* * * *
4 / 5 stars

I, like most people, have seen Sarah Andersen's cartoon comics floating around the internet. I have not read her previous collection nor have I frequented her website, so virtually all of the content was new to me. This may not be the case for Andersen's avid fans, as most online artists who publish collections only include a small amount of new content. I base my rating off of the fact that this wonderfully adorable collection was completely fresh to me.

1/2 of this short book (130ish pages) consists of one page comics that illustrate and comment on the amusing scenarios that arise in the lives of many young adults. I certainly found them hilarious relatable, and I am almost twenty. From cats to jumper stealing to social anxiety and paying bills, these short comics are hilarious and cute. A few, though by no means all, focus specifically on issues that relate to women - women's fashion, periods, and uplifting female friendships.

The other 1/2 of the book is comprised of short "essays" in cartoon form, supplemented by some text. I thought these provided a cool insight into Andersen's life and broke up the format of one page cartoons - without these the book risked becoming too repetitive, so I found them very welcome.

Overall, a fab quick read. The kind of book you buy, keep on your bookshelf and flick through every once in a while for a laugh, or get as a gift for a friend. I mostly enjoyed this collection because I love Andersen's drawing style and sense of humour. If you don't, then this collection will not appeal to you. If you want a quick read with adorable cartoons that are highly relatable to the young adult trying to forge their way in the adult world of living from home, paying bills, and navigating life, then this might well be for you!

I’m familiar with Anderson’s comics from spending copious amounts of time on the internet. This Facebook meme queen has w cute drawing style, with the most relatable situations I’ve seen. This book was cute, featuring a lot of comics I’ve already seen, but still find myself identifying with.

This collection was everything I expected it to be; heart-warming, funny, strangely poignant with the right amount of sarcasm. The only technicality I found was the random 10 or so pages towards the middle of the book that had Anderson’s own commentary. While I enjoyed her narrative I found it odd that it hadn’t been in the first 60-ish pages, and that the book didn’t end with her commentary. That all in itself was odd.

To summarize, this is the type of book you read to get out of a reading slump, or the one that you curl into a chair with while it’s raining. It isn’t challenging, and it could be a nice change from a heavier type of reading. Really, it seems to exist just for the sheer pleasure of it, and sometimes that’s all you need.

This is real life, specifically the part in which I don't spend any money anywhere except in a book shop where I buy ALL THE BOOKS.

Sarah is hilarious. Buy it. Read it. Love it.

another nice one from her. Most of them I was already familiar with

I love the Sarah's Scribbles web comic. It captures the world of a modern, artistic young woman with more than a few anxieties. Even those of us who are not exactly young and have only a few anxieties can relate. This book is a must-have. I've already pre-ordered a copy for my daughter's birthday and will be adding it to my library's collection as well. Everyone can use a bit more laughter in their life.

I am ardent follower of Sarah's web comic and love that there are collections coming out! Sarah writes about things every young woman can relate to in such a light and fun way!

Big Mushy Happy Lump is a fairly accurate description of my physical state having reached the end of this collection.

Sarah Andersen has always been uncannily accurate when it comes to tapping into my subconscious and so it was with mild trepidation (but also with biscuits and tea as is the traditional fashion) that I sat down to read her latest offering. Much to my delight and disgust, not only did I discover that as much as I laughed at myself, I also found myself being shocked to startling tea-sobriety. And feeling ooooh so slightly mortified, not to mention full of The Cringe. It’s always complicated finding yourself in comic form not quite looking your best.

You see, I felt as though Sarah had sat for a few months in the corner of my living room, pointing and chortling at my miserable attempts at Adulting and then faithfully sketching them down to add to this collection in order further my humiliation. Except that not really because (deep, deep down) I expect that many people feel this way when first checking out Sarah’s work. It’s why we’re gluttons for punishment and keep coming back to find ourselves beaten down by comic after comic (with unshaven legs, nachos and a Netflix habit).

As always, this was an insightful, sickeningly accurate little collection which makes me love/hate Sarah even more.

It was brilliant, it was harrowing, I will never be an adult and I will never be able to manage money and ohgodonlymylaptopwillloveme – ahem. I’ll be over here now, checking my living room for cameras.

I enjoyed this graphic novel, nice use of media with a difficult topic

This was so funny and so painfully relatable. In this collection, Sarah Andersen jokes about adulthood, mental health, and just the daily little things that can make or break your day. Like most graphic novels, it was a quick read, but it made me laugh out loud multiple times.

Big Mushy Happy Lump is a comic where what you see on the cover is what you get inside. It would be an easy, excellent gift for anyone who loves coffee, cats, and men’s sweaters. 4.5/5 stars

Wonderful as always. I just love these books! Can't wait to own a copy!

A little disappointing, compared to the first book, which I really liked. Although it was still spot on in many ways, it didn't feel as funny—perhaps because of the choice of panels this time, or perhaps because some of those were already present in volume 1, so I admit I didn't really see the point in including them again here. I was also expecting more 'summer-related' panels, owing to the blurb. Maybe the blurb was ill-chosen?

As mentioned above, it's still pretty accurate regarding many aspects of life (cats! And cats on Instagram!). But it's much too repetitive.

Conclusion: Only buy it if you never checked the author's website and haven't read book 1.

This is going to be kind of hard to review, because normally I like to give examples of Sarah's silly (but awesome!) Scribbles in my reviews, but considering this is an early review (shout out to Netgalley), I don't think it would be appropriate for me to do so.

So, you guys are just going to have to trust me, that this collection of scribbles is just as funny as the last batch. Sarah had me in stitches, laughing at her (with her?) struggles of being a human in a scary scary world.

There are a few moments that get a little more real, and include actual text, and not just the comic bubbles that we are used to. Sarah explains what it means to be an introvert with (what I would diagnose as) a general anxiety disorder, or someone who is just *truly* the definition of socially awkward.

While Sarah does dip into some real conversations about mental illness, it is accompanied with the light and humorous sketches that readers are used to, and still tackles the matter with the same amount of humor and awkwardness that we all know and love.

If you enjoyed round one of Sarah's Scribbles, there is absolutely no reason why you wouldn't also love, Big Mushy Happy Lump!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

**Thank you Netgally for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

I came across Sarah Andersen's comics on accident. I honestly think someone had liked her book on Goodreads to be honest. I can't fully remember. However I am sooooo glad I did. I think Sarah Andersen is me but short. Her comics pretty much make me laugh everyone. When I received a free copy of this yesterday from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I cheered out loud, much to my husband's funny looks and then immediately downloaded it and started to inhale it at alarming speeds.

I had to actually stop myself last night from reading them all so I would at least get some more pleasure out of it on a second day. From the very start this book made me laugh. I am pretty sure my husband was sick of me shoving my tablet in his face to read the comic. This book gets more than five stars if I could. I am sooo glad I got to read it and am chomping to read the first one now. I look forward to more and more of her comics!!!!

I believe that Sarah Anderson is my soul sister. I felt like every one of these cartoons spoke directly to me. She illustrates perfectly what it is like to be a woman, an introvert and socially awkward in a hilarious way. I found my self laughing uncontrollably many times

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/IMG_9464_zpsfzyjhi4o.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/IMG_9464_zpsfzyjhi4o.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9464_zpsfzyjhi4o.jpg"/></a>

this is both very similar to and very different from [book:Adulthood Is a Myth|25855506].

thematically, much of the same ground is covered: procrastination, social awkwardness, the joy of comfortable clothes, the irritants that go along with being female, self image, and the bullying inner voice we all have that keeps our ego in check.

however, while adulthood was a collection of unrelated cartoons (and NOT a graphic novel, goodreads), this one contains some longer-form pieces where we get more insight into what makes sarah andersen tick, which makes it a good companion book to [book:Introvert Doodles: An Illustrated Collection of Life's Awkward Moments|30797604], as both address the difficulties the authors have with the world's expectations of being a social person to someone who is not naturally that way inclined, and how much human interactions can suck.

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/IMG_9466_zps98s5rukx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/IMG_9466_zps98s5rukx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9466_zps98s5rukx.jpg"/></a>

and as honest and laudable as <i>I Don't Know How to Be a Person</i> was, i'm much more drawn to one of the other long-form pieces called <i>SADIE (How I Learned to Get Over Myself and Love Cats)</i>, which is about how she went from being alienated by the internet's catcentric obsession:

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9150_zpsfed5zerx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9150_zpsfed5zerx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9150_zpsfed5zerx.jpg"/></a>

to accidentally becoming a crazy cat lady like the rest of us through the fuzzy mind-control of a loaner-cat named sadie.

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/IMG_9467_zps9xekzsxx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/IMG_9467_zps9xekzsxx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9467_zps9xekzsxx.jpg"/></a>

and now she is one of us

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well done, sadie! more bodies for the calvary!

as with <i>adulthood</i>, there are plenty of scenarios very familiar to my own experiences. some that i think are true for many:

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9143_zpsmk59ss9g.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9143_zpsmk59ss9g.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9143_zpsmk59ss9g.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9144_zpsdla2dvb6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9144_zpsdla2dvb6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9144_zpsdla2dvb6.jpg"/></a>

some that i know are familiar to all the ladies out there:

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9148_zpszktrztoz.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9148_zpszktrztoz.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9148_zpszktrztoz.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9147_zpsjcxrwoju.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9147_zpsjcxrwoju.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9147_zpsjcxrwoju.jpg"/></a>

and some that fall into the "i thought i was the only one!!" category:

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/IMG_9465_zpsapzt2mgn.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/IMG_9465_zpsapzt2mgn.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9465_zpsapzt2mgn.jpg"/></a>

there's also some nice giggle-pokery at insufferable people

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9146_zpsk6unefic.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9146_zpsk6unefic.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9146_zpsk6unefic.jpg"/></a>

and, while i understand it is not the point she is making, i am interpreting this to be a bold anti-bird stance, which you know i'm on board with

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9145_zpstxuacpsm.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9145_zpstxuacpsm.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9145_zpstxuacpsm.jpg"/></a>

so, another fun and funny collection which only strengthens my resolve to be sarah andersen's bestie.

sarraahhhhhh…. come to maaaaaaggie!!

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9278_zps2r270oof.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9278_zps2r270oof.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9278_zps2r270oof.jpg"/></a>

although this will probably not be tolerated.

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/IMG_9463_zpsklyetf1f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/IMG_9463_zpsklyetf1f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9463_zpsklyetf1f.jpg"/></a>

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i did not turn my computer on once during the holiday weekend. and it felt great, but also very stressful. so when i saw the first cartoon in this collection, my heart recognized a kindred spirit:

<a href="http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/kettincat/media/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9142_zpssjxojyvu.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m545/kettincat/flat%20stanley/flat%20stanley003/IMG_9142_zpssjxojyvu.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_9142_zpssjxojyvu.jpg"/></a>

thank you for putting my feelings into pictures, sarah andersen!

full review to come


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someone plz gimmie a heads-up if this comes onto netgalley!!

Another excellent collection from Sarah Andersen. I particularly enjoyed the addition of the illustrated essays in this collection. Sarah makes understanding anxiety accessible and hilarious.

If you like to laugh aloud, read this.
If you are introverted, read this.
If you have issues with your body, read this.
If you like cats, read this.

I enjoyed this book! Sarah's Scribbles always hit the nail on the head for us introverts. This collections reminds us that we are not alone and helps us laugh at the funny aspects of our lives. I find that refreshing that I don't feel bad about myself!

i love all of sarah's work! she allways makes me smile. this book is funny, fresh and so quick to read. i finished it in seconds and read it again! i would totally recommend both this book and all of her previous works

After reading Adulthood is a Myth, which made me laugh and relate and laugh some more, I found myself on NetGalley. And Big Mushy Happy Lump was more of the same.

Even though I've passed my twenties, I get it. The introversion, the OverThink, the social exhaustion. It's funny because it's true, but it's comforting that it's relatable.

Whether you consume it like a bag of chips or show some ability to slow down and savor, this one is worth the read.

Thanks, NetGalley, for providing a copy for an honest review.