Image for the Blog/Book “Hyperbole and a Half”.
Anyone can blog. Blogging is free. It’s accessible.
Brosh created the blog “Hyperbole and a Half.” She writes about her life, her childhood, and her thoughts. As the title suggests, she writes about her life and dramatizes it a bit.
This blog spiraled from just being a public page on Blogspot to being a book. The book was published with the title “Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened” on Oct. 29 of last year. [RJ1]
Even before her book, Brosh said she made a living from her blog as early as 2010 from the merchandise sold on her website inspired by her blog. As she says in the FAQ page of her blog, “This is the first time in my life that I’ve been happy with my job.”[RJ2]
If blogging is available to everyone, then how did Brosh become so successful?
Because of the raw, honest content Brosh writes. She tells hilarious, mind-boggling stories that are surely exaggerated. However, these exaggerations enhance her ability to be transformed. She makes her life completely open by sharing her most innermost thoughts in a comedic way that makes the topics easier to approach.
In one story, she has an uncontrollable urge to eat a cake meant for a family birthday party. Her mother tries to keep her from eating the cake until the appropriate time. Brosh finds a way to climb through a window to the room where the cake is hidden. She then eats the entire cake, only to be found by her mother once it was too late.
How many people can admit to eating an entire cake in one sitting? Sure, it’s a guilty pleasure for many. One bite turns into two, which turns into a contest to see how much you can stuff into yourself before you explode.
Brosh has more integrity than the rest of us food sinners. Brosh owns up to the experience.
It’s not as though her book is a collection of confessions. She talks about her daily life, too. She repeatedly talks about her dog, which seems a bit loopy. She talks about the struggles of moving.
These stories are paired with doodles made on Microsoft Paint. The characters are disproportional with bright colors. The pictures bring the odd stories to life.
Embarrassing stories and routines aside, it is how Brosh discusses her personal emotions and personality that make her blog so compelling.
Brosh is extremely open about her anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression are two conditions pushed under the rug but are experienced by many people. She gives a voice to those feelings.
She talks about how she has days where she doesn’t want to do anything, not even activities that she usually loves doing. Nothing seems remarkable.
The anxiety kicks in, and she puts off trivial errands. She makes a checklist, and the checklist adds to the anxiety, reminding her that she should be out and productive.
But the anxiety and depression keep her still, not wanting to do anything.
These raw feelings, like the silly stories she tells in between, are coupled with her drawings. The bright colors splash the pages, but the emotion is expressed through her words.
If you have ever experienced anxiety or depression, then you will connect with Brosh’s writing. She knows exactly how to capture the thoughts that run through your head.
And she does this remarkable thing through silly stories and odd drawings.
Even if you don’t experience anxiety and depression, her stories alone are enough to keep you laughing. If you don’t read anything but the goose story, you will be satisfied.
The book takes one day to read, max. But there is so much to laugh about in one colorful book based on a blog.