Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
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Book Reviews of Wishful Drinking
Book Review: Double Edged Drollery that is Unexpectedly Optimistic
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent all of kindergarten waiting for my brown hair to return to the blonde of babyhood. It was the early 1970's and I would look at women on book jackets, TV shows and magazine covers. My immature inarticulate instincts informed me that these women were being held up as something to strive for, as the feminine version of success so to speak. I noted that they all shared one characteristic. Long Blonde Hair. At the tender age of five I reluctantly abdicated all hope of ever getting my own starring TV role or becoming a modern day princess. It couldn't happen. Not without blonde hair.
Somewhere along the way my body had unwittingly betrayed me. Soon after I turned four my fine dark blonde baby hair metamorphised into a near black thick mop. Once into grade school I realized through observation that light hair went dark, but dark hair did not go light; unless you used peroxide which folks thought was kind of tarty.
Resigned to my wallflower's fate time goes by. The summer of 1977 rolls around and my mother takes me to see Star Wars. Princess Leia enters the screen and I am transfixed by both her strange braided buns and her attitude. She never once bats her eyes to inflame the hero to acts of masculine bravado. Instead her favorite weapons are a sharp tongue, quick wits and when she can get it - a blaster.
Immediately I wanted to be an adventurous heroine too, and I wanted to have long, long hair - just like her. No longer did I want to endure my practical page boy, a "style" that even I recognized was unglam. New potential awakened within me I peep at my mother sitting in the cinema beside me and I have one of my few memorable moments of juvenile illumination.
My mother had long dark hair.
Like Fisher who has always felt outclassed by her own mother's extraordinary beauty, my adequately attractive crop does not compare to the perfect luxury of my mother's youthful tresses which fell glowing to her waist in a sheath of dark chocolate color tipped by highlights of coppery auburn, and so thick that an elastic hair wrap would often snap in half from the pressure of holding back her ponytail.
I had never before seen a movie with a blonde acting so brave, tough and fun as brown-haired Princess Leia. I had never ever seen a blonde with hair as awesome as my mother's completely gorgeous mane. In my nascent femininity I concluded - maybe there was something to being a brunette.
In some way, in some manner, girls all over America were reconsidering their potential as women by taking in this new kind of heroine. And Carrie Fisher is the iconic face of that heroine. Something which thankfully she doesn't take too seriously.
The role of Princess Leia has made Carrie Fisher equally or more famous than her Hollywood parents Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. In her latest book, a memoir, "Wishful Drinking" Fisher lets it all hang out about growing up a Hollywood kid in a dsyfunctional, (even for Hollywood standards) family, her celebrity status, and her various love relationships, including her longstanding romance with singer/songwriter Paul Simon. She also explains some of the freakier incidents that have landed her in the tabloids along with her experiences surrounding her alcoholism, drug addiction and manic-depression diagnosis.
I was unable to read one of her previous novels, "Postcards from the Edge" because I became weary of an endless litany of one-liners which eventually left me in despair of ever picking up the plot. Call me square but I still like my fiction to contain an easily distinguishable plot.
But a memoir by its nature provides enough structure to contain Fisher's inability to pass up a punch line. I read it very quickly which I thought to be a plus, not a disparagement. Thankfully missing is the painful minutia sometimes present in personal memoirs. Instead Fisher rolls along, going from topic to topic, in a way that is strangely not confusing to the reader since it is as if a girlfriend has plopped down on the couch beside you and is telling you about her day. Fisher doesn't dwell on her failures, or overly defend them. The author can admit to the privileges she enjoys, but doesn't dismiss the real challenges of her life either.
Not everyone can adequately distance themselves from their difficulties and portray distress and despair as delightfully funny. Maintaining just the slightest edge of pain in humor makes for the best comedy and this aptitude is one of Fisher's strengths. She tells is like it is without laying it on too thick.
Dark double-edged drollery that is unexpectedly optimistic. A recommended read for all of those early Gen-Xers who adore the original Star Wars series.
Book Review: What a Read!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Carrie, you have done it again! I am writing this in the conversational style you have written Wishful Drinking in. I could not put the book down--and I would not call it a "Fast Read" with its depth. You show your reader that Whatever one is going through, one can transcend with humor, warmth, and a wide angle lens. I admire your honesty through all of your life experiences of Hollywood, Relationships, and your inner workings/plus struggles. What a gift to others full of malaise, resentment, and paralysis because of what life has given them: Very Transcendental and wonderful humor, new writing styles forged, and direct contact with your reader's own consciousness. Should one enjoy a non linear read, which actually is Not disorganized (language and thoughts Are circular--but you (Carrie) do this with clarity. For those wishing for serious diagnose of ailments, especially bipolar, they may read Jamison's own description in The Unquiet Mind. She is a very accomplished psychiatrist who could not believe, at first, she was bipolar. Now, she is writing about the connection between artists, geniuses and bipolar. For those wishing a start, go to the internet to look up Famous People with Bipolar--artists, actors, scientists--all fields past and present. There are one million people (or more) diagnosed with bipolar or who go undiagnosed. Should more write of their experiences,Carrie, you would not feel like a "poster child" Should one look at this country, or the world--would you not call it bipolar too? I am writing this in response to those who wished more serious issues addressed, in the midst of reviews. I could write much much more and cite. Find out what you think.Carrie Fisher is the writer's writer in her style and ability to open up one's own creativity. She is Proust, Virgina Woolf, Faulkner-- with a comical edge spanning Hollywood and the Universe. For the reader, this is a must read. You will feel that you are listening,sympathizing, and laughing over life with her over tea at home, or cappuccino at a cafe. Thanks Carrie! I want to read it again! Rochmanna Miller-A Los Angelino too.
A byline: Actually, Wishful drinking does not discuss bipolar that much. Postcards on the Edge discussed self medication,and The Best Awful, the journey into discovery of bipolar. I had written this because there may some who are judgmental, because of lack of the most scientific evidence regarding brain chemicals (such as lack of seratonin) now featured in such magazines as Time. There are different forms and it raps around the personality of each person differently. This add on will hopefully encourage others to read more on the findings, and for Carrie to feel less like the Poster Child who had the courage to discuss it.
Book Review: A Memoir on Spin Cycle
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, my, my. When Carrie offers you a tour through her manic-depressive illness, expect a brisk ride! She begins by telling you that she chose electroconvulsive therapy as a last resort at age 52, after drugs and alcohol and flawed relationships failed to ease--and surely added to--her profound depression ("when weighing the choice between ECT or DOA, the decision is easy to make"). She says she wrote this book in part because her memory was wrenched from her by this treatment, and she needed to reacquaint herself with herself. But who exactly IS this bawdy broad with her pungent humor and skewering disclosures of privacy?
Virtually barren of self-pity, Carrie tells you her story in unsparing terms. Mom Debbie Reynolds is "inextinguishable and amazing," having among other things helped her to confront adolescence with offers of pot and a vibrator. Dad Eddie Fisher, who famously abandoned his family for Elizabeth Taylor, is acknowledged with "thanks for the highest grade of absence available on earth." As her shortest husband, Paul Simon is told not to stand next to her at parties out of fear that they would be mistaken as a pair of salt-and-pepper shakers. Then there is George W. Bush, who early in his political career found it funny to fart in a room about to host VIPs, before sprinting for the door to escape the miasma. And let's not forget her gay Republican buddy who makes the mistake of dying next to Carrie in bed, or her brother Todd (named after Mike Todd, incidentally) who shoots himself in the leg despite being the "hogger of all the sanity available in our freak family." Her list of characters goes on and on. Moreover, who else can claim that she became Princess Leia at age 19, later to be immortalized as a Pez dispenser, or then to become a best-selling author and well-known actress? Ain't much normal about this girl's life, and she speeds up and bounces around while telling her tale--that's the manic part. But Carrie simmers with a wit and intelligence that make you want to buckle up and board her roller coaster. Five stars and a quick read in only 163 pages with lots of pictures.
Book Review: Star Flaws
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're looking for a detailed, comprehensive autobiography from Carrie Fisher, this isn't it. Wishful Drinking is breezy, anecdotal and tangential. Although I didn't know it was adapted from a stage show when I read it, I can imagine it's wonderful live. Fisher's writing has an intimacy that's tied to its informality - you get the feeling this is what you'd hear if you met Fisher at a party and said "tell me about yourself." At the same time, its obvious these are stories Fisher has told often - and well. She has the timing down and gets to the high - and low - points pretty quickly.
Fisher's had a fascinating life. Starting with mother Debbie Reynolds, she's crossed paths with many famous and fascinating people. She shares her off-the-cuff memories of these legends with great humor, style and kindness. Having struggled with various addictions and mental illnesses through the course of her life, she sees the foibles of others in a way that's clear and compassionate. She may poke fun, but she isn't mean.
It's hard to reconcile Fisher's descriptions of her depression with how smart, funny and full of life she sounds on the page. Aren't people who are mentally ill supposed to be bad company? Well, Fisher reminds us, of course not. Her keen observations and marvelous good humor prove that being depressed isn't necessarily depressing.
Wishful Drinking is an uplifting and entertaining snapshot of Fisher as she is today. She shares the stories that she feels like telling you now, and my only disappointment stems from greed - I didn't want it to end! You know there's a lot more to Fisher's story than this, and her charming and funny voice makes me want to hear it all. But Fisher's been raised in show business, the first rule of which is to always leave them wanting more.
I appreciate Fisher's honesty, humor and generosity in sharing these often-painful recollections. I pray she finds the good health, balance and peace of mind she deserves.
Scott Sherman, author, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery
Book Review: Easy on the eyes and soft on the heart...a wonderful book from a wise and truly brilliant comic --
Summary: 5 Stars
Where Terri Cheney describes in her book -- Manic: A Memoir -- her depression, electroshock therapy and use of prescription drugs and alcohol in a serious, heartbreaking manner, Carrie Fisher's book -- Wishful Drinking -- recounts many similar experiences from more of a "been-there, done-that" survivor's perspective.
Fisher's inside stories of being the daughter of glamour couple Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, her marriage to folk-rock icon Paul Simon, being Princess Leia of Star Wars fame, learning that her husband and father of her daughter is gay, and dealing with being manic-depressive, bipolar and drug issues, is told in an honest, straight-forward and hilarious manner.
We've all -- whether we live in Kansas or Beverly Hills -- had weird, strange disasters to befall us. It's just part of being human. And, while the event may seem like the end of the world to us at the time they occur, years later they become just another funny story we tell to our best friends to share a laugh with. This is that sort of book, only Carrie Fisher has had more weird, strange events happen to her than most of the rest of us would in five lifetimes!
I loved the feeling of being privy to know what it's like to grow up in Beverly Hills, to learn what she thought of having such wealthy and famous parents. To hear the inside-stories of her father, ex-husband and George Lucas' owning her image from Star Wars' to make money off pez despensers, posters and a wide variety of other odds and ends.
At some point, a lot of us who deal with trying to live in such a crazy world decide to either give up and be angry at life forever, or -- and it's a choice I admire and believe in myself -- we just squeeze the lemons in our life dry, add sugar (and more than a bit of humor) and make lemonade. Bravo Carrie ! Good job, great lemonade !
R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University