#1 New York Times Bestseller
“Funny and smart as hell” (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations.
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Every time Allie Brosh posts something new on her hugely popular blog Hyperbole and a Half the internet rejoices.
This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving,” and her astonishing, “Adventures in Depression,” and “Depression Part Two,” which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written.
Brosh’s debut marks the launch of a major new American humorist who will surely make even the biggest scrooge or snob laugh. We dare you not to.
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!
“Funny and smart as hell” (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations.
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Every time Allie Brosh posts something new on her hugely popular blog Hyperbole and a Half the internet rejoices.
This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving,” and her astonishing, “Adventures in Depression,” and “Depression Part Two,” which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written.
Brosh’s debut marks the launch of a major new American humorist who will surely make even the biggest scrooge or snob laugh. We dare you not to.
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!
SAMPLE CUSTOMER REVIEWS –
1) People who should buy this book. -
1. People who own dogs.
2. People who suffer from or who have loved ones who suffer from depression.3. People who want to know what it feels like to have beverages snarfed through their nose(s?).
4. People with a sense of humor.
5. People who know how to order things on amazon.
6. People who are familiar with Allie's site and thus already know some of the content and are ok with that because it still makes them snarf beverages through their nose(s?)
7. People who did not preorder this book and so are not now reading it like I am.
8. People who are unfamiliar with the behaivior of geese and/or enjoy cake.
9. People who like books that are color coded instead of numbered to delineate beginnings and endings.
10. People who are not dead.
By E. Collins on October 29, 2013
2) This book is way better than cigarettes. - I got the book this morning, and as I was hobbled by pain from an ACL surgery and unable to take painkillers because they would make me loopy at work, instead I read this all day. (Shhhhh. It is okay. I also helped customers.)
There are a million things I love about this book, but I can start with the fact that each chapter is printed on different-colored pages than the ones on either side of it, which makes the book look like a rainbow when it is closed. A RAINBOW, GUYS.
The Depression chapters (previously published on her blog) are revelations to those who have experienced depression and touchstones of understanding for those who have not. The Dog chapters are hilarious to both dog-lovers and cat-lovers (AKA dog haters). The chapters that peek into her childhood make me wish I remembered anything about my life before I was twelve. But you know what? I'm going to take a page from this book, and just imagine that my childhood was just as fantastical, wild, revelatory, unintentionally hilarious, and unique.
Yes, there are a few chapters that are repeats from the blog. Sadly, the fish incident did not make it... that one is still my favorite. But the ones that did make it are definitely worth the re-read. Also, the majority of the book is new material, including some introspective chapters ("Thoughts and Feelings" and the two-part "Identity" chapters). Those, to me, were the best ones of the whole book. I love that the author is so freaking honest (can you swear on Amazon? Imma go with no) about EVERYTHING. She holds this mirror up to her guiding principles and then picks everything apart until she's left with this uncivilized and selfish husk, which she then covers up in a sparkly jumpsuit to make it all better. WHICH IS SOMETHING WE ALL DO. We're all basically uncivilized and selfish. But this author has the guts to admit it.
YOU ARE BRAVE, ALLIE. YOU ARE.
I feel strangely proud of the author for producing this book. Proud like a father, even though she is no relation to me and I have never really met her. I want to give her all the gold stars possible. If there were more than five available for this review, I would have gone with more than five. All the way up to eleventy.
Buy this book. Read it. Go read the blog. Re-read everything. Then buy the book for your friends.
By Lac on October 29, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment