Wishful Drinking

Carrie Fisher wrote her memoirs in the following chronological order: Wishful Drinking, Shockaholic and The Princess Diarist. I managed to go on my Fisher memorial all wrong by watching Wishful Drinking before reading the memoirs then reading the memoirs in the reverse chronological order. Because Shockaholic and Wishful Drinking tackle similar subjects, I immediately experienced déjà vu, and towards the end of Wishful Drinking, she references the fact that it was adapted to be a one-woman stage adaptation.
Don’t make my mistake because I felt discombobulated going into the book with more knowledge than the person who wrote it. After reading Shockaholic, I knew that Fisher wrote and performed Wishful Drinking while in the throes of addiction, which means that she is talented regardless of her levels of sobriety whereas most people can’t walk in a straight line after a few drinks so withhold your scoffing. I think that it is still necessary to read Wishful Drinking and Shockaholic because they have different tones and the subjects are different enough to make it feel familiar, but not repetitive.
Wishful Drinking deals with Fisher’s mental disability, her fame, her family, her failed relationships and her addictions. She describes her deceased friends, including Cary Grant, and her relationship with her daughter, Billie Lourd. There are some irreverent details about what life is like, and what skills you pick up if you are the daughter of a famous performer like Debbie Reynolds.
Wishful Drinking reflects Fisher’s talent of simultaneously recognizing that her life is not normal, but being able to write about it as if it was without sounding aggrieved or braggadocious. Wishful Drinking captures the humorous absurdity of Fisher’s life while taking her problems as seriously as any autobiography by a survivor. Now that I am at the end of my retrospective journey of appreciation of Carrie Fisher, may I express my condolences to her family and express my gratitude to Fisher for showing in Wishful Drinking and her life work how to be naked and unashamed in being yourself and owning your voice.