Chris’s Pick
May, 2015
Yes, Please
Amy Poehler, Published by Harper Collins, October 28, 2014
A brief digression: one reason why I love our library… When I discover a book I want to read, I log onto the library website and request a copy. Sometimes there are long electronic queues for a popular book (sometimes not), but I rarely feel the need to be the first to read anything; I just want to read it. Then, I forget about it. But one day, in the middle of a stressed workweek, I will receive an email that says the book is waiting for me! It is a tiny, happy, unanticipated “Christmas morning of pleasure” to get that email. (Fellow readers, if you have not made use of this service, try it! You’ll like it!)
And that is why I am reviewing Yes, Please, because it unexpectedly came my way this month, and I have enjoyed it.
Amy Poehler’s memoir is a candid, amusing, but often poignant collection of essays that appear to follow no form or timeline, but is divided into three sections: Say Whatever You Like, Do Whatever You Want, and Be Whoever You Are, all prefaced by instructions Poehler has written as to how to use the book.
Poehler discusses, among other things, motherhood, sex, school, insomnia, her “too safe” childhood, popularity, Haiti, and her comedic career up through the present. Her chapters have photos scotch-taped onto the pages with each section defined by wild colors and exclamation points, indicative of her personality. Her section on divorce should ring true to anyone who has been through it, and even to those who have not. Many of the chapters are “words of wisdom,” though she clearly expects you to take it or leave it. None of what she espouses seems new, necessarily, but all of it is relatable. I think, particularly as women, yes, we nod, yes, that’s true. Read “I’m So Proud of You”…yes, yes, yes.
Towards the end of the book, Poehler spends a good deal of time talking about her Parks and Recreation show and cast members, and it is fun to go backstage to see what these folks are like.
I liked this woman after reading her book. She can be self-effacing, but never humble, which seems correct to me. I often laughed while reading it, which is a very enjoyable way to experience a book.
I liked the end, which to me is important. You have to know how to end a book. She does.