Review Me Twice - Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

I had seen this book everywhere during the Christmas season.  Mainly because I work at a bookstore and it's an incredibly popular webcomic turned book.

And I did enjoy the book.  She manages to combine her ridiculous pictures with her even more ridiculous stories (which seem to have really happened.) She has a very poignant story about depression and what it's actually like as opposed to everyone's view of it.  Or at least everyone who has never had it before.

There were some stories that had me laughing.  Mainly ones about her dogs which she lovingly refers to as "the slow one" and "the helper."  It's funny mostly because how she refers to their antics is true, universally true when it comes to dogs.

But I feel like this was one of those books that didn't live up to the hype.  It was funny, but not side-splittingly so.  It was insightful, but not so insightful that it pushed me into a state of amazement.  Maybe it's the kind of thing where you need to read the blog to fully appreciate it, but this reviewer won't be picking this book up again.

I love Allie Brosh. But you probably figured that out on Monday. I've been reading her blog for ages and I was so excited when I found out she had a book deal. I was also really excited when she mentioned in her "omg you guys I have a book deal" post that it would probably be half things already posted on her blog and half new stuff. (I've bought books based on webcomics before... sometimes they're all new stuff, and sometimes they're all stuff you've already read online. I like the half-and-half approach.)

The neat thing about a book like this is that you can read her blog (for free) and decide whether you like her writing, drawing, sense of humor, what have you. Then, if you like it, you can get the book and get more stuff in the same vein. She's consistent, and I love that.