Review: Year of Yes By Shonda Rhimes

Title: Year of Yes
Author: Shonda Rhimes
Genre: Memoir
Source: Paperback
Rating: 3 out of 5 paws

Shonda Rhimes is the creator of hit shows like Grey's Anatomy and Scandal. In her memoir she discusses taking a year and saying Yes to anything that scares her and takes her outside of her comfort zone.  Throughout her book Shonda discusses the events that put her outside her comfort zone and how those moments helped her grow, and become a stronger woman.

I was super excited to read this book because I love Shonda's shows and from what I have read about her she is a strong powerful, and inspirational woman. I was excited to see what she learned about stepping outside your comfort zone because that is something I also do not do.  If it is something scary to me then I do not do it. That being said, I have to admit I feel a little let down with this book.  Don't get me wrong I love her writing style and at point I was laughing and I enjoyed the book for the most part, but it was not what I was expecting.

A good bit of what she talks about deals with her fame and as she continued to remind readers, how she's a big time Hollywood writer. Now I think it's amazing she found success, but what I wanted to learn along the way was how did she find that success?  What rejections did she have, what lead her to where she is, maybe that's a different book.  BUT what I was hoping for was what did she learn from giving a speech at Darmouth, not reading what the speech said.

The best sections where when she discussed her body image and saying yes to accepting who she is, but also saying yes to wanting to get healthy rather than fitting into a certain body image, and when she realized she didn't want to be married which ultimately ended a relationship.   Those points felt true and honest, that we got into a deep part of Shonda, but the rest of it felt more like a "look at me" type of story.  She talks about the importance of her family, but we don't get many story about her family and how they have helped her through the year of yes other than something her sister said which prompted the experiment.

I so wanted to like the book more than I did, and like I said it is not so much her writing style which is very fun and pleasant.  It was more of how she presented herself.  I wanted more depth to the book, much like what we see in her shows, but we don't get that.  Though it did prompt me to ponder doing a year of yes myself and see what happens.