Kate Leaver
TonyKWishful Drinking
March 13th 2009 02:28
Carrie Fisher: Space Princess, Loving Mother, Alcoholic
[Book Review] Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher is many things to many people: a mother, an ex-wife, a grieving best friend, an in-patient, an out-patient and a damsel in distress. Her iconic croissant-like hairdo and gold bikini have ensured that space geeks and moviegoers will always think of Carrie as Princess Leia, but she went on to battle demons far worse than Jaba the Hutt.
Carrie Fisher has drunk, snorted and pinged her way through years of psychological anguish. The wry and endearingly bitter offspring of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, she delights in her own disfunction and makes superb use of the material her parents have provided. (Eddie Fisher ran off with Debbie's best gal-pal Elizabeth Taylor, before tallying up a string of pretty Hollywood ladies and forgoing all paternal duties).
"Wishful Drinking" is a triumph in cynicism. It is an honest, hilarious, disarming memoir. Carrie Fisher turns a phrase so exquisitely and so cleverly, her work is a joy to read despite its oft-tragic content. She covers a spectrum of devastating events; her husband leaving her for homosexuality, her best friend dying in the bed beside her, her admittance to hospitals, the disintegration of her relationship with Paul Simon (twice). But she does it all with such charming jest and such sharp wisdom you cannot help but enjoy the ride.
This memoir, for want of a less dull term, is everything an autobiographical piece of writing by a celebrity should be. It is short and sweet, at 162 pages. It is candid without being self-indulgent, it is entertaining without being gaudy.
Earth to Carrie Fisher: Keep writing babes, the literary world is a better place for having you in it.
[Book Review] Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher is many things to many people: a mother, an ex-wife, a grieving best friend, an in-patient, an out-patient and a damsel in distress. Her iconic croissant-like hairdo and gold bikini have ensured that space geeks and moviegoers will always think of Carrie as Princess Leia, but she went on to battle demons far worse than Jaba the Hutt.
Carrie Fisher has drunk, snorted and pinged her way through years of psychological anguish. The wry and endearingly bitter offspring of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, she delights in her own disfunction and makes superb use of the material her parents have provided. (Eddie Fisher ran off with Debbie's best gal-pal Elizabeth Taylor, before tallying up a string of pretty Hollywood ladies and forgoing all paternal duties).
"Wishful Drinking" is a triumph in cynicism. It is an honest, hilarious, disarming memoir. Carrie Fisher turns a phrase so exquisitely and so cleverly, her work is a joy to read despite its oft-tragic content. She covers a spectrum of devastating events; her husband leaving her for homosexuality, her best friend dying in the bed beside her, her admittance to hospitals, the disintegration of her relationship with Paul Simon (twice). But she does it all with such charming jest and such sharp wisdom you cannot help but enjoy the ride.
This memoir, for want of a less dull term, is everything an autobiographical piece of writing by a celebrity should be. It is short and sweet, at 162 pages. It is candid without being self-indulgent, it is entertaining without being gaudy.
Earth to Carrie Fisher: Keep writing babes, the literary world is a better place for having you in it.
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