Thank god Amy Poehler is not very nice

"I am not as nice as you think I am," Poehler says in her new book Yes Please. This is important and uplifting.

Amy Poehler
(Image credit: (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images))

I have to imagine that Amy Poehler is not unfamiliar with the passive aggressive undertones of Yes Please, the title of her new book. Sure, in the mouth of a well-bred 10-year-old boy accepting a slice of meatloaf from his grammy, it is all courtesy and humility. But coming from a grown woman, the phrase carries hints of frustration mixed with a sense of entitlement.

The tension between courtesy and frustration, humility and entitlement, sits at the center of Poehler's book, a mash-up of humor writing, advice, and biography of her time working on Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation. As a piece of literature it isn't great. The quality of the writing is inconsistent and the pace is bumpy. As a source of inspiration for women, however, it's spot on. The book has an important and uplifting message, one that can be boiled down to the fact that Amy Poehler is really not very nice.

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Elissa Strauss

Elissa Strauss writes about the intersection of gender and culture for TheWeek.com. She also writes regularly for Elle.com and the Jewish Daily Forward, where she is a weekly columnist.