Sometimes Things Don’t Go Like They Should

~Solutions and Other Problems~
By Allie Brosh
Amazon ~ Powell's

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.


After reading and buying the first book, I could not wait to get my hands on the next. Though the blog has been fairly dead since her first publication, I found that she's in process of uploading a truckload of pictures (both drawings and photos) to her facebook page as "an attempt to answer the question of what life was like during the seven years between books." So, yeah, not much going into reading this, just sort of a "see book, must read" kind of mindset.

First, I did not expect to bawl while reading this. I should have known better—I mean, I did read her last book, but that was seven years ago, and apparently my brain stupidly reverted back to "funny pictures = funny book" which is true for the first parts, but then...then it got dark really fast. I think it was about 35% through that we (the audience and the author) get completely blindsided by some really serious material. I don't want to spoil anything, really, (though telling you to prepare for serious shit might constitute as slightly spoilerish) I just want to let you know that if you're only looking for a feel good, funny, lol book right now, DO NOT THINK THIS IS THAT BOOK. Yes, it has laughs aplenty, but it also deals with tragedy at times.

Of course, the tragedy is masterfully interspersed with humor. The point is not to feel horrible about what you're reading (though, as I said, I did have a good cry or two), but to experience hardship, loss, what-have-you and work towards feeling better. The final chapter/story really brings this to heart as it talks about befriending yourself. Learning to love (or even like) oneself isn't the easiest thing, especially since you know everything you've done wrong. The author's approach, while perhaps embellished for impact and animation, is simultaneously humorous, relatable, and helpful. Not really a self-help book, especially with the amount of nihilism present, but I'll take help where I can get it.

Without going into too much depth and spoilers, I think that's where I'm going to leave it. But before I wrap up I want to leave a quick note on my personal reading experience: I will go out and buy myself a hard copy of this book, but this readthrough was via Kindle. I didn't know how well the book would read this way, since I've had mixed experiences with illustrated books. I read this on both my phone and my PC and both worked surprisingly well. Because most images are in strip format (see above), the pictures and text flowed pretty normally. There were some full-page images where I had to adjust the page margins (on PC) in order to stretch the image a bit for its text to appear legible, but this only happened maybe 3 or 4 times in the book. So while I'll be purchasing a physical copy for myself, reading through a digital copy is definitely doable.

Overall, this is another great book from Allie Brosh. Fans of her first book will no doubt have already pounced on this one, but those who haven't yet will definitely find more to love. Part autobiography, part stand-up routine, this illustrated conglomeration of stories refuses to be constrained by labels, and thus surpasses them all. I would highly recommend checking it out, especially if you're in the mood for a little laughter with the tears. And so, I leave you with one of the best pieces of advice I have ever found: