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A review by njdarkish
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
2.0
This book was okay. Part of my general meh-ness about this book comes from the fact that it really wasn't what I expected it to be, but there are some other problems with it, as well.
When you see a memoir by the delightfully funny Amy Poehler, you expect laugh throughout it. Or, at least, to get her thoughts on the craft of being a humorist. Heck, even just a book of poignant thoughts and moments. But this book didn't really deliver on any of those fronts. There are a few charmingly humorous moments, but even those weren't really delivered in a way that brought laughter. You get piecemeal bits of her career in humor, but not much of what she thinks about humor. There are some lovely little bits about her love of her sons or on friendship, but those heartwarming moments were quite sparse.
Instead, we get a very disorganized-feeling book with snippets of her career in SNL, then a bit of her as a kid, then the Boston improv scene, then bits on being pregnant, then her marriage ending, then Parks and Rec, all jumbled together like a mis-flavored jambalaya. It never feels like she's ever really building to anything, or really even has an idea of what she wants to say or how she wants to say things. She regularly complains about how writing is hard and terrible, but not in a way that makes you smile. By the dozenth complaint, I rolled my eyes and thought, "then leave writing books to people who love it." Don't get me wrong, I still love the writing she does in the context of TV and film, but you can tell that about a chapter into the book she decided she really didn't like writing a memoir and wanted to stop but didn't out of some contractual obligation. And, probably, the knowledge that she was going to make a big pile of money off the book sales.
Most of her stories aren't really interesting. A lot of the stories feel like stories you hear recounted by friends who were there but that you feel no connection to. She rarely went introspective enough into parts where she might shed some important or helpful insight about things like vulnerability, pain, or loss, and instead would jump to talking about how good of friends she is with Seth Meyers (for the zillionth time). Plus, she spent almost no time at all talking about the part of her career I was most interested in hearing anecdotes from (Parks and Rec).
I don't know. I just didn't really care for it.
When you see a memoir by the delightfully funny Amy Poehler, you expect laugh throughout it. Or, at least, to get her thoughts on the craft of being a humorist. Heck, even just a book of poignant thoughts and moments. But this book didn't really deliver on any of those fronts. There are a few charmingly humorous moments, but even those weren't really delivered in a way that brought laughter. You get piecemeal bits of her career in humor, but not much of what she thinks about humor. There are some lovely little bits about her love of her sons or on friendship, but those heartwarming moments were quite sparse.
Instead, we get a very disorganized-feeling book with snippets of her career in SNL, then a bit of her as a kid, then the Boston improv scene, then bits on being pregnant, then her marriage ending, then Parks and Rec, all jumbled together like a mis-flavored jambalaya. It never feels like she's ever really building to anything, or really even has an idea of what she wants to say or how she wants to say things. She regularly complains about how writing is hard and terrible, but not in a way that makes you smile. By the dozenth complaint, I rolled my eyes and thought, "then leave writing books to people who love it." Don't get me wrong, I still love the writing she does in the context of TV and film, but you can tell that about a chapter into the book she decided she really didn't like writing a memoir and wanted to stop but didn't out of some contractual obligation. And, probably, the knowledge that she was going to make a big pile of money off the book sales.
Most of her stories aren't really interesting. A lot of the stories feel like stories you hear recounted by friends who were there but that you feel no connection to. She rarely went introspective enough into parts where she might shed some important or helpful insight about things like vulnerability, pain, or loss, and instead would jump to talking about how good of friends she is with Seth Meyers (for the zillionth time). Plus, she spent almost no time at all talking about the part of her career I was most interested in hearing anecdotes from (Parks and Rec).
I don't know. I just didn't really care for it.