Review: Yes Please

19:20 Cilla 2 Comments

Title: Yes Please
Author: Amy Poehler
Publisher: HarperCollins USA
Source: Periplus Bookstore, and technically the book belongs to my sister's
Synopsis: 

In a perfect world . . .

We'd get to hang out with Amy Poehler, watching dumb movies, listening to music, and swapping tales about our coworkers and difficult childhoods. Because in a perfect world, we'd all be friends with Amy—someone who seems so fun, is full of interesting stories, tells great jokes, and offers plenty of advice and wisdom (the useful kind, not the annoying kind you didn't ask for, anyway). Unfortunately, between her Golden Globe-winning role on Parks and Recreation, work as a producer and director, place as one of the most beloved SNL alumni and cofounder of the Upright Citizens' Brigade, involvement with the website Smart Girls at the Party, frequent turns as acting double for Meryl Streep, and her other gig as the mom of two young sons, she's not available for movie night.


Luckily we have the next best thing: Yes Please, Amy's hilarious and candid book. A collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, lists, and haikus from the mind of one of our most beloved entertainers, Yes Please offers Amy's thoughts on everything from her "too safe" childhood outside of Boston to her early days in New York City, her ideas about Hollywood and "the biz," the demon that looks back at all of us in the mirror, and her joy at being told she has a "face for wigs." Yes Please is chock-full of words and wisdom to live by.

Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

'You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing.'

I didn't know that much about Amy Poehler, apart from the obvious (she was in Mean Girl, Baby Mama, Parks and Recreation, and hosted the Golden Globes). I liked her from what I've seen - she was a bit odd, really funny, and doesn't make terribly mean jokes - but it wasn't until my sister bought this book and I read this review that I decided to pick it up. 

Reading this is like making a new friend. You get to know Amy's life in bite-size anecdotes, and while reading, I felt as if we were talking over a cup of coffee. It will surprise no one that Amy is as hilarious in writing as she is on TV, but she also comes across as sincere and warm. She confessed to the low moments and pointed out her accomplishments, and when she gave advice it never felt condescending, because you can see where she's coming from.

My interest waned a little during the chapters on her improv career, though I loved the behind-the-scene snaps on Saturday Night Live, so maybe it was a matter of recognising the names and places she talked about. If you are a hardcore Amy Poehler fan, you'll love this book. If you, like me, are not that familiar with her work, there are still plenty of entertainment and wisdom to be found in this book.

'Decide what your currency is early. Let go of what you will never have. People who do this are happier and sexier.'