Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parker

I have admired Mary Louise Parker since the premiere of Weeds. I loved her in Weeds and when I heard that she wrote articles for Esquire and other publications, of course I was curious. After I read one article, I was hooked. Needless to say, when I saw she wrote a book, I HAD to read it. I actually didn't know that this was said book until I had already gotten hooked with the description. I just happened to be browsing NetGalley, and I always read the description before looking at the author or reviews. Yes, I knew that MLP wrote well enough to produce a good article here and there, but I had no clue she was such an exceptional writer!

From the very first letter in the book, i Could tell how well written it was and that I was going to enjoy it. The book is a collection of letters written to various men that she has encountered, throughout her life.

I related to the chapter about the three-headed dog the most. It read like a more creatively-written chapter out of my own life. With the end of the chapter I have just now realized. Ok, tiny spoiler (kind of). Anyone who has ever been in an abusive relationship will relate to this and appreciate her interpretation of it (or at least I did).

As I expected from reading MLP's articles, this book is funny, possibly even more than I expected it to be, or perhaps just a different kind of funny than I expected. She seamlessly balances wit with serious life lessons and painful memories. She apologizes to NASA for not believing they were useful in the past. That's all you need to know.

And the way she speaks of her children and reminisces over memories of her son,

and that time he said Mary-Louise, Mar-la-weez, Mar-la the beautiful, Mar-la beautiful, that's it, Mommy, I will call you Mar-la beautiful. I will call you that forever, until my bones are air.

Small spoiler (kind of, but not really): MLP writes one letter to the orderly in the hospital when her son was born, which ends with:

I haven't even heard it yet, the sound that will make me happy to have been born, mommy. I have that coming. It will make one taller, brighter, better. Put everything in its proper order of importance. 

Reading about some of the inspirational men in her life made me want to go meet people like them (or them), so that I can have a similar relationship with them.  The Storyteller being the epitomy of this.

We told each other already. There is no need to write to you, I just wanted to see you in these pages, despite the fact that I cannot put you into words. You mean something untranslatable.

The chapter about adopting her daughter made me cry. And she writes to an animal, which made me love her on a whole other level! Even though, at first, (minor spoiler) I thought she was writing to a dog, this made me so happy!

This book also taught me a few things. I learned about the theory of epigenetics...not going to give a spoiler here. If you don't plan on reading the book, Google it. If you do, then read this first and Google it later to learn more.

Most of all, I want to hang out with MLP more than ever, but I'm also really sad that I never met her father.

This was one of the best books that I've read in a while. this one will stick with me in a way that few books will. I have very few girlfriends, and I want MLP to be one of them!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.