Wishful Drinking

I have actually been wanting to read this book for almost 2 years. I spotted it when it first came out in hardback, but couldn't afford it.

I snapped up the paperback at work today and, much to my own surprise, got through it during lunchtime.

Wishful Drinking is going to be very difficult to describe as it is part book, part acid trip, but is basically an account of random - sometimes wholly unconnected - parts of Carrie Fisher's life.

If it weren't for Fisher's frank discussion of her recent ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) in the opening pages, even prior knowledge of her biopolar disorder and addiction problems would make the tone of this book difficult to interpret.

As she admits, the treatment has left her with massive gaps in her memory - she wryly describes the voicemail message her friend has made for her, stating "Hello and welcome to Carrie's voice mail. Due to recent Electro Convulsive Therapy, please pay close attention to the following options. Leave your name, number and a brief history as to how Carrie knows you, and she'll get back to you if this jogs what's left of her memory." Littered with photos - mainly of her family - and anecdotes, Wishful Drinking is for the most part an ironically easy read. I found the first two thirds at least to be a little flippant and also confusing - as the book mostly reads like the wildest manic episode you could imagine. Her trains of thought, which are not always humorous, are frequently scattered. The focus is largely on her parents - something it would seem Fisher has been unable to avoid since birth.

There is an abrupt turn towards the end of the book, in which it becomes simultaneously more disturbing, revealing and funny all at once... for all that Fisher gathered her stardom and puns around her earlier in the book, here we begin to see the very serious and disturbing side of her mental illness. There is a glimpse of the true hopelessness of being so lost in oneself that you can't quite see the way out.

The upside to Wishful Drinking - for it cannot be ignored - is Fisher's self deprecating sense of humour. She doesn't have the 'survivor' mentality at all -something which I think would have tended to make the book unbearable. Her frank approach to the problems in her life is very refreshing.

Poking fun at Hollywood royalty and even putting forth Lucas' argument that "there's no underwear in space" [I KNEW there was no bra under that gown!], Fisher dilutes the deeper sadness of her illness with often randomly inserted tales.

Wishful Drinking is, at times, very funny. It is not really a helpful description of Fisher's life. It is definitely not a book to read while tired, stoned, drunk or reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [I made the latter mistake] as Fisher's reality is, she freely admits, not reality at all. It is, above all I think, a sad, sad testament to the trials of living with bipolar disorder. This book may be marketed as humour, as a book for Star Wars fans... it isn't. Yes, those aspects are present, but what Wishful Drinking presents is a person who, despite having finally been diagnosed and received appropriate treatment, is fundamentally not well and that is a sad, sad thing to read.

Do I recommend it? Definitely. Fisher is witty and very endearing at points. There are some priceless moments - Star Wars related and otherwise. It is such a frank account of what it is to be "batshit", that I can't help but love her more for it. What I will say is this; unless you are prepared to take that dive with Fisher as a recent bystander to her world and life from the outside, this book will seem like nothing more than wandering drivel. Take that step, and what you will find will make you laugh, cry and occasionally frown in pleasant confusion.

I don't want to give away the closing paragraph, as it is a wonderful punchline - but I will share this example of precisely the funny/sad/ironic tone with which Fisher manages to lace most of the book.

I tell my younger friends that one day they'll be at a bar playing pool and they'll look up at the television set and there will be a picture of Princess Leia with two dates underneath, and they'll say, 'awww -- she said that would happen.' and go back to playing pool.