Yes Please is a 2014 book by American actress and television writer Amy Poehler. Poehler announced the book in January 2013. It was released on October 28, 2014 by HarperCollins imprint Dey Street, and was described as "full of humor and honesty and brimming with true stories, fictional anecdotes and life lessons" by the publisher.At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, the audio version of Yes Please received nomination in the category for the Best Spoken Word Album.
This book is funny and dynamic and has gotten me through many low times. It is powerful to read about the struggles and realities of someone I admire so much.
Please, printing out the small gossips and braggings in a form of a book is not writing. It's fine to talk about this things during a party, but not in a book.
It's official, I want to buy this book for everyone I know. Note-I said WANT, not GOING TO. I thought she did an amazing job of deflecting truly personal details (I'm still sad about her divorce), without taking away anything. I read this in about 4 hours.
Edit: is there a way to add a second review of the same book but with a different edition? The first time I read the print version, and this second time I listened to it, but I accidentally switched the editions. Anywho, still stands up and I think readers will appreciate her humor more by listening to it.
I should write reviews before I read reviews, because I inadvertently read a review that is exactly what I want to say only better, like this one: www.goodreads.com/review/show/950702217?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1. So I will keep it short, because if you want to know what I think about this book in more detail, you know where to point your mouse.
This was fine, and I liked it, and that's it. Part of the reason I liked it is that it's Amy Poehler and I love her. But considering how awesome I think Amy Poehler is, I would have hoped I'd like this book much more than I did. I liked it best when imagined her voice as I read. I preferred the last third to the first third. She gives good advice, the kind of advice that women and girls need to hear early and often; the kind of advice I've heard before …
I should write reviews before I read reviews, because I inadvertently read a review that is exactly what I want to say only better, like this one: www.goodreads.com/review/show/950702217?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1. So I will keep it short, because if you want to know what I think about this book in more detail, you know where to point your mouse.
This was fine, and I liked it, and that's it. Part of the reason I liked it is that it's Amy Poehler and I love her. But considering how awesome I think Amy Poehler is, I would have hoped I'd like this book much more than I did. I liked it best when imagined her voice as I read. I preferred the last third to the first third. She gives good advice, the kind of advice that women and girls need to hear early and often; the kind of advice I've heard before from many quarters but is always good to hear again (e.g. "let no be a complete sentence." "Let people fix their own problems that don't concern you." "If you don't want to tell someone something, don't." "It's okay if people don't like you.")
The book isn't linear, which I liked, because it didn't adhere to the structure of many celebrity biographies that I find self-congratulatory -- "I did small awesome thing A, then slightly bigger awesome thing B, then bigger awesome thing C, then setback. Bigger awesome thing D, Big awesome thing E, enormous awesome thing F, and now here you are reading my book and I'm the best thing ever."
Would have liked more details about her marriage/divorce (though she says straight up "I don't want to tell you about that, so I won't", which I can't begrudge her for). Would have liked more details about improvOlympic and Upright Citizens Brigade, maybe more details about how she bonded with Tina Fey and Seth Meyers. I don't mean this to sound nosy (Uh, I am, obviously)-- but it feels constantly like she is holding back the best stories, the ones that would have made this really compelling.
I get it. It's hard to write a book. And it's hard to bare your soul. But if you don't want to bare your soul, perhaps writing a memoir/biography isn't for you. And I suspect that she would do much better in the short story/essay format.
The book made me nostalgic for my UCB training days. I hope that every funny person I met goes on to be hugely famous but grounded and honest like Amy.
(btw, this would have been a 3 w/o the personal connection.)
Amy Poehler, I want to be your best friend. Is that weird?
Seriously, I think she and I would be the best of friends. She's funny, and smart, and seems like a genuinely good person and a good mom. She has stayed humble despite her fame, and is still a little self-conscious and brave enough to share it in her book. I loved the stories about her time on SNL. I laughed out loud several times throughout and fell even further in love with Parks & Rec, my favorite show. She's a funny, funny woman. I want to hang out with her and listen to more stories. Love you, Amy!
While I headed into this as a fan of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, I came away a little less charmed. First, this book was clunky and seemed to jump around a lot. Second, she just didn't seem like a nice person. She seems to pride herself on being a bit of an asshole to strangers. She strikes me as someone who has had too much therapy and uses it to excuse shitty behavior.
