Allie Brosh is a typical elder Millennial who is obsessed with the Internet, nachos, her dogs. She has blonde hair and an impish disposition. She struggles with life skills and her mental health throughout the course of the book. She’s the central character in every chapter. When chapters do not directly involve Brosh, they tend to involve Brosh’s relationship to another character in the book, such as her partner, sister, or dogs.

Brosh wrote this book based on her popular webcomic and blog, which was also titled Hyperbole and a Half. Some of the chapters are adapted from pieces previously published in briefer format there, though other chapters are new.

Depicted as a frowning woman in an orange dress, Brosh’s mother recurs in several pieces in the book. Often, her role in a piece is to prevent young Allie from getting something she wants; other times, she serves as a solemn foil to Allie’s antics.

In Chapter 4, she prevents Allie from eating her grandfather’s entire birthday cake; in Chapter 8, she gets Allie and her sister lost in the woods; in Chapter 12, Allie and her sister annoy her mother with a talking parrot toy; in Chapter 16, Allie’s mother takes her to a party after orthodontic surgery.