Wishful Drinking and The Princess Diarist
By Carrie Fisher
Following the passing of Carrie Fisher, I decided to re-read Wishful Drinking, her first autobiography dealing with Star Wars, Drug abuse, Electroshock Therapy and her famous family. It was just as much fun to read the second time around. I was fortunate enough to see her stage show live back in 2007, upon which this book was based. Perhaps it is because I’ve heard Fisher tell these stories in person, but her voice literally jumps off the pages.
Coming to the new book, I was expecting more of a general story of her time on Star Wars. Instead, it was almost exclusively about Harrison Ford. The first few chapters are rather short and recount her young life, family, and being cast in Star Wars. The next, long, chapter is “Carrison”- the story of their love affair. She never goes into bedroom details, but shares enough to understand how and why it happened. It was a fascinating read. She then prints various poems and musings on Harrison written in her diaries during the affair. It shows a self-coscious and uneasy young woman who is falling in love, but also realistic that this is just a fling. She then jumps forward 40 years and writes about how annoying it is to whore herself out at Comic Conventions. Having met her a few times at these, it was a bit offputting to know she did not enjoy it. While she did make a point to say how grateful she is for the fans, it was a bit of a downer.
She mentions her eventual death a few times in the book, never realizing how close it was. As a final testament, it was a good one. Her humor was on display, and she also somehow found a way to reveal a bit more of her inner self- just when I thought she had shared just about all of it. RIP.
The Skinny from the Fatty 