A clever, surprising self-help gem, worth reading in or out of the bathroom.
The creator of Poo-Pourri deodorizing spray uses the story of her business’s success to offer advice on living with intention, combating fear, and other topics.
What do going to the bathroom and creating a life of abundance have to do with each other? According to debut author Bátiz, the CEO of Poo-Pourri: everything. After a cheeky video promoting her bathroom spray went viral in 2013, her company had a wild growth spurt, she writes. Her company’s success, she says, has depended on her positive attitude and enthusiastic risk-taking. In one bold move, for example, her willingness to book a flight to meet with the CEO of a sprayer manufacturer helped to solve a production crisis. She weaves similar anecdotes (or “poo Parables”) into 10 chapters. The 10 pieces of advice, or “Woos,” cover everything from cultivating an open mind, facing fear, trusting your gut, and acting with intention. There are surprising insights in the pun-laden advice (such as the idea that shame about defecation is related to “limits to how we lead our lives”), and tangible exercises (in sections titled “Take a Shift”) offer useful ways to apply Bátiz’s advice right away. The young company’s history is used frequently for lessons (its viral “Girls Don’t Poop” video, for instance, is mentioned several times). But there’s a sincere desire to inspire in Bátiz’s writing: “The world wants you to succeed. Honestly it does.” The toilet humor is clever and only sometimes overreaching (“We stand on the shoulders of loving, pooping giants”). Quotes from everyone from Frank Zappa to Albert Einstein accompany the chapters, alongside colorful drawings of celestial posteriors or a toilet bowl exploding with flowers. Even cynical readers may find something to love (or laugh at) in this beautifully presented guide to improving wellness.
A clever, surprising self-help gem, worth reading in or out of the bathroom.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: No. 2 Productions
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A miscellany of paternal pride (and frustration) darkened by the author’s increasing realizations of his mortality.
Ruminations and reminiscences of an author—now in his 70s—about fatherhood, writing, and death.
O’Brien (July, July, 2002, etc.), who achieved considerable literary fame with both Going After Cacciato (1978) and The Things They Carried (1990), returns with an eclectic assembly of pieces that grow increasingly valedictory as the idea of mortality creeps in. (The title comes from the author’s uncertainty about his ability to assemble these pieces in a single volume.) He begins and ends with a letter: The initial one is to his first son (from 2003); the terminal one, to his two sons, both of whom are now teens (the present). Throughout the book, there are a number of recurring sections: “Home School” (lessons for his sons to accomplish), “The Magic Show” (about his long interest in magic), and “Pride” (about his feelings for his sons’ accomplishments). O’Brien also writes often about his own father. One literary figure emerges as almost a member of the family: Ernest Hemingway. The author loves Hemingway’s work (except when he doesn’t) and often gives his sons some of Papa’s most celebrated stories to read and think and write about. Near the end is a kind of stand-alone essay about Hemingway’s writings about war and death, which O’Brien realizes is Hemingway’s real subject. Other celebrated literary figures pop up in the text, including Elizabeth Bishop, Andrew Marvell, George Orwell, and Flannery O’Connor. Although O’Brien’s strong anti-war feelings are prominent throughout, his principal interest is fatherhood—specifically, at becoming a father later in his life and realizing that he will miss so much of his sons’ lives. He includes touching and amusing stories about his toddler sons, about the sadness he felt when his older son became a teen and began to distance himself, and about his anguish when his sons failed at something.
A miscellany of paternal pride (and frustration) darkened by the author’s increasing realizations of his mortality.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-618-03970-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
The book would have benefited from a tighter structure, but it’s inspiring and relatable for readers with depression.
The creator and host of the titular podcast recounts his lifelong struggles with depression.
With the increasing success of his podcast, Moe, a longtime radio personality and author whose books include The Deleted E-Mails of Hillary Clinton: A Parody (2015), was encouraged to open up further about his own battles with depression and delve deeper into characteristics of the disease itself. Moe writes about how he has struggled with depression throughout his life, and he recounts similar experiences from the various people he has interviewed in the past, many of whom are high-profile entertainers and writers—e.g. Dick Cavett and Andy Richter, novelist John Green. The narrative unfolds in a fairly linear fashion, and the author relates his family’s long history with depression and substance abuse. His father was an alcoholic, and one of his brothers was a drug addict. Moe tracks how he came to recognize his own signs of depression while in middle school, as he experienced the travails of OCD and social anxiety. These early chapters alternate with brief thematic “According to THWoD” sections that expand on his experiences, providing relevant anecdotal stories from some of his podcast guests. In this early section of the book, the author sometimes rambles. Though his experiences as an adolescent are accessible, he provides too many long examples, overstating his message, and some of the humor feels forced. What may sound naturally breezy in his podcast interviews doesn’t always strike the same note on the written page. The narrative gains considerable momentum when Moe shifts into his adult years and the challenges of balancing family and career while also confronting the devastating loss of his brother from suicide. As he grieved, he writes, his depression caused him to experience “a salad of regret, anger, confusion, and horror.” Here, the author focuses more attention on the origins and evolution of his series, stories that prove compelling as well.
The book would have benefited from a tighter structure, but it’s inspiring and relatable for readers with depression.Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20928-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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