Allie Brosh: Everybody Wants to Touch Something in the Void…

On this episode of The Literary Life, Allie Brosh talks with Mitchell Kaplan about her new book, Solutions and Other Problems, and how bad things still happen to good people.

From the episode:

Mitchell Kaplan: In the new book, you said something that I really loved. You said, “It’s fucking mayhem out there. Good things are happening to bad people, and bad things to good people. Everyone is parking irresponsibly and taking credit for everything.” So you went through this period of some very bad things happening.

Allie Brosh: And nothing seemed fair. It made me deeply question the the balance in the overall universe, whether it existed.

Mitchell Kaplan: I don’t know if other people had this this feeling when they read your book, and I know that you went on a very large tour or a very wide-ranging tour for Hyberbole and you met people face to face. And for someone like you, who’s a bit more reclusive, that must have been difficult in and of itself.

Allie Brosh: It was very exciting. But excitement can also be stressful. I feel like I get this thing like whenever I am out talking to a bunch of people, this feeling of being exaggerated, totally aware of my own unimportance. What are you making a big deal out about here? Like what? It really drives it home.

Mitchell Kaplan: What was the big deal? What did you understand was happening?

Allie Brosh: It’s hard to wrap my head around. I will write things and people relate to them and … I think people wanted to, like, meet me and kind of have a personal connection with somebody who maybe said something that they related to and that was part of a fun thing. Everybody wants to touch something in the void, right?

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This episode of The Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan was recorded between Bend and Miami. Subscribe now on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you find your podcasts!

Allie Brosh is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Hyperbole and a Half, which was named the Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Humor Book of the Year. Brosh has also given herself many prestigious awards, including “fanciest horse drawing” and “most likely to succeed.”