On
March 30th, I travelled to Toronto for an adventure of exploration. This trip was topped off with a chance to see
Sarah Andersen at Indigo at Bay and Bloor.
It was a great experience and Andersen was awesome to meet. The whole event was because on March 7th,
Andersen published her second book.
Yes, Sarah
Andersen is back at is again with her newest book Big Mushy Happy Lump, the second book in her Sarah’s Scribbles
series. Andersen continues showing us
the relatability of her character, Sarah, and even experiments with mixing
media to make her character as enjoyable as ever. So, grab your pumpkin spiced [insert thing
here], jump into bed, enjoy your pizza, and binge Netflix.
Wait!
Hold the Netflix! Read the review, then Netflix, in that order.
 |
| If there ever was a villain in Sarah's universe, Uterus is it. |
Big Mushy Happy Lump continues the exploits of Sarah, a nervous childish twenty-something trying to make her way through the great big world of adulthood. Much like Adulthood is a Myth we see Sarah’s long struggle with Uterus and Brain, relationships, and other personal struggles with the outside world. At the same time, Big Mushy Lump celebrates the small joys in life like books, boyfriend’s sweaters, and learning to like cats. Sarah sees it all as she drifts through life and takes us with her as he meets each moment.
The
greatest strength in Big Mushy Happy Lump
is the relatability the reader has with Andersen’s character Sarah. My favourite part of this book is in a long
form comic Andersen writes about anxiety in “I don’t Know How to be a
Person”. In this story, Andersen talks
about the difficulty of anxiety and the trouble over thinking can cause in one’s
life:
At times I can be like a
robot suffering a severe malfunction. My
brain glitches. […] These glitches are so, so painful. And, thanks to my good old buddy
Overthinking, the glitches continue to haunt me long after they’ve happened.
(Andersen, 76-77)
I found this part relatable as someone who
deals with anxiety and depression. When
things go wrong, it gets stuck in my head and sometimes will work me up into
stammering while in my head I am convinced something is or will go wrong.
In
addition, Andersen takes a change from her usual comic format by including
three long form stories that include comics.
These stories continue the themes that carry throughout Andersen’s
comics by talking about anxiety, learning that it’s okay to like things that everyone
else likes, and the importance of a boyfriend’s sweater. These stories balance prose and comics well
with the included comics by having the comics elaborate with Andersen’s prose
sections.
In
conclusion, Andersen’s Big Mushy Happy
Lump is a book with reading. While continuing
to provide comics that have been popular among her readers, Andersen also gives
her audience a new format that is still in the spirit of the rest of the book
but also different enough to make it memorable.
If you are a fan of Andersen’s work, Big
Mushy Happy Lump is a book that you will enjoy.
For more of Sarah Andersen's work check out:
Official Website: http://sarahcandersen.com/
Illustrative Work: http://www.sarahandersenart.com/
**All art used in this post are the property of Sarah Andersen and her respected associates.**
Sources
Andersen, Sara. Big Mushy Happy Lump. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing. 2017.
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