5 out of 5 Stars
5 Stars: Absolutely Loved It! A Favorite! A Recommendation to Anyone! A Re-Read At Anytime!
Synopsis:
In Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher tells the true and intoxicating story of her life with inimitable wit. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in a little movie called Star Wars when only 19 years old. “But it isn’t all sweetness and light sabres.” Alas, aside from a demanding career and her role as a single mother (not to mention the hyperspace hairdo), Carrie also spends her free time battling addiction, weathering the wild ride of manic depression and lounging around various mental institutions. It’s an incredible tale – from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother, to marrying (and divorcing) Paul Simon, from having the father of her daughter leave her for a man, to ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.
My Review:
These are my honest thoughts and feelings of this book and have no been influenced in any shape, form, or fashion.
You know how you read a book by someone and it sticks with you? Or you’ve discovered that a favorite actress has written a memoir about her time on the set of a movie you’ve seen since you were a child? That’s one of these. I read The Princess Diarist (I’ll leave a link at the end) early this year and fell in love with it. I managed to finish the book in less than twelve hours. I inhaled the book. Well with Wishful Drinking I did that again. Except I finished this in just a few hours. I enjoyed every bit of this book.
One of the first things that we discover is that Carrie is fifty-two years old in the book. We have discovered that she has also willingly participated in electro-shock therapy. While it sounds horrible and she at first was totally against it she was finally in that place where most of us wish never to find ourselves. Between the rock and the hard place at the bottom of a canyon. She opens up to her readers in the book the same way she did in The Princess Diarist. Some things are funny to read. I laughed many times during this book.
It was hard not to laugh at what she would write. She talks about the death of a gay friend of hers, Greg, in her bed at the very beginning. She talks about her marriage to Paul Simon and her mother always her mother. You can feel the love that she has for her mother pouring out of the book. Some of the things that her mother says is funny as well and you just cannot help but laugh at the fun Debbie Reynolds. There were a few things I also saw myself saying, “Yep, I bet she really said that.” She told the raw truth of what she could remember after having her brain shocked a few times.
She talks about how Bryan left her with a one year old infant for another man. She talks about how her choices affected her daughter but how she is glad her daughter has gone to be the person she was at the time of the book. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has read The Princess Diarist. Hell, I would recommend this to anyone who is a sci-fi nerd because if you haven’t read a Carrie Fisher memoir and be a Star Wars fan then shame on you.
This opens up new doors to the life of Carrie Fisher. To things we all thought we knew but really didn’t. I hope that people pick up and read this because I think in some cases it opens up doors if you are bi-polar (manic depressive), an alcoholic, or an addict. It tells you there is hope and light at the end of a very long tunnel and you can survive. You just may survive a different way. This woman, the amazingly wonderful woman, was an advocate not just in her life but also in her words that live on even though she is now gone.
If you find yourself between the rock and hard place remember you are not alone!
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