Natasha’s Pick: Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

To say this book is an interesting one, isn’t doing it justice. To say that I only loved this book doesn’t even come close. It toes the lines of being a graphic novel and just being a book with lots of illustrations that it sits there with it’s light blue unassuming jacket, being humble. 

Allie Brosh has been a blogger on the internet since 2009 with her blog accumulating about 72 million views since then. She writes and composes art using Microsoft Paint, blending the two together to make hilarious and often relatable stories from her past. This is her second book written and illustrated in the same way as her blog. 

While her first book was a nice short read, this one comes in at a hefty five-hundred plus pages. The book looks daunting at first, but don’t be discouraged, as it can be a fast read. I will warn you that you may need to put the book down to recover from some of the stories, as they can hit pretty hard. The stories themselves range from her early childhood, through adult mishaps, and ends with learning to be your own best friend.

I jumped into this book with a heaping scoop of excitement as I have read a lot of her blog and enjoyed her first book immensely. I was not disappointed. Each story had me laughing quite a bit, or holding my breath to keep myself together. Allie writes very honestly about her feelings when things are happening and much like life, there are weird times. And there are bad times. That’s what I enjoyed so much about this book. I would go back and re-read chapters to better understand the author and what she was going through. Or to excitedly share a funny chapter with my husband.

Reading this book felt like eating an amazing sandwich. Every bite is wonderful and you realize that, wow! There’s so much of it! Then as you get to the end, you begin to feel empty because it’s going to be gone too soon and you start to savor every last bite. And yes, you can eat the sandwich again, but not experience it in the same way you had before. But wow, what a great sandwich.