Wishful Drinking

This memoir is in parts hysterical and boring. Written by Carrie Fisher, and based on her one act play of the same name. Fisher recounts her early years as the child of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher and continues up through the Star Wars years and how she copes with her alcohol and pill addiction. She is sarcastic and witty as she talks about recovering from her addictions and then her electro-shock therapy. Despite the heavy topics, this is a pretty lightweight memoir, without any deep introspection. My favorite part was her revelation about going to addiction meetings (which she slipped several times). She said that she didn't realize that she didn't have to like going to the meetings, she just had to go. Dealing with things you don't like in your life without your crutches (in her case, drugs and alcohol) was a true moment for her. I would only recommend this to someone who was a Star Wars fan, or someone interested in what it was like to grow up as a child of Hollywood royalty. It wasn't great, but it was a quick read!

"Fisher is a language obsessive, a nimble verbal acrobat who puns and somersaults around a page with glee...If you are a fan of Fisher's fiction, a follower of her mental illness or simply a looky-loo stargazer curious about her Hollywood heritage, Wishful Drinking will likely make you laugh." -- Slate.com