Yes Please

Author: Amy Poehler

Amy has written this book like she is doing Improv, which in case you don't know, is a live form of theater where you make up things as you go along. The book reads more like a stream of consciousness than a story or message for the author.  The most endearing part of the book is that Amy is authentic and tells it like she sees it. I listened to the audiobook which has Amy tell it in her own voice and she is super entertaining. There’s some learning moments and there’s a bunch of zingers that are oh-so-true. Here’s a sample of the ones that I am saving for the right occasion:

• “I believe great people do things before they are ready.”
• “Anger and embarrassment are often neighbors.”
• "Stop whining about getting old. It's a privilege. A lot of people who are dead wish they were still alive."
• "Nobody looks stupid when they are having fun."

The parts of the book that fitted a more traditional biography were the most appealing to me. When Amy was recollecting her childhood days, I could personally identify with all the descriptions. The lack of ubiquitous cellphones, the reliance on the answering machine, believing MTV was the greatest thing, etc. all brought back fond memories of my first few years in the U.S.

Overall, this is a romp through the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty first as told by one funny and spontaneous woman.