The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 29 November 2014
by Allie Brosh
The author of this colorful volume is the creator of an award-winning on-line blog by the same title. This blog won well-deserved attention when the author turned to the topic of depression. Through sympathetic and spare prose and deceptively child-like illustrations, Brosh was able to convey much of the experience of depression, without condecension, and in a gritty, no-nonsense manner that appealed to many readers, including this one. Now, she has collected several of her blog entries, including the one on depression, along with new content, into this substantial and colorful book. While her drawings are intentionally naive in form, Brosh has a gift for gesture that conveys subtle emotional content and irony in a few lines. The drawings enhance and compliment the stories she tells, tales from her childhood, the challenges of adulthood, and stories about dogs. Dogs, indeed, populate much of the book, and the author's drawings capture their simplicity and innocence, even as they frustrate their owners. The silliness of the dogs seems to project a basic tragic comedy in the world, while Brosh goes on to tell funny but also sad stories of childhood confusion and angst. She also makes a sincere effort to explore her identity, to be almost brutally honest about the bizarre contradictions of our basic needs and instincts in opposition to our need to function in a civilized world. All of it comes together in compassionate and funny stories of this one artist's life. What next from the blog-o-sphere?