Title: Wishful Drinking
Author: Carrie Fisher
Publication: September 8, 2009
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Biographies
Pages: 176
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Goodreads
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
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.
REVIEW:
Most of us know Carrie Fisher. Know that she was a galactic princess everyone loved and a person who as she said filled the dreams of people in her metal bikini. But do we actually know her? When I found this book at Goodwill, I believe, I snatched it up. I knew that she had had issues over the years and her untimely death at the age of 60 shocked everyone. I wanted to read about her and her struggles that she had.
Did you know that Carrie had Electric Shock Therapy to help treat her Bipolar Disorder? I had no clue. I knew through various articles and things like that that she had an issue with drugs and alcohol. I listened to this book and it was wonderfully read by Carrie Fisher, which, I think all memoirs should be read by the author it just adds something extra to it. This as she said in the book is basically her tour routine out into book form. She covers everything from her birth to the convoluted relationships that took place in her life. Her stepfather’s and her mother’s relationships. She even covers her past relationships.
This book had me giggling and gasping at times it even made me cringe once or twice. It is a raw look inside a Hollywood celebrity. We think that it is all sunshine and roses but that is the polished outer shell that they want us to see. Carrie shows us that. She talks about how her mother would go from Hollywood glam to just there mom just by removing her fancy dress and makeup. We see that with Carrie. She loved to cook for her daughter. For the longest time her mother was so revolted by her cooking dinner for her daughter…dear that is what so and so is for….. I loved this book, I will look for other books by her since I know she was an accomplished author and has several books published.
