Rating: 4 stars
Source: Library
Buy the Book: Amazon
Summary: "In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book is full of words to live by."
Review: I find I have very little to say about this memoir. It's everything I expected it to be: funny, poignant, with witty axioms about life. But it just didn't move me as much as I wanted it to.
Although I adore Poehler's Parks and Rec character Leslie Knope, I didn't really know all that much about Amy Poehler herself, other than that I liked her unabashed feminism. I don't watch very much SNL unless it's an election season, and I'm not really into the improv comedy scene. So when she would name drop people who were apparently big in those businesses, it didn't mean anything to me. I am a very different person from Ms. Poehler, and I'm okay with that, but I wanted a few more bridges to enable me to be on the same page with her. I was more interested in reading short essays about her life and what she's learned along the way. I guess I got that, but on the whole, it felt a little forgettable to me.
I feel like I'm being hard on this book. I really, really wanted to fall in love with it. And I did like it, but it didn't blow me away.
But, to be fair, I enjoyed reading this funny and occasionally touching book. I learned that Poehler snores and has done a lot of drugs. I learned that she is as funny as Leslie Knope, though maybe not as nice. Reading her memoir made me want to be a little more ambitious. So it was an enjoyable read, though I didn't respond to it as strongly as I wished. In conclusion, it's a good book, and there are many people who will love this book. I just thought it was a little above "okay" though.
Review in a GIF:
Bottom Line: A pretty solid celebrity memoir with funny and poignant moments spread throughout. For me, it fell a little flat, but it was still definitely enjoyable.
I have this one waiting for me in audio - I'm hoping it will be an enjoyable listen. I know what you mean though about a book being enjoyable but not quite meeting your expectations.
ReplyDeleteI hear the audio is really fun, hope you enjoy! I did like reading it, but, you're right, it didn't quite meet my expectations.
DeleteOh, it's a shame you couldn't love this one as much as you wanted to! I like the idea of it, but it wasn't something that met everything you hope it would be. And that's okay. I hope your next read is more fun.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my post: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/01/building-character-in-your-story-guest.html
I think it might have been a case of too-high expectations. Many others whose opinions and viewpoints I usually agree with loved this book. For some reason I just didn't love it. (But I still liked it.)
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