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A review by thebooknerdscorner
Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offerman
3.0
From the man that brought us the iconic character of Ron Swanson in "Parks and Recreation" comes a humorous memoir that contemplates the fundamental parts of what makes life so great.
After finishing "Parks and Recreation" with my boyfriend, I thought it would be fun to check out some memoirs written by the cast. I decided to start with Offerman's "Paddle Your Own Canoe" despite the great allure of Amy Poehler's "Yes Please." There's something about the cover of this book that made me want to read it immediately; it is truly a classic Offerman photo.
There were many things that I really enjoyed about this memoir and other things that I found to be slightly annoying and others that I found to be straight up boring. I'll start with the positives.
Learning about Offerman's humble beginnings as a farmer boy in rural Illinois definitely explains a few things about his nature and overall vibe. Following his early years of living that brimmed with stupidity was also quite fun, especially when we transitioned over to his days doing live theatre in Chicago before he moved to Los Angeles. My favorite parts of this book were actually towards the end though, when he recounts meeting his wife, Megan Mullally, and how they fell for one another.
Learning about the behind the scenes of how he booked Ron Swanson was also certainly a highlight. He has much in common with the character, such as his love for red meat and whisky, the fact that he himself is also a woodcarver, and hey, he authentically played the saxophone in high school. It is always fun to see how actor's lives bleed into those of their characters while also learning more about their differences along the way.
Every chapter in this book is followed up by a humorous essay that mirrors a topic similar to that addressed in that chapter. Some of these essays were pretty funny and had me learning a ton about Offerman. Others were just crass, tried too hard to be funny, and didn't do much to move me. I applaud Offerman for giving this format a try, but I feel it was only sorta effective. On one hand, it made the book go by faster, but on the other hand, things often got to be a tad repetitive.
I think the thing that drug this book down the most for me was all the references to media I've never heard of and the allusions to people I didn't recognize. I'm sure if you are an Offerman super fan more of them would have meant something to you, but that wasn't the case for me. Also, there were a few times where the same thing just seemed to go on forever, but this only bugged me occasionally. And this mostly occurred when he was going on and on about some movie that I didn't care about or the greatness of an actor I've never heard of.
I can also say that I didn't always vibe with Offerman's writing style. He is definitely honest, which I appreciate, but he is also overly crass for next to no reason (I get it, it's part of his humor style). Sometimes, his urge to be funny taints the authenticity of the narrative a tad, but I appreciate that he's his unapologetically honest self the entire time.
Overall, it was really fun reading "Paddle Your Own Canoe" and learning more about Nick Offerman. He definitely has some interesting opinions, but he also makes a ton of great observations about the world. I may not have loved every page of this memoir, but the insight I gleaned from it was still beneficial to me. I feel I will pick up more of his work in the future (I'm especially interested in "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told," which is the book that he penned with his wife), but I think I'm going to take a breather from his work for a bit and jump over to his co-star Amy Poehler and see what wisdom she has to share in her memoir.
After finishing "Parks and Recreation" with my boyfriend, I thought it would be fun to check out some memoirs written by the cast. I decided to start with Offerman's "Paddle Your Own Canoe" despite the great allure of Amy Poehler's "Yes Please." There's something about the cover of this book that made me want to read it immediately; it is truly a classic Offerman photo.
There were many things that I really enjoyed about this memoir and other things that I found to be slightly annoying and others that I found to be straight up boring. I'll start with the positives.
Learning about Offerman's humble beginnings as a farmer boy in rural Illinois definitely explains a few things about his nature and overall vibe. Following his early years of living that brimmed with stupidity was also quite fun, especially when we transitioned over to his days doing live theatre in Chicago before he moved to Los Angeles. My favorite parts of this book were actually towards the end though, when he recounts meeting his wife, Megan Mullally, and how they fell for one another.
Learning about the behind the scenes of how he booked Ron Swanson was also certainly a highlight. He has much in common with the character, such as his love for red meat and whisky, the fact that he himself is also a woodcarver, and hey, he authentically played the saxophone in high school. It is always fun to see how actor's lives bleed into those of their characters while also learning more about their differences along the way.
Every chapter in this book is followed up by a humorous essay that mirrors a topic similar to that addressed in that chapter. Some of these essays were pretty funny and had me learning a ton about Offerman. Others were just crass, tried too hard to be funny, and didn't do much to move me. I applaud Offerman for giving this format a try, but I feel it was only sorta effective. On one hand, it made the book go by faster, but on the other hand, things often got to be a tad repetitive.
I think the thing that drug this book down the most for me was all the references to media I've never heard of and the allusions to people I didn't recognize. I'm sure if you are an Offerman super fan more of them would have meant something to you, but that wasn't the case for me. Also, there were a few times where the same thing just seemed to go on forever, but this only bugged me occasionally. And this mostly occurred when he was going on and on about some movie that I didn't care about or the greatness of an actor I've never heard of.
I can also say that I didn't always vibe with Offerman's writing style. He is definitely honest, which I appreciate, but he is also overly crass for next to no reason (I get it, it's part of his humor style). Sometimes, his urge to be funny taints the authenticity of the narrative a tad, but I appreciate that he's his unapologetically honest self the entire time.
Overall, it was really fun reading "Paddle Your Own Canoe" and learning more about Nick Offerman. He definitely has some interesting opinions, but he also makes a ton of great observations about the world. I may not have loved every page of this memoir, but the insight I gleaned from it was still beneficial to me. I feel I will pick up more of his work in the future (I'm especially interested in "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told," which is the book that he penned with his wife), but I think I'm going to take a breather from his work for a bit and jump over to his co-star Amy Poehler and see what wisdom she has to share in her memoir.