Review: Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Title: Wishful Drinking
Author: Carrie Fisher
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 176
Rating: 4/5 Stars

I love Carrie Fisher. At first I loved her because of Princess Leia and Star Wars but the more I heard about her the more I loved her for her refreshingly candid attitude about not only her life, but life in general. I can't believe it took me this long to read her memoir. Rest assured, should she write another - which I fervently hope she does - I will not take so long.

Wishful Drinking made me wish I was friends with Ms. Fisher and not just in the "Oh, I love Star Wars and I want to be besties with the most badass Princess in the galaxy" way. I want to be friends with the amazing woman who has gone through so much as a human being and still has such a wonderful, amazing outlook on this absurd thing we call life.

Ms. Fisher obviously subscribes to the idea that she'd rather laugh than cry and it's with this outlook that she recounts her existence thus far. Unlike some trainwreck offspring of celebrity parents, she places no blame on them for the choices she's made. On the contrary, she goes out of her way to acknowledge that while her upbringing was definitely not 'normal' in the regular sense of the word, it also wasn't a tragic misery. Ms. Fisher embraces the mistakes she's made and gleefully takes responsibility. Those she's loved, lost, wronged and been wronged by all receive the same treatment. She accepts them, as they are, not blind to their faults, but able to see that no person is all one thing.

I love her way words, her wit, her wry and hilarious observations, wordplay and connections. Her book is written in a messy and at times hilariously bewildering stream of consciousness that manages to never feel accidental. My only complaint is that I wanted more. The book is short and I read it in a matter of a few hours. I could have just as completely enjoyed a book twice or three times long.