Yes, Please

Yes Please by Amy Poehler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The audiobook version is fantastic! Amy Poehler herself "reads" it, but it never feels like reading--more like she's just talking to you and telling stories. She also gets Carol Burnett, Kathleen Turner, and Patrick Stewart to read her chapter titles, Seth Meyers to read a chapter he's written (i.e. chat with Amy in the sound booth and read his chapter), Mike Schur(?) to chat with her about creating the TV show "Parks and Rec," and even her parents have small speaking moments. It's a very humorous book.

Fair warning, though: Amy has a potty mouth much of the time and apparently spent much of her twenties and part of her thirties stoned, so it's not suitable for tender ears. I could only listen to it when my toddler wasn't in the car.

I might have given it 5 stars if it weren't for the abundance of swearing and my disappointment in Amy for all the drug use and smoking. Everyone has their own journey to get to where they are today, and I wouldn't have wanted her to lie about her life, but for me it was heartbreaking to know that she had done so many stupid things in her younger years--a hero falling off a pedestal, I suppose. Such a waste--think of all the (much funnier) things she could have written and performed during those years if she hadn't been stoned! She's really proud of the Upright Citizens' Brigade (UCB) improv company she helped found and is still involved with, but some of the stories she tells about them are appalling--like pressuring their entire audience to smoke pot before they would start one particular performance. Dude, if you have to be stoned to enjoy it, it's probably not that good!

Still, if you're debating between reading and listening to this book, I'd recommend listening. Hands down, no question.

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