Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wishful Drinking
Book Review: Hilariously awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
Even though I'm sure her one-woman show is funnier, Carrie Fisher's wit and humor definitely come across in this book. There's no plot, and little chronology, but it comes across the same as it would on stage. Just an iconic and kinda crazy woman, rambling on about her strange and interesting life. Any fans of Fisher or Star Wars would love it, and I think people who don't fit one of those categories would at least be amused by it. It's a quick read, with large print and pictures!Book Review: How To Beat Hollywood Fame Game Agita In One Memoir Or Less
Summary: 4 Stars
Got this as a gift for the 2nd day of the Jewish Festival of Lights and devoured it in one manic all nighter sitting. Many years ago I recall seeing Fisher at an infamous LA underground showbiz subculture award show event which lead me to believe that she's real people, not an elite snob. As for flakiness, show me a goodie-two-shoes in LA and I'll show you a never-was F lister off the social radar and movieland icon charts.
This tidy concise autobio reads like a female Lenny Bruce stand up comic stream of consciousness head trip filled with wit and candor revealing private mental challenges made public. They are painful but the honesty and straightforward priority of her verbiage exorcises demons through an infotainment of absolute truth void of denial or excuses. She doesn't defame others for her self described inbred past. Instead she blames fame.
What happens when dimly lit stars self destruct in a fishbowl is a lack of street smarts makes them trust establishment figures too much so that they are easy prey for shrinks and toxic drug prescriptions. All this when a lifetime of substance abuse can be their original sin to begin with. So, are seeds of emotional instability more rooted in the chicken of childhood family neglect or the egg of substance abuse escapism?
Winking at the reader to make real people down to earth points, Carrie the victim is living proof of the vain Hollywood cult of celebrity where being alive means being in front of audiences and the media and family life and love is labeled quality time. Her Hollywood royal parentage makes it clear that she's an alpha female with too strong a life force for mensches. Hot blood likes to argue and hints at a need for intimacy.
Disease bought in liquor stores or from drug dealers is weakness and bad food, drugs or booze poison our minds and bodies. No one is born with chemical imbalances without outside intake. Carrie exhibits over the top anecdotes over the medical version of who she is when her reality was of someone bored and in need of something to fill up her time. She chose drugs and that caused her to lose her mind. And not the other way around.
But if Carrie grew up normal or boring we wouldn't have had Fisher the great novelist. All literary savants are head cases. And aside from her sci-fi cinematic legend, she found her true calling in life in words and books where she was meant to be all along. She may be a case study for those whose job it is to say what's wrong with you if you need help. For me, Fisher is just a classic air sign who thinks too much and lives in her head.
The only downside of this book is the revelation of the shock treatment. But not for the shock value but because she is too good with words to be subject to clinical erasure of a lifetime of experience still valuable as storage baggage for future novels. That she underwent an ECT therapy memory clearance of past regrets to get better renews her pop relevance for fans who know that only A list people survive Hollywood's A list.
About her looks. At her best she resembled Mary Ellen from the Waltons, (Judy Norton-Taylor)---who was once in Playboy. Enough said. History shows all great writers have agita. Those who lose it lose themselves in words. It's only a matter of time before she gets her just due. This memoir is sodium pentathol for warm hearts and souls from a beautiful mind perfected through life's suffering. And we should all be so lucky.
Book Review: Humorous Confessional
Summary: 4 Stars
This book reads very quickly with a steady flow of wit with a dry, at times sarcastic but nearly always ironic tint. Written in the first person as if the author were pouring out her heart over an early morning coffee to a confidant, the book appears to take a very intimate course about Carrie's Fisher life from childhood through to her present status which is post electroshock therapy for depression. A cast of very famous people flows through her life, beginning of course with her parents, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. The first is glorified while the second fairs poorly. There is an attempt to seek an explanation for her later battles with drugs, alcohol and a bipolar disorder, but to me strong reasons do not appear. Expected milestones pass such as her father's infidelity with Elizabeth Taylor, Fisher's marriage to Paul Simon, as well as lesser known anecdotes such as one involving Bob Dylan and Carrie Grant. The book has the tone of a tell-all autobiography but clearly a lot of history and background is not revealed and to me it seems that the humor attempts to divert one from deeper issues. Overall the book is interesting and entertaining but it still leaves one wondering.Book Review: I Must Have Missed Something
Summary: 2 Stars
I think Carrie Fisher is a very interesting person and love to hear her interviewed. She's never boring. While this book did have its interesting moments and I finished it in one evening, its not what I would call hysterically funny. The insight into her childhood and the world she grew up in was great but I'm glad I didn't pay full price for the book.Book Review: If you are a fan of hers you will not be disappointed
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok Carrie, when did you marry Billie's father?
News to me.
I have been a fan of Carrie's for nearly 30 years. Guess that makes me bad being a fan since "Star Wars". She does bad mouth her fame & the success of the film. For all the bad points of it it did make you money remember that. Best I can call what she says.
Photos throughout as well. A disappointment was seeing all the "Star Wars" & "Jedi" photos we have seen a million times. Guess "Empire" did NOT matter as no photos from it. I was glad to see the rarer photos-just needed more of them.
Her wit is seen through out the book. I enjoyed that, her twists on things & how she puts things.
CARRIE, YOU NEED TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF YOURSELF.
No mention of Belshui or Dan Aykroyd, who she was supposed to have been engaged to years ago.
And, I did think the book should have been longer.
Or, will there be a part 2 Carrie?