Wishful Drinking

Title: Wishful Drinking
Author: Carrie Fisher
Narrator: Carrie Fisher
First Published: December 2, 2008
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Pages: 178
Genre: Humor, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Rating:


Synopsis:

The bestselling author of Postcards from the Edge comes clean (well, sort of) in her first-ever memoir, adapted from her one-woman Broadway hit show. Fisher reveals what it was really like to grow up a product of “Hollywood in-breeding,” come of age on the set of a little movie called Star Wars, and become a cultural icon and bestselling action figure at the age of nineteen.

Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?). It’s an incredible tale: the child of Hollywood royalty—Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher—homewrecked by Elizabeth Taylor, marrying (then divorcing, then dating) Paul Simon, having her likeness merchandized on everything from Princess Leia shampoo to PEZ dispensers, learning the father of her daughter forgot to tell her he was gay, and ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.

Wishful Drinking, the show, has been a runaway success. Entertainment Weekly declared it “drolly hysterical” and the Los Angeles Times called it a “Beverly Hills yard sale of juicy anecdotes.” This is Carrie Fisher at her best—revealing her worst. She tells her true and outrageous story of her bizarre reality with her inimitable wit, unabashed self-deprecation, and buoyant, infectious humor.

Review

I grew up watching the original Star Wars trilogy and adored Princess Leia, she was and still is an enduring icon to this day. I picked up the audiobook for Wishful Drinking on a whim, despite not having much interest in the lives of celebrities, simply because it was available. I didn’t know much about Carrie Fisher before picking up this book, so it was interesting getting to know the woman behind the famous double buns and metal bikini.

Carrie recounts various amusing points in her life, even some of the darker times, with surprising self-awareness and wit. Her narration oozed sarcasm talking about the ridiculous drama of celebrity life, her absurd relationship with her celebrity parents, the surreal experience of becoming the character Princess Leia in the eyes of the public, her struggles with marriage, drug addiction, bipolar disorder, electroshock therapy, and happily, the joys of being a mother.

Even when discussing some of the worst moments in her life Carrie maintains a cheerful tone. I found the early parts of the book a little grating with some of the jokes, it is clear this was originally part of a comedy show. All of the bad things that happened are talked about so flippantly which made it all feel more surreal. Despite that, her humor was so infectious that by the end of the book, my husband and I were chuckling at every one of her clever jokes.

In all a decent memoir that will provide a few laughs, particularly for those that are already fans of Carrie Fisher or Star Wars.

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