04 Jan / Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes [in Library Journal]
*STARRED REVIEW
Rhimes has become one of television’s most powerful women – her ShondaLand production company owns Thursday night with Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away with Murder. But career success aside, Rhimes is an introvert who was perfectly happy turning down most of the invitations and promotional opportunities that came her way. That is, until an older sister said six words that sparked a personal revolution: “You never say yes to anything.”
Rhimes’s response? Change everything. She says yes to a commencement speech at her alma mater, Dartmouth; yes to her daughters when they ask to play – even when she’s busy; yes to embracing her “badassery”; yes to a healthier self. She shares happy stories from childhood, how Grey‘s Christina Yang voiced everything Rhimes couldn’t say herself, and that saying “yes” can also mean saying “no” – including to marriage to the perfect man.
Verdict: Rhimes herself reads her raw, revelatory memoir, and the result is an epiphanic gift of audacity, wit, guffaws, and “girrrrrrrrrrl”-worthy wisdom.
Review: “Audio,” Library Journal, January 1, 2016
Readers: Adult
Published: 2015