Wishful Drinking
by Carrie Fisher
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Book Reviews of Wishful Drinking
Book Review: An eye-opening look at Carrie Fisher's life
Summary: 4 Stars
Wishful Drinking is a no-holes-barred tell-all tale about growing up in a famous, totally dysfunctional home, authored by one of the funniest actresses in Hollywood.
Carrie Fisher, best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in Star Wars, is the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. As she is fond of saying, she is the "...product of Hollywood inbreeding. When two celebrities mate, something like me is the result." Fisher recounts her early life with a loving, albeit celebrity mother who was often away filming a movie, and an absentee father who was more interested in his latest girlfriend. Fisher isn't shy about exposing her father's infidelities. When discussing how he left her mother for Elizabeth Taylor, the author describes her father rushing to Taylor's side as "He dried her eyes with his handkerchief, then he consoled her with flowers, and he ultimately consoled her with his..." (fill in the blank).
It is clear that the Fisher household was an unusual atmosphere in which to grow up, but the author makes no apologies and asks for no sympathy. Fisher is full of love and admiration for her mother while also pointing out Debbie Reynolds' eccentricities with quotes such as "...this from a woman who when asked for dating advice says, `For what age?'"
Fisher is quite open about her struggles with alcoholism, drugs and bipolar disorder, but this is not a dull, depressing look at the life of a rich celebrity as Fisher inserts plenty of humor into her telling of the events. "I mean, let's face it, my most creative achievement at that time was having unnecessary gum surgery just for the morphine. (I don't think you can use the word "just" and "morphine" anywhere near each other.)"
At 156 pages, with plenty of pictures throughout, and written in a conversational style reminiscent of Fisher's stage show, Wishful Drinking is a quick read. There are plenty of laughs as Fisher is at her best telling her life story. It would have been nice to tone down the overuse of four letter words and some of the references are a bit crude.
Quill says: Overall a fun, eye opening look at the life of Carrie Fisher.
Book Review: A Memoir on Spin Cycle
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, my, my. When Carrie offers you a tour through her manic-depressive illness, expect a brisk ride! She begins by telling you that she chose electroconvulsive therapy as a last resort at age 52, after drugs and alcohol and flawed relationships failed to ease--and surely added to--her profound depression ("when weighing the choice between ECT or DOA, the decision is easy to make"). She says she wrote this book in part because her memory was wrenched from her by this treatment, and she needed to reacquaint herself with herself. But who exactly IS this bawdy broad with her pungent humor and skewering disclosures of privacy?
Virtually barren of self-pity, Carrie tells you her story in unsparing terms. Mom Debbie Reynolds is "inextinguishable and amazing," having among other things helped her to confront adolescence with offers of pot and a vibrator. Dad Eddie Fisher, who famously abandoned his family for Elizabeth Taylor, is acknowledged with "thanks for the highest grade of absence available on earth." As her shortest husband, Paul Simon is told not to stand next to her at parties out of fear that they would be mistaken as a pair of salt-and-pepper shakers. Then there is George W. Bush, who early in his political career found it funny to fart in a room about to host VIPs, before sprinting for the door to escape the miasma. And let's not forget her gay Republican buddy who makes the mistake of dying next to Carrie in bed, or her brother Todd (named after Mike Todd, incidentally) who shoots himself in the leg despite being the "hogger of all the sanity available in our freak family." Her list of characters goes on and on. Moreover, who else can claim that she became Princess Leia at age 19, later to be immortalized as a Pez dispenser, or then to become a best-selling author and well-known actress? Ain't much normal about this girl's life, and she speeds up and bounces around while telling her tale--that's the manic part. But Carrie simmers with a wit and intelligence that make you want to buckle up and board her roller coaster. Five stars and a quick read in only 163 pages with lots of pictures.
Book Review: Star Flaws
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're looking for a detailed, comprehensive autobiography from Carrie Fisher, this isn't it. Wishful Drinking is breezy, anecdotal and tangential. Although I didn't know it was adapted from a stage show when I read it, I can imagine it's wonderful live. Fisher's writing has an intimacy that's tied to its informality - you get the feeling this is what you'd hear if you met Fisher at a party and said "tell me about yourself." At the same time, its obvious these are stories Fisher has told often - and well. She has the timing down and gets to the high - and low - points pretty quickly.
Fisher's had a fascinating life. Starting with mother Debbie Reynolds, she's crossed paths with many famous and fascinating people. She shares her off-the-cuff memories of these legends with great humor, style and kindness. Having struggled with various addictions and mental illnesses through the course of her life, she sees the foibles of others in a way that's clear and compassionate. She may poke fun, but she isn't mean.
It's hard to reconcile Fisher's descriptions of her depression with how smart, funny and full of life she sounds on the page. Aren't people who are mentally ill supposed to be bad company? Well, Fisher reminds us, of course not. Her keen observations and marvelous good humor prove that being depressed isn't necessarily depressing.
Wishful Drinking is an uplifting and entertaining snapshot of Fisher as she is today. She shares the stories that she feels like telling you now, and my only disappointment stems from greed - I didn't want it to end! You know there's a lot more to Fisher's story than this, and her charming and funny voice makes me want to hear it all. But Fisher's been raised in show business, the first rule of which is to always leave them wanting more.
I appreciate Fisher's honesty, humor and generosity in sharing these often-painful recollections. I pray she finds the good health, balance and peace of mind she deserves.
Scott Sherman, author, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery
Book Review: 3.5 Stars.... entertaining yet not fully satisfying
Summary: 4 Stars
Carrie Fisher is of course an icon, playing Princess Leila in the original Star Wars movie, and later becoming a genuine writer (in particular with "Postcards from the Edge" (which in turn was made into a successful movie with Meryl Streep). Yet at the same time, she went through some well-documented troubled times, the public figure that she is. Even though earlier works (like the afore-mentioned "Postcards From the Edge") drew on her real-life experiences, she had never written a proper memoir. Until now.
In "Wishful Drinking" (163 pages), Carrie Fisher brings us what it's like to grow up as an ultimate Hollywood child (being the daughter of 1950-60s icons Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds). The book starts off with "Hi I'm Carrie Fisher and I'm and alcoholic, and this is a true story". Early on in the book, Carrie warns us that "my reality has been formed by Hollywood's version of reality. As a child, I thought that Father Knows Best was real and that my life was fake." while at the same time informing us that her memories have been "reintroduced by electroconvulsive therapy... at the ripe old age of fifty-two", wow. That said, the entire undertone of the book is quite funny and entertaining (more on that later), and as such the pages fly by. Carrie drops names of other famous people on the fly (because that is how she meets).
Yet what I find a bit puzzling, and in the end disappointing, is how little she relates to us on her addictions and how she's been able to overcome them. At 163 pages, it all seems too brushed at the edges, without going into any deeper of it. This may be explained by the fact that this book is apparently based on Carrie's stand-up act of all this (also under the "Wishful Drinking" name) that eventually lead to this book. But not having seen the stand-up act (which I imagine is intended to be mostly just funny, and which I have not seen), the book doesn't leave me satisfied as to me there are too many aspects of her addictions, and her struggle to overcome them, are not addressed.
Book Review: Easy on the eyes and soft on the heart...a wonderful book from a wise and truly brilliant comic --
Summary: 5 Stars
Where Terri Cheney describes in her book -- Manic: A Memoir -- her depression, electroshock therapy and use of prescription drugs and alcohol in a serious, heartbreaking manner, Carrie Fisher's book -- Wishful Drinking -- recounts many similar experiences from more of a "been-there, done-that" survivor's perspective.
Fisher's inside stories of being the daughter of glamour couple Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, her marriage to folk-rock icon Paul Simon, being Princess Leia of Star Wars fame, learning that her husband and father of her daughter is gay, and dealing with being manic-depressive, bipolar and drug issues, is told in an honest, straight-forward and hilarious manner.
We've all -- whether we live in Kansas or Beverly Hills -- had weird, strange disasters to befall us. It's just part of being human. And, while the event may seem like the end of the world to us at the time they occur, years later they become just another funny story we tell to our best friends to share a laugh with. This is that sort of book, only Carrie Fisher has had more weird, strange events happen to her than most of the rest of us would in five lifetimes!
I loved the feeling of being privy to know what it's like to grow up in Beverly Hills, to learn what she thought of having such wealthy and famous parents. To hear the inside-stories of her father, ex-husband and George Lucas' owning her image from Star Wars' to make money off pez despensers, posters and a wide variety of other odds and ends.
At some point, a lot of us who deal with trying to live in such a crazy world decide to either give up and be angry at life forever, or -- and it's a choice I admire and believe in myself -- we just squeeze the lemons in our life dry, add sugar (and more than a bit of humor) and make lemonade. Bravo Carrie ! Good job, great lemonade !
R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University