Review: Carrie Fisher Autobiographies

Carrie Fisher passed away today.
I admit I cried; she was a beautiful person and her work and words will stay with us forever.
May she finally be at peace.

Wishful Drinking 

I've looked for this book everywhere - I finally find it, sit down to read it... and a day later, she has a heart attack. It's been a rough week thinking about her ...

I knew very little about her to begin with.
Yes, I've seen Star Wars, but I am not one to google "10 things you didn't know about.." or "the making of..." articles since I prefer to keep the magic real.

I went to this with an open mind, knowing that as she got older, she had some struggles and dealt with them in her own way.

Reading this book though, I felt like I met a small part of her.

She writes about her childhood, her famous parents, the marriages her parents went through, how she dealt with everything, random childhood/young adult memories.... but she just come across very real (as opposed to some autobios I've read that read like a script)

and she is hilarious.

She's just writing. She writes how she feels and what she is thinking in that moment.
Or how she remembering that moment in her life.

She writes about how this all came to be; how Star Wars changed her life (who knew that was going to happen?!) and what that dam hologram speech would do to her.  She opens her heart and mind to us fans and, while it's the most poetic thing ever written, it's absolutely beautiful.

This book is also an one woman show.

Shockaholic 
*language warning*

I've had this book on my shelf for years, thinking I had to read Wishful Drinking first. I didn't. I'm glad I waited to read them both together, but they aren't exactly written with a timeline in mind, so you can technically read them in any order. You do see a difference in her writing pre/post ECT.
Or maybe she just didn't care. That sounds like her too. 

Her second autobiography, memoir, diary, random thoughts ... whatever you want to call it... felt deeper to me. 

She talks a lot about her father. and their relationship; how it evolved over time.

She opens up about ECT treatments, and what her being diagnosed as manic and depressed meant for her and those around her.

She opens up about her relationship with Michael Jackson - not that I knew much about him, but it was an interesting chapter, nonetheless. 

and her time with a senator. 

She continues to talk about her mother, and her daughter, whom she loves very much.

 This book, as a whole, is definitely more focused in terms of chapters and about her father. 

She has lost memories from her ECT so she can only share so much with us, but her realness is constant. 

Her humor is constant. 

She may be "Princess Leia" and "General Organa" but in reality, she was just Carrie. 

and she is fucking amazing.

She didn't want her life to imitate art, she wanted it to be art. and it was. 

and I like to think she is up there now, partying it up with her father, catching up on these last few years apart. 

She will be missed.