Yes Please

I was having a conversation with someone who is for all intensive purposes my sister, and she casually mentioned that Amy Poehler had a book titled Yes Please. I did not hesitate to request the book from my local library even though I already have a great number of unread books on my shelves and unread library books in my possession. Despite the fact that everyone has requested Yes Please and I already had 5 library books, I was able to get the book soon after requesting it. I made it a priority and moved it up to number 2 of 6 on my list of library books to read. I love Amy Poehler. I think of Parks and Recreations as one of the last optimistic shows in existence, and the scene in Bossypants where her eyes go black, and she replies, “I don’t care if you like it,” makes her my spirit comedian. Yes Please is an entirely different species of book from Bossypants. It is part autobiography, part memoir, part self-help book and part scrapbook. Before even opening it, you will be impressed by how heavy it is. It is filled with thick glossy pages. Be careful when opening it because the binding begins to separate from the pages because of the weight. Initially it isn’t a quick read. I prefer autobiographies to be told in chronological order, but Amy Poehler’s book is told thematically though the theme may not be easy to discern. She is a bundle of energy and joy-that is the theme. Yes Please’s flaw is that Amy Poehler has a tendency to start a story, interrupt it with another while reassuring the reader, “More on that later,” then several other stories come in, and I’m not sure if she always kept her promise even though I believe that she did. Thankfully she stops doing this after awhile. Yes Please is dishy, frank and encouraging in the best ways. My favorite line, “I got that amazing feeling you get when you know you are going to lose it in the best, most self-righteous way.” (pg. 66) Read Yes Please if you’re an Amy Poehler fan, but perhaps wait if you have made all the right decisions and are still less healthy than the woman who has two kids and used to take cocaine while clearly devoting a chapter to how drugs are bad.