When I picked out Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half from the library at work I was expecting something in the way of a cheerful read. A bright yellow cover with flamboyantly colourful cartoon figures appeared to promise a light read with a few good laughs. In the event, I couldn't have been more wrong - except for the fact that there were quite a number of laugh-out-load moments involved in my reading. The thing is though that there were equally as many, if not more, very jarring, harsh, edgy moments. Now I'm not someone who shies away from life's dark corners as rendered in various kinds of text, but I honestly thought of closing the comic/graphic novel/visual memoir at one point (in a sequence dealing with its creator's experience of depression). It was that bleak. However, I went on reading (in between well-being breaks) and I'm glad I did as it served to honour Ms Brosh's work, and over the full length of the work there was plenty to enjoy both visually and in the accompanying prose.
Can't say I'd recommend this to my students though, apart from the fact it's a bit sweary (though in a lively, entertaining manner.) It's the sheer hopelessness of its bleakest pages that are the sticking point. But they ring horribly true. Trying to look on the bright side, it made me realise that the worst of my very occasional slumps don't come anywhere close to genuine depression.
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