Not only does Poehler repeatedly encourage women to reject stereotypes and believe in themselves, but she does so while acknowledging her own privilege. The book serves up a perfect blend of self-analysis and self-help. I read it out loud to my wife on a long car trip, and we kept pausing to laugh and relate.Īs someone who writes about and teaches feminist comedy, I relished Poehler’s refreshing candor and witty feminism. It’s not clear why the words “feminism” and “feminist” don’t actually appear in the book however, there’s no doubt that her memoir earns the F-word seal of approval. She tells good stories and refuses to take herself too seriously. In spite of her protests, which she admits could be a crafty attempt to lower expectations, it turns out that Poehler is a talented, insightful and, of course, humorous writer. The truth is, writing is this: hard and boring and occasionally great but usually not. She declares,Īuthors pretend their stories were always shiny and perfect and just waiting to be written. Anyone who has ever written anything will relate to her account of the procrastination, avoidance, psych-outs and psych-ups that went on behind the scenes in writing the book. Or so she says at great length in the preface (aptly titled “Writing is Hard”). You’ve probably heard the saying, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” Well, Amy Poehler makes comedy look easy, but her new memoir, Yes Please, nearly killed her.
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