hope and love for herself and for all the other people out there who feel like pointless little weirdos all alone.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So after liking Fun House so much I decided to try another graphic memoir (or perhaps "graphic essays" describes this book more accurately). The illustrations here are a lot less realistic than Bechdel's--Allie Brosh portrays herself as a rabbit-like creature with a stick-up pony tail (looking like a single rabbit ear) and goggley, frog-like eyes, no nose and a Kermit-like mouth. And there's lots more text than in Bechdel's work, usually not contained within the comic-like frames.I was totally drawn into this, and read it quickly. There is a lot about loneliness and human relationships. There's some funny, and totally accurate pieces about our relationships with dogs, and many acute observations about our fears and just how we live today. The book is supposedly comic, and I laughed out loud many times, but it's poignant and sad as well. There was a totally on-point piece about Allie having a minor disagreement with her husband in the grocery store, that escalated and escalated (over basically nothing), and ending with her shouting the ultimate insult to her husband: "You can never again buy bananas!" For some reason that really hit my funnybone.Her author description worried me a bit: "Allie Brosh lives as a recluse in her bedroom in Bend, Oregon. In recent years, she has become almost entirely nocturnal."Recommended.3 1/2 stars

[wishanem · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Allie Brosh is an incomparable artist. She's like the depressed clown Pagliacci telling the joke about himself on stage in a way that is actually funny. I wish her all peace and happiness, and if she never writes again I'll be glad for what she's done. If she does write more books, though, I will read all of them.

On this specific book:

I laughed loudly a few times, and chuckled a lot. Books almost never get me to do that.

I cried! Twice. That's even more unusual than the laughing. The sad bits in here are really very sad.

I read this book in two sittings, and when my memory of it has faded I look forward to reading it again.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

More disjointed and rambling than her first book, which she acknowledges and says is a reflection of the disjointedness and meaninglessness of life. Although she’s an engaging writer, and although what happened to her after her first book (serious health crises, both physical and mental) is affecting, I would probably stick with the first book.

[alanna1122 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Allie Brosh is so smart and funny. This book had a really strong, funny enjoyable first third and then it becomes a more serious. While I wish it could be more lighthearted, I can understand given her experiences of the past few years why it needs to be cathartic. Worth reading, but not easy or fast.

[lauriebrown54 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

We waited a long time for Allie Brosh’s second book, but it was worth the wait. She has presented us with 514 full color, glossy pages that share her unique look at the world with us. After her first book, Brosh went into a period of major depression, adding that to her long standing ADD (and, I believe, anxiety). This may have been triggered by her sister’s violent suicide, as well as escaping from an abusive relationship. This volume doesn’t have the manic hilarity of her first book; it’s deeper and more thoughtful. The humor is still there, though- the book starts with how, as a toddler, she got stuck inside a five gallon bucket- multiple times- because she became obsessed with getting completely inside it. The art has become a little more sophisticated, although her depictions of herself are the stuff of nightmares (seriously, no one is jointed that way, but it WORKS). She pokes fun at her mental health issues, dogs, relationships, family, everything. All of this is new material, as she hasn’t updated her blog in… forever. As someone with depression and anxiety myself, I relate to a lot of the things that have happened to her. I brought the book home in the middle of the afternoon, and finished at 2 in the morning because I didn’t want to stop turning pages- all 514 of them. Read this book!

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you haven't discovered the unique pleasures of Allie Brosh's unique view of the world, you're in for a treat. She has a great understanding for both children and dogs, a willingness to be unsparingly honest and she's really, really funny. Her latest book is a graphic collection of personal essays that range from childhood memories to some tragic events in her adult life to observations about dogs. Throughout, Brosh represents herself as a small, not quite human creature who wears hot pink and keeps her hair in a ponytail. Even in her essays about her life as an adult, she remains very small. It's an effective choice and it's remarkable how such a simply drawn character can display such a wide range of emotions. While some chapters packed more of a punch than others, all were excellent. If you're already familiar with [Hyperbole and a Half], you've probably already read this. And if you aren't, you are in for a treat.

[tytania-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very difficult to describe Allie Brosh if you've never seen her work. Take a look at the cover... that's her, the star of the show.I'll open up to a random-to-me page, the exact middle of the book. It's a series of panels depicting her and her little sister during memorable childhood moments. No text. Allie's sister ended up dying by violent suicide, so it's heavy. That, plus some serious health problems or her own, plus a divorce leaving her living a very reclusive life, plus her basic sad nihilism, form the basis of the (lack of) story.I feel I'm not doing a very good job of talking it up. It's an amazing piece of work.

[whatsmacksaid · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This thing gave me a lot of emotions—frankly more than I was ready to deal with—and there was some hysterical laughter and I might have also cried a little, but basically it’s a really good read.

[sparemethecensor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I would give the edge to her first book, but this is excellent too.

[atreic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So, I'm a huge hyperbole and a half fan. Which means I know Allie was commissioned to write a second book, and then got very depressed and the book took ages, but they clawed something together in the end anyway. This is exactly the book you would get given that. Where hyperbole and a half offered some sort of zany hope, this is a bit of an endless hole of bleakness. Stories of getting cancer. Stories of death of loved family members. Stories of suicide. Stories of divorce. Stories where the best warm fuzzy message she can manage is 'sometimes all you can really do is keep moving and hope that you end up somewhere that makes sense.'And yet somehow it is darkly funny, and the pages keep turning. And maybe it makes us all feel a bit less like a pointless little weirdo alone. Even if we are.

[emquixotic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the artwork a lot and there were a lot of very fun stories as well as very poignant stories. What was a miss for me were some of her philosophical world views she tried to get across--I wish she would try writing essays because I think if she expanded on her ideas in essay format we would all be in for a real treat.

[katehonig · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Allie Brosh's work & humor and I was happy to wait for this next book, and it did not disappoint. A little less straight-out humor than her last book, and a lot more emotional depth.

My 4 year old daughter said she loved the cover because it looks like a "friendly frog/bunny who feels sad".

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Using the same photoshop illustrations and blocks of texts to tell stories from her life as she did in Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh reflects on a variety of topics from her weird childhood obsession with a neighbor to more serious topics with a health scare and her sister's death. For some reason this one didn't work quite as well for me as the first one - I had some belly laughs at the beginning, gut punches in the middle, and then it just sort of... petered out for me. I'm not sure if it was my mood or the book, but I just didn't connect to the stories and had moments of feeling uncomfortably awkward at moments I thought she wanted me to laugh.

[montzaleew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another funny book!Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh is so terrific! I loved the first book and this one is just as good! Laugh out loud funny in spots to deep heart warming in others. Loved the clever and hilarious cartoons graphics! The cartoons alone are quite a hoot!

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My reading has been way down this year (that memorable year 2020). Just finished Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh. If you're in a reading slump, I think this book will help. And if you are feeling lonely and isolated, it will help you feel less alone in that. The last story, "Friend," really got me where I live. The two "Pile Dog" stories and "The Ugly Duckling 2" were hilarious, but I enjoyed the whole book.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I loved Hyperbole and a Half, but this follow-up stumbled too much for me.I enjoyed the first 150 pages pretty well despite a long and useless (day)dream sequence, but then the blocks of teeny-tiny typeset text started multiplying in frequency and size during a nothing story about cross-country skiing and arguments. More and more little words saying nothing much of anything. And then I started gritting my teeth every time those blocks came back throughout the rest of the books.After the touching tribute to her sister, the silly stories about pets seemed listless, the sequence about getting high and getting lost was actively annoying, and the rest of the book meandered until the last forty pages devolved to sheer unreadable nonsense.Brosh is definitely a talent to watch, but this outing just did not succeed for me.

[mickyfine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A new collection of graphic essays (I'm making up terms now) from Brosh recounting tales from her childhood as well as her more recent experiences. As with [Hyperbole and a Half] where Brosh didn't hesitate to mix her hysterical anecdotes alongside more serious material about her struggles with depression, the same is true here. Mixed in between tales that had me laughing so hard my abs hurt are reflections on the devastating events that have happened in the years between Brosh's last book and this one including divorce, major health scares, and the death of a family member. Expect plenty of her "bad Microsoft paint" drawings alongside her unique take on life. Fans of her previous writing will be delighted to dive into more.

[lisa2013_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read a Kindle e-edition borrowed from the library due to the continuing pandemic and my branch library is not one of the branches that has opened for borrowing paper books.I’ve been waiting for this second book for year. I loved the first book by this author/illustrator, [book:Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened|17571564]. (I have gone to her blog and also thoroughly enjoyed it.) This book wasn’t exactly what I’d been expecting which was autobiographical, mostly hilarious, sometimes poignant cartoon stories. TThis book was a lot more autobiographical stories, illustrated with cartoons and overall was a lot less amusing. There were some star funny stories, but there was more sadness than humor. Tragic stuff. That would have been fine with me as I enjoy that sort of narrative, even though I was reading it along with a heavy content children’s novel and expected to go to this book for some comic relief, which is did not provide. That’s not the reason I’m not giving this book 5 stars though and why I only liked it and did not love it. I found it to be full of filler, a lot of filler, in places one drawing after another with very little text for them. The book was uneven as there were parts where I laughed out loud and parts where I felt emotionally involved, though the latter not as much as I would have expected. I think it was because what information there was superficial. Yes, that is [author:Allie Brosh|6984726]’s right but I wanted and needed more. I wanted a lot more about her sister and I wanted more about her too. As far as being uneven, it didn’t help that for me the book started out fairly strong but its last parts were weak. I do love this line: “Having to be personally responsible for maintaining justice in the world is distressing. It makes it seem like maybe there’s something wrong at the Universal Fairness and Balance Department. Like maybe the higher-ups have lost control and they need help.”While I feel a bit disappointed, especially given the extremely long wait, I’m glad I read this and I will read/view anything else by this author/illustrator. I guess for this collection I needed either more humor or more depth and details for the serious stories. I did like it though.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The long awaited and much anticipated follow-up to Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half. This one follows the same format, interspersing text and illustrations that feature Allie herself as a crudely drawn cartoon figure. As with the first one, there are depictions of mishaps from her childhood, incidents from her adulthood, tales of depry pets, and ponderings on her own dysfunction and weirdness. There's also a very serious chapter -- it's labeled "the serious part" -- in which she talks a bit about a very bad time in her life, in which she had to deal with scary medical problems and the death of her sister while already in the throes of what can only be called an existential crisis. Although even in that chapter, she demonstrates the ability to shake us out of the emotional depths with perfectly timed hits of charming, oddball silliness.Overall, though, this book has a rather different, considerably heavier feel to it than the first one, I think. Clearly Brosh's existential crisis is not remotely over, because there's a strong theme throughout of the difficulty of knowing how to deal with the unfairness and meaningless absurdity of life and our powerlessness and incomprehension in the face of it all. Sometimes you can laugh about that. Sometimes you really, really can't. And in the end, all you can do is try to be your own friend and get through it all as best as you can. Which is a theme I very much appreciated.I will say that I don't think that this ever made me laugh nearly as hard as the first book, nor did it affect me quite as deeply as her writings about depression there, maybe because I like to believe I've more or less come to terms with the meaningless absurdity of life already, myself. But, well, that's a really high bar, and it certainly did both affect me and make me laugh.

[foggidawn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After the publication of Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh basically stopped posting on her blog, which made me sad. I wondered, periodically, what might have happened in her life since then. With the publication of Solutions and Other Problems, I got an answer. Unfortunately, the answer is: tragedy and misery. I will not list all of it, since I suppose that would constitute spoilers for the book. But it hasn't been a happy time. This book consists of stories from Allie's recent life as well as from her childhood, copiously illustrated by drawings in her trademark style ("bad MS Paint").This is a hard read, I must say. There's some humor, but it's all mixed up in the unrelenting misery. Her first book (or the blog posts that made up most of the first book) often had me in tears of laughter, but this one elicited barely an audible chuckle. I'd recommend it for fans of Brosh's earlier work, with the caveat that the tone is even darker (and, certainly, Brosh has always employed dark and self-deprecating humor). It's all new material, with only one chapter posted as a teaser on her blog shortly before the book's release. On a technical note, I had trouble reading some of the text in the illustrations -- in some cases, the contrast was not high, and in others, the text was small enough to make reading difficult. I bought this book, and I wish I had gotten it from the library instead, because I can't see myself rereading it.