Review: Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

 

As we all know by now, I am a memoir lover. I want to know everyone's story. We all know Carrie Fisher from her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise. However, personally, she's a really interesting lady. After reading Selma Blair's memoir, in which she talks about her friendship with Carrie, I decided I wanted to read her memoir. 

Carrie Fisher's book is a bunch of random memories that she explains is her trying to rediscover herself after her electroshock therapy treatments. She talks about what it was like growing up with famous parents (mostly about her mother with anecdotes on who her father was sleeping with). She talks about being in Star Wars and how she wished there had been some girl stuff, like a big shopping trip. She talks about the time her brother shot himself and her daughter, Billie Lourd (she's a great actress and you may have seen her in the newest Star Wars films alongside her mother, Scream Queens, or American Horror Story. She also mentions that men loved to tell her that she was a part of their fantasies when they were young (and to that I say, what is wrong with their brains that they think they should share that?) 

Carrie Fisher is absolutely hilarious. She reminds me of this older woman I met at the Ren Fest a few years back who upon seeing I had a retainer told me: "You'll have to wear that every day, except maybe once a month with your husband". (I'll let you infer what you want from that). I just feel like Carrie would have given me some similar advice. If you're missing Carrie, like I know many Americans have been since her passing, I highly recommend checking out the audiobook version of her books. You'll feel like she's with you, telling you her story and letting you laugh along with her. 

There are of course content warnings for this book given the nature of reading a memoir written by a mentally ill person. She talks about her electroshock therapy briefly, talks about her times in rehab facilities, talks about how she is specifically mentioned in the abnormal psychology book, and more. As always, please check out StoryGraph for a full list of content warnings as provided by other readers. I also recommend checking out StoryGraph as a way to keep track of the number of books you read in a year as well as the number of pages. They allow you to set a reading goal for the year which I find to be really fun to complete. 

As always, happy reading! And please take care of yourself as the year wraps up. I know this can be a busy and stressful time.