| Title | : | The Princess Diarist |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0399173595 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780399173592 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 257 |
| Publication | : | First published October 18, 2016 |
| Awards | : | Hugo Award Best Related Work (2017), Grammy Award Best Spoken Word Album (2018) |
When Carrie Fisher discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved--plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Before her passing, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon was indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her costar, Harrison Ford.
With these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, The Princess Diarist is Fisher's intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time--and what developed behind the scenes. Fisher also ponders the joys and insanity of celebrity, and the absurdity of a life spawned by Hollywood royalty, only to be surpassed by her own outer-space royalty. Laugh-out-loud hilarious and endlessly quotable, The Princess Diarist brims with the candor and introspection of a diary while offering shrewd insight into one of Hollywood's most beloved stars.
The Princess Diarist Reviews
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"I had never been Princess Leia before and now I would be her forever. I would never not be Princess Leia. I had no idea how profoundly true that was and how long forever was."
I've got to tell you, it was really weird reading this book given the fact that both Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds died this week. There were more than a few times in this book where Fisher made reference to her obituary, her eulogy, or her mother, all of which made me even sadder than I already was.
That being said, I've always been a fan of Fisher's writing, starting with Postcards from the Edge, and I love her sense of humor and her sarcastic, somewhat off-kilter view of everything. The Princess Diarist looks at her journey from her first movie role in Shampoo in 1975, to auditioning for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars, to the effect that part has had on her entire life. But more than that, this book reveals (although it wasn't a secret once she started doing publicity for the book) information about her affair with Harrison Ford, her older, married costar, while filming Star Wars.
"From celebration to intoxication to assignation to infatuation to imitation to indignation—this was my trimester of the affair that was Carrison." (Carrison was the nickname she assigned to their relationship, much as the way the media creates nicknames for celebrity couples.)
Her recounting of the way the affair ran its course, the way they tried to keep emotions out of it, but the way Fisher really felt about Ford was both touching and humorous. She relied on her usual self-deprecation, but you could see she used it in this case as a defense mechanism, to protect herself from investing and expecting more than she was going to get. It's not an entirely flattering portrait of Ford, although you can tell how deep her feelings for him ran.
Apparently the genesis of this book was when Fisher found the diaries she kept during the filming of Star Wars. So after she told the story of "Carrison," the book then included her diary entries from that period. Most entries are somewhat oblique, not referring to Harrison directly, but it's clear to see how emotionally vulnerable she let herself get with him, and how the casual nature of their relationship hurt her. The entries include love poems, song lyrics, and reflections.
From her diary: "If anyone reads this when I have passed to the big bad beyond, I shall be posthumorously embarrassed. I shall spend my entire afterlife blushing."
If you're looking for scoop on the making of Star Wars beyond the genesis of her infamous hairstyle, you'll be disappointed. This book goes from her getting her role to her relationship with Ford to the aftermath of the movie and what former stars do to make some extra money. The journal entries take up a significant portion of the book, and because they're reasonably oblique, they're not as interesting as I had hoped.
I thought this book was interesting, but it was much more compelling when Fisher injected humor into her writing, as I feel that is where she always excelled. Her reflections on "Carrison" were touching; I can only imagine what it was like for Fisher to have had a relationship at a young age with a costar, a costar to whom she has always been inextricably linked. The book drags on a bit, but Fisher's writing is enjoyable to read.
Fisher left a rich legacy of work, both in film and writing. Her loss is tremendously sad, but we are lucky she shared so much of herself with us, and it is somewhat fitting that, as she thought, she lived her life as Princess Leia, and died while promoting a book about what it was like to live down that legacy.
See all of my reviews at
http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo.... -
DNF @ 48%
(but not a DNF like you think - no rating because i didn't finish it)
reading this book made me miss carrie fisher so much. it reads like you asked her to talk about her affair with harrison ford and she obliged, unfiltered, for hours. which is both wonderful and not exactly conducive to a book. but i miss her, so it works out.
i DNFed this when 2016-carrie fisher stopped and 1976-carrie fisher began. i'd read adult carrie fisher write about anything, but reading the diaries of a 19-year-old infatuated with a significantly older married man who didn't care for her - who was probably taking advantage of her - well, that i didn't want.
this is a hard read, because it adds a bitter edge to the luke-leia-han trio, even as carrie fisher doesn't intend to do so here. it makes harrison ford seem like a bit of an ass, and it's impossible not to wonder what his real reaction to this publishing was.
it's not all sunshine and laser guns. boo.
bottom line: i love star wars. i love carrie fisher. i'm glad i experienced this book in the way that i did.
miss you, carrie.
---------------
PRE-REVIEW
I think this puts Fisher's wonderful legacy best:honor carrie fisher:
— Isaiah Breen (@isikbreen)
- normalize mental illness and its treatment
- take life a little less seriously
- destroy a fascist regime
December 27, 2016
It's one of talent, humor, integrity and love.
RIP Carrie Fisher. May the force be with you <3 -
Shortly before she died, Carrie Fisher discovered a collection of journals she'd written in 1976 while filming the first Star Wars movie. In The Princess Diarist, Fisher's 1976 journal entries are revealed, giving readers a private look at a confident, successful celebrity when she was just a naive, vulnerable young woman on the brink of stardom.
Perhaps this was a personal oversight, but the book jacket feels unintentionally misleading. It purports to offer a look at what happened on the set of the film as well as what happened behind the scenes. In light of the recent Star Wars awaking and its re-burgeoning popularity, coupled with Fisher's untimely passing, this book beckons to be read. But it promises to give something other than what it actually delivers.
The Princess Diarist is largely about Fisher's affair with Harrison Ford while the first Star Wars movie was being filmed. This book isn't about filming Star Wars. It's about a young woman's obsession with her much older, attractive costar who just happens to have been cast in a low budget science fiction movie that will later go on to explode in unprecedented popularity.
No scintillating details of the affair are given, which is fine. If Tom Hanks is America's dad, then Harrison Ford is America's grandpa, and no one wants to read about their grandpa getting laid. To see an admired actor revealed as a grumpy, unavailable man who cheated on his wife is somewhat disheartening. Maybe ignorance is bliss. It's comforting to associate Harrison Ford with childhood favorites like Indiana Jones rather than perceive him as a man who arguably took advantage of a susceptible young woman.
Some of the writing is a bit rough, difficult to following due to phrasing or word choices:
You couldn't accuse me of doing a less-than-stellar job on the Johnny Carson show without my insisting that you had forgotten my telling you that that had been my intention all along.
I knew it wasn't a good idea. It would never be a good idea, but it wouldn't be a really bad one either. I mean, weird and grumpy as he might have been, he wasn't a bad human. He was much more on the good side of the bad/good human graph. He was bad and good, like most people. A good person who does bad things or a bad person who does good things - as long as people are involved, people will do bad or good things to them.
Nonetheless, adult Fisher's devil-may-care attitude is enjoyable. The passages from her journal are quite candid and reveal an unexpected degree of insecurity from young Fisher. Most people who fell hard for her when the first Star Wars film released in 1977 would likely have been astounded to learn how much the actress portraying the beautiful Princess Leia struggled with self loathing and self degradation.
Journal Entry: [Harrison will] end up someday having only one thing in common with you and that'll be a shared sense of contempt and disgust for you. Of course you knew all along how foolish and worthless you were, you just hoped that if you crouched down behind yourself enough he wouldn't see it.
The redemptive quality of this book is its honest, raw examination of unrequited love. Fisher's journal reveals a tendency to victimize herself when her heart is aching, even though she never tells Harrison about her romantic feelings. She portrays deep loathing and contempt for the man who breaks her heart. Fortunately, adult Fisher speaks well of Harrison Ford and frees him of any moral or emotional obligation to the way she felt while they were intimate in 1976.
If anything, The Princess Diarist is a reminder that it's important to not forget the big picture where life is concerned. When young, it's easy to get caught up in searching for a partner or obsessing over matters of the heart. But there's much more to life at that age - at any age. Fisher was writing in her journals while filming what would later become one of the most successful film franchises of all time. She was privy to a life and a career few people will ever experience, but all she wrote about was her lover not loving her back.
Journal Entry: I can't focus on the good things. There are good things going on all around me, but I don't trust them, I can't make use of them, don't have time for them; I'm too preoccupied with my precious panic.
The Princess Diarist is an occasionally funny memoir about an impressionable young woman on the cusp of discovering her sexuality and her sense of identity. -
Last year before her passing, a number of Goodreads friends of mine posted that they were reading a new memoir in diary format written by Carrie Fisher. Upon finding out that Fisher had already authored four books and one memoir, I had my curiosity piqued. Having watched the original Star Wars trilogy so many times that I have the credits and most lines memorized, I was giddy to get my hands on Fisher's insightful, first hand look at the what went on behind the scenes of the most iconic movie in American film history. Then, I heard the news that she passed, and I saw the new movie with her computer generated image and I decided to wait on the memoir for awhile. Finally, my library had a copy for me, and I decided to store away the sad memories, and read about Princess Leia in Fisher's own words.
Despite being the child of a famous actress and singer, Carrie Fisher was never interested in becoming an actress herself. She witnessed firsthand how her father left the family when she was only eighteen months old, and decided that the acting life was not for her. Yet, Fisher's upbringing was anything but normal, and by age seventeen, she had dropped out of high school and starred in her first movie, Shampoo. Two years later, after attending classes at the Central Acting Agency in London, Fisher received her first break when asked to read for the part of a princess in a new sci-fi movie directed by George Lucas. Even though Fisher still was not convinced that the acting life was what she desired, she went through with the interview, and the rest is, as we shall say, history.
Going behind the scenes of the filming of A New Hope, Fisher answers the burning question that fans have been asking for forty years, and then some. Included in this section is a diary that she had wrote while working on the movie, which she admits was three months of being secluded from all else besides the cast and crew of the film. I found the prose and poems of diary raw and revealing as to what a nineteen year old Fisher experienced emotionally while becoming Princess Leia. For a would be actress who did not fully complete high school, I thought the poetry she penned was above average and nearly left me in tears, while reading it. Through the reading of the diary, I found out what it was to be Carrie, rather than Leia, and how she at a relatively young age was able to separate the two personas.
What I found the most introspective in this book was not her relationship with other actors or the poems, but of life after Star Wars. After the film moved from movie to iconic status, the stars were given the royal treatment and rarely out of the public eye. Fanatics waited in line for hours to meet her for less than one minute to receive an autograph or photograph opportunity. While this may be the moment of a lifetime for a fan, for a celebrity this must be exhausting. Carrie practically ceased to become herself to the public, who know her only as Princess Leia. Even though actors and actresses choose this life for themselves, I still find it upsetting that they rarely appear to have moments to just be themselves.
The Princess Diarist may not receive literary awards, but I found it written better than the average celebrity memoir. Poems always tug at my emotions, and I find it courageous of Fisher to include the poetry along with her forty year old diary in this memoir. Reading this book gave me the finality that Princess Leia will no longer be acting in future Star Wars movies. I enjoyed this look back at Carrie Fisher's life, and found The Princess Diarist to be easy reading for a relaxing morning at home, which I rate 3.5 bright stars. -
Excellent reading!
IN MEMORIAM
It was a shock when the news of Carrie Fisher’s demise came out, especially when her movie career was getting a deserved second air in the new Star Wars trilogy (sequel to the events of the original trilogy).
Carrie Fisher did all her scenes for the incoming Episode VIII, so we’ll be able to see her one last time, and…
…due the advance in special effects, I have no doubt that we��ll have plenty enough of Princess Leia, even in the eventual Episode IX.
It was a bittersweet reading experience to me, with this book, since while I enjoyed it to the fullest, I began to read it after Carrie Fisher’s death, so it was sad too, to read it when she was already dead.
Even sadder, since Carrie Fisher wrote several books (four biographical books (one focused in her mom, three about herself), four fiction novels (using her personal experiences as base for the plots of those novels) along with some movie scripts adaptations and other stuff) and I didn’t read any of them until she passed away.
I enjoyed a lot the reading of this one,…
…since it was written exactly how I was expecting to be done by Carrie Fisher…
…funny, clever,…
…and totally politically INcorrect!
Bold writing from a bold woman.
It was a fresh air in an age where everybody is so scared to tell exactly what they have in mind.
So, I have no doubt that I’ll read other books by Carrie Fisher in the future.
MAY THE DIARIES BE WITH YOU
Carrie Fisher had already wrote two biographical books about her life, so…
…what was different about this one?
What would you find here that it wasn’t already written before?
Well…
This final autobiography by Carrie Fisher was done using various diaries that she wrote during her time while she was doing the first Star Wars movie, revealing details never before told.
She thought that she had lost those journals but happily, she found them and decided to write a new biographical approach about her unusual life.
Carrie Fisher set us in the context of 1976, a long time ago, highlighting the key world events in that year, when she auditioned for certain role as a princess in a galaxy far, far away…
…Recounting her previous small debut role in cinema, her double audition for Star Wars and Carrie, the impact of her role in and out of the screen, her honest impressions about how was her filming of the iconic movie,…
…including a long denied (but that it did happened!) brief romance (since they hadn’t got time for anything else) with certain actor who played a scoundrel space smuggler.
It was a topic that a lot of people asked her about it, and she always denied it, and no wonder since it was a delicate matter (even more if you realize that the other one in the affair was married), but time always make easier to let out certain things off your chest…
…so finally, you’ll be able to read all the details related of this fling, but…
…don’t expect the details at bed, since…
…there are things that a lady, especially a space princess, considerates private (and it should be).
However, all the rest of the hot topic, you’ll be able to know it here!
And only here! -
3.5 stars
Carrie Fisher has found the notebooks - the diaries she kept when she played Princess Leia during the first Star Wars - and has decided to write a book about it.
Do not let what you think they think of you make you stop and question everything you are.It’s not nice being inside my head. It’s a nice place to visit but I don’t want to live in here. It’s too crowded; too many traps and pitfalls.
Told in snippets of poetry and quotes from her earlier days, we learn what it felt like to portray one of the most iconic characters from this everlasting series.
And we get an in depth look like never before on Fisher's opinions on love, lust and everything in between.Someone has to stand still for you to love them. My choices are always on the run.
So.
Don't hate me, but I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan.
I have a vague memory of watching the six original movies when I was younger and I quite liked the Mandalorian when it came out...but as far as being a clear and sustained fan? Not so much.
In all honesty, it feels a bit exhausting to jump in now - so many movies, spin offs, books, etc. I just don't have the will.
But, this book was available at the library and I thought, hey, why not?
And it ended up being a rather good read!
The book goes back and forth a bit between the 2016-Carrie Fisher and the 1976 version.
The older-Carrie writes like you're an old friend, ready to catch up on all the latest gossip.
She has a way to make you feel welcomed into her world and listening to the audiobook completely enhanced this feeling.
I really enjoyed getting her take on life and it truly was a wonderful read when we had her perspective.
The young-Carrie felt a bit...weird though. I think it's cause we were literally reading from her diaries and it felt intrusive - even with older-Carrie reading it via audiobook.
It also creeped me out a bit when I read about her 19-year-old self and the relationship with Harrison Ford (who was married at the time and waay older than her).
I suppose, legally, she's an adult and was independent...but still...it had this ick factor to it. It had connotations of her being taken advantage of...and I had a hard time shaking myself from that feeling.
All in all, this was a good book. I don't think I'll be going back to it but it has intrigued me enough to want to read more written by Carrie Fisher.
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Take a highly intelligent, anxiety prone girl, mix in the life changing, world wide phenomena that is Star Wars, and add a dash of handsome, introverted, and married leading man and you have: The Princess Diarist.
This is not really about Star Wars as much as it is about obsession and Carrie trying to figure out who she is. Though there are some tidbits sprinkled throughout: "And as much as I may have joked about Star Wars over the years, I liked that I was in those films. Particularly as the only girl in an all-boy fantasy. They were fun to make. It was an anecdote of unimaginable standing." pg 5. Or the moment Carrie found out that she got the part: "...I laughed and dropped the phone and ran out into the front yard and into the street. ... It was raining in L.A. and I was Princess Leia. I had never been Princess Leia before and now I would be her forever. I would never not be Princess Leia. I had no idea how profoundly true that was and how long forever was." pg 31
Carrie's not afraid to make fun of herself: "When you watch the movie, it turns out that the voice I used when I was upset was vaguely British, and my not-upset voice is less British." pg 44. Or confess her hopeless awkwardness around her co-star: "But one thing I knew was that Harrison made me feel very nervous. I got tongue-tied in his company, and clumsy. It was uncomfortable in the extreme, and not in any way I could over come with a few well-chosen witticisms. We met, hit a wall, and stayed there. pg 61. I've known someone who had that kind of effect on me. Poor Carrie.. poor me. :)
Here's an actual entry from her diary that includes a mention of George Lucas: "George says that if you look at the person someone chooses to have "a relationship" with, you'll see what they think of themselves. So Harrison is what I think of myself. It's hardly a relationship, but nevertheless he is a choice. ... I can't think about it anymore. It makes my head hurt." pg 114. The older journal entries were my favorite part, but I can see how some readers may not enjoy them. They're written in stream of consciousness and, at one point, I think Carrie flirts with a full on psychotic break- there's a particularly disturbing entry about a rainbow colored talking fish that you can't miss!
After the "Carrison" portion of the book, there's some cringe worthy moments revealed between Carrie and mega Star Wars fans. Yes, she may have become a household name, but it doesn't seem like it was worth the price.. or was it?
All of this just makes me want to watch Episode IV again! Read The Princess Diarist if you want to touch the depths of despair in a decades old love affair or if you want some quirky details about one of the most beloved science fiction films of all time. Also recommended: Fisher's
Shockaholic in which she details her struggles with bipolar disorder. -
Y'all, I can't even talk about this right now.
-
“If anyone reads this when I have passed to the big bad beyond I shall be posthumously embarrassed. I shall spend my entire afterlife blushing.”
Didn't we all feel this way about our diaries as hyper-dramatic, brooding adolescents, at the mercy of our raging hormones and our short-circuiting ever expanding neural pathways and vivid imaginations? Sure we did, those of us who bothered to "write it all out and down" (which I think tends to be more of a female act of expression, than male -- but I could be wrong there). From the time we are little girls, women are "encouraged" to keep a diary, a locked and private totem where we can pour all of our heartfelt dreams, desires, bitter disappointments, enraged indictments of others, etc, etc. At its best, diary keeping can be a cathartic positive form of meditation and contemplation, giving its writer opportunity for reflection and insight.
Mostly though? It is a place to go to rage and seethe, pine and moan. It's a place to write bad poetry, a place to confess the most intimate details of our most crushing of crushes. It's a baring of the soul in the most embarrassing of ways. There is a
popular podcast capitalizing on this embarrassment factor by persuading adults to read passages from their early diaries in front of a live audience. Mortified can make for sweet and honest listening, funny, endearing, and sometimes cringe-inducing as we relate a little too closely to what's being read aloud and recalling something from our past that we'd just as soon forget. At one point or another, we've all been there.
In 1976, Carrie Fisher was 19 years old and had begun filming what would arguably become the most famous science fiction movie of all time, launching a franchise and characters that in the intervening years have resonated with millions around the world (and continues to do so as
new installments hit theaters). No one at the time could have possibly predicted the film's gargantuan success, least of all its young co-stars, and perhaps especially, a fresh-faced, doe-eyed, insecure and terrified Ms. Fisher.
So what is this short memoir really? A little less than half is some of the passages from the diary Carrie kept in 1976 while filming Star Wars. But for you die-hard fans out there, this isn't an exclusive behind-the-scenes tell-all on the making of George Lucas's epic, enduring space opera. There is very little to none of that kind of detail here. Instead what we have is the (sometimes) mortifying, but achingly honest, musings of a young woman in the throes of infatuation with an older married man.
In 1976, Harrison Ford was 35 with a wife and two children, but this didn't stop him from starting a brief, nearly wordless affair with the young Carrie Fisher. She fell into a confused, anxious, questioning kind of love, Harrison remained detached, composed and in control. Not surprisingly, an affair between one so young and inexperienced, and one so matured and advanced in his life choices was terribly lop-sided in its balance of power. It didn't help that at the time Harrison was the very epitome of the "strong, silent type". Whatever he was feeling or thinking, Carrie was only left to guess, and pour her musings and insecurities out onto the page.
For context though, and the all elusive sub-text, the sharing of these innocent diary musings are an interesting addition to the Star Wars canonical universe. For decades, fans and celebrity gossip mongers have speculated that an affair did indeed take place, but both Carrie and Harrison never confirmed or denied, they just stayed mum. Some things are private, even for someone like Ms. Fisher who is famous for over-sharing. So why come clean now? Carrie explains her reasons, and I respect them. I don't think she did this to be salacious or provocative, this is just an extension of the honesty she's brought to all parts of her life, and after forty years she felt enough time had passed that no one was going to care enough to be hurt or feel betrayed.
Carrie presents her affair with Harrison in a rueful, breezy manner but it's clear just how torturous and unhealthy a thing that it was (how it starts is even more disturbing, but likely not unique to young film actresses everywhere). This isn't a fairy tale. Largely, the account left me sad, and a little depressed.
The other half of the short memoir (which I liked much better) reads like a smart, sassy essay, as Carrie tries to put her life as Princess Leia into some kind of larger context, what it's like to be super famous for one role, and how the line so quickly and easily blurs -- "am I Princess Leia, or is she me?" Carrie has some amusing anecdotes to share about fandom and the often odd behaviors and requests she's been subjected to for over forty years, but she also expresses her deep love and gratitude for the millions of fans who will only ever see her as Princess Leia.
It was bittersweet listening to this as an audiobook -- Carrie's voice is confident, with her signature snark and wry amusement. It is a voice filled with a zest and perpetual curiosity for life, a life that was just recently cut tragically short at age 60. -
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"I am someone who wants very much to be popular. I don't just want you to like me, I want to be one of the most joy-inducing human beings that you've ever encountered. I want to explode on your night sky like fireworks at midnight on New Year's Eve in Hong Kong" (47).
This is going to be a difficult book to review. I've never reviewed a book so close to the author's passing, and it was a sad and bittersweet experience - sad, because the world is now deprived of a funny and highly relatable individual, an excellent actress, and a surprisingly witty and talented writer. Bittersweet, because she is all those things and it's always a pleasure to go over the accomplishments of someone you admire. There isn't much more to say than that without cheapening the sentiment.
I've read two of Ms. Fisher's other books, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, which is a grim but evilly funny (and probably semi-autobiographical) satire that does for Hollywood what Carl Hiaasen does for Florida, and WISHFUL DRINKING, which is a memoir about alcoholism and the darker sides of fame. Both are excellent. I recommend both. Because of that, I was super excited to get my hands on this one.
THE PRINCESS DIARIST, sadly, fell short for me. I love the title and the cover, but the content inside that clever packaging wasn't as engaging.
Fisher starts off with an introduction - the highlights of 1976. Then she switches to talking about who she is, a bit about her family, and then talks about her first role in Shampoo with Warren Beatty. The heading for this section sums up this content fairly well: "Life Before Leia."
After this, she dives into what it was like to work on Star Wars, and the overall emotion here seems to be bewilderment. Like she isn't quite sure how she landed such a famous role and why people kept bothering her about it. Many celebrities, when writing about their past works, are enthusiastic and excited, and heap praise upon their coworkers. Fisher doesn't do that. She seemed jaded and resigned to me, and apart from Harrison Ford, scarcely mentioned her other co-stars at all. Maybe part of her lack of enthusiasm stems from the fact that she felt like her role was appearance-driven. There's that famous quote she said to Daisy Ridley about fighting the slave outfit, after all, and she still seems annoyed about the Slave Leia bikini costume (which is so iconic that it has its own Wikipedia page). Apparently she was also sent to fat camp to lose ten pounds for the role before she actually got around to doing any acting.
The chapter about her affair with Harrison Ford is also quite strange, made stranger by the fact that it's immediately followed by the excerpts from the diary she kept as a teenager while onset at Star Wars. Adult Fisher says a lot without saying anything at all, except for confirming that they actually had an affair, and that she wanted to admit to it first before anyone else got to digging and taking liberties with the truth (understandable). Teen Fisher's voice is much more wistful, with lots of poetry and dreamy drabbles that wouldn't be out of place in THE PRINCESS SAVES HERSELF IN THIS ONE. It makes for a very interesting contrast, seeing the two juxtaposed together, very similar to seeing the picture of Fisher as an older woman posing next to her forever-young slave self at the Wax Museum.
The last portion of the book is the easiest portion to follow, which is a double-edged sword because it's the portion of the book where many claim that she mocked and ripped on her fans. She does mock them, but not in a mean way. Again, I got that sense of bewilderment that I did in the beginning, where she just seems mystified by these people - total strangers - who are coming up to her and telling her how much of an impact she had on their life, whether it was as a feminist icon or sex symbol. One cringe-worthy moment she shares, which is perhaps characteristic of awkward fan-created situations that celebrities are unable to escape from, was during a signing in which a child burst into tears when pushed towards her by their parent because she was the "old" Leia, and the child wanted to meet the young Leia they had seen in the 1976 film. What can you say to that?
I was surprised she didn't say much about The 'Burbs and Episode VII: those are my two favorite things that she was in, and the fact that they were excluded from this book made me wonder if maybe she didn't enjoy those roles or didn't think they were worth discussing. What a shame.
The PRINCESS DIARIST is an okay book, but it didn't have the wit that I loved her for in her other books. It felt...bitter, and incomplete. She says a lot without saying much at all, and by the time you get to the end of the book, you're just as mystified about what she's like as you were at the beginning, second-guessing yourself the whole time. "Was that a hint? Is what she's saying funny? Is she secretly laughing at me?" She's like a manic pixie dream girl who's only playing the role to be ironic. Or maybe she wants to keep that last piece of herself private. I guess we'll never know for sure.
RIP, Carrie Fisher.
2 to 2.5 stars -
In the final of her short memoirs, Carrie Fisher turns her focus onto the inevitable Star Wars franchise and her memories from being on the set in 1976. As the book opens, Fisher lists a number of memorable occurrences from the year, all of which made the filming of a low-budget space fantasy film pale in comparison, or so it would seem. While she does not mention it explicitly, years of excessive drug use and electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) surely scrambled some of the memories and would make them less than pristine. However, Fisher mentions discovering the diary she kept while working on set, which jogged her memory enough to explore many of the events from that spring. While she was the daughter of the famous duo, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie was still forced to go through the rigours of auditioning for roles and emerge with less than stellar results in the early days. She began her cinematic life with a small role in Shampoo, a film written and starring Warren Beatty. Fisher recounts a fairly odd interaction when she, as a mere seventeen year-old, was ogled by Beatty as he decided if she ought to go bra-less on set for her one scene. From there, it was trying to sell herself for either the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars or Carrie in the eponymous film based on the Stephen King novel. George Lucas, a seemingly mute troll, saw much potential in Fisher playing Leia and so began the journey. What some have come to find as the most revealing portion of the memoir (and to which Fisher admits she waited forty years to share) is an extensive discussion about off-screen interactions between Fisher and Harrison Ford. Feeling that four decades is enough time to have held back and fearing the affair could be smeared if revealed after her death (does anyone else notice the coincidence?), Fisher discusses a kiss in the back of a production car between Ford (thirty-four) and herself (nineteen), that led to a weekend of sheet wrinkling passion and was repeated throughout filming. Fisher wrestles with admitting that Ford was married and eventually surmises that it was likely more loneliness than a true connection between them, which is further substantiated when Fisher adds a collection of her diary entries that shows the infatuation she had for Ford. These entries from her teenaged self are offset with a collection of sentiments having fermented for four decades, which makes what happened in 1976 seem less scandalous to the reader. Fisher ends the memoir with some memories of trying to 'sell' this film that seemed to be doing so in its own and begins what became a massive science fiction franchise, alongside the rollout of trying to keep her stardom alive alongside interactions with many a quirky fan. An interesting, though very topic-specific, final memoir in the Carrie Fisher collection, the reader can bask in much of its raw honesty alongside a number of humorous anecdotes.
I suppose I would call myself a fan of the Star Wars films, though I am by no means one of the hardcore variety. I did find some of these behind the scenes stories to be highly entertaining and did enjoy Fisher's take on her interactions with Harrison Ford, though do not feel it was either as scandalous or as significant as some might find. While it was insightful to learn that Fisher felt so strongly for her co-star, there came a time when the actual journal entries became too much. It became all to apparent that Ford and Fisher were on different planes (might I say 'galaxies' and not have a symphony of eyebrow raises?), where the young Leia was awestruck by the suave Solo. These entries were well presented, though they soon became filled with poor poetry and supersaturated in angst. I digress, but a large portion of this piece focussed on that interaction and the fallout of their (love) affair. Fisher's insights have me wanting to learn more about the backstories of Star Wars production, perhaps away from the sexual escapades of its prime actors, though Fisher does keep things discrete and professional while not denying the feelings she had at the time and recollections of them all these years later. Throughout all three pieces, I have come to realise that Fisher is a wonderful wordsmith, delivering humour and passion with so many verbal alternatives that the reader will see that this high-school dropout surely learned a great deal in the School of Life. Perhaps more of a tell-all than past memoirs, Fisher offers more seriousness than her usual humour in this instalment, unfortunately the last.
Kudos, Madam Fisher, for all the honesty that you explored in this final collection of memories. You will be missed and your name will forever rest in the minds of many as Princess Leia, though one can hope the moniker of ejaculatory assistant fades in time.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/ -
This book is effectively divided into three sections:
1. 2016 Carrie Fisher talks about starting out as an actress, getting cast as Princess Leia and her affair with Harrison Ford.
2. 1976 Carrie Fisher's diary entries made during her affair with Harrison Ford.
3. 2016 Carrie Fisher talks about her relationship with Harrison Ford post-affair and her struggles with being Leia over the course of the next 40 years, particularly when it comes to interacting with fans.
I loved all three sections, frankly. The sections written by 2016 Carrie are hilarious and occasionally "OW STAB ME IN THE FEELS WHY DON'T YOU"-y because she jokes about "if you're reading this after I'm dead" and in the acknowledgements, thanks her mother for "not dying". The sections from her 1976 diaries were kind of heartbreaking, because it's obvious how much of her self-worth was dependent on her relationship with a much older man who didn't entirely understand her and didn't really feel the same way because, like, he had a wife and kids at home in the US.
Her poetry was ASTONISHING and there was so much of it that spoke not only about her relationship with Harrison Ford but about her mental health and OH MY GOD IT GAVE ME SO MANY FEELINGS.
On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this, though I feel like the 1976 section probably works better in audio form than it did on the page. Definitely worth reading though. -
Apparently Carrie Fisher recently found the diaries she kept while filming the first Star Wars movie and has decided to publish them – how fortuitous given Star Wars is back!
It’s pretty thin on material for a memoir. The only really memorable piece of info is Fisher’s confirmation that she had an affair with her co-star, Harrison Ford, who was married at the time and 15 years her senior. I haven’t read any of Fisher’s previous memoirs so I can’t say whether she’s repeating herself here but I thought some of the behind-the-scenes Star Wars stuff was pretty interesting.
She auditioned for both George Lucas and Brian de Palma at the same time for Princess Leia and Carrie, some scenes with Peter Mayhew (who played Chewie) had to be rewritten as he couldn’t lift anything due to his extraordinary height (7 feet), and it took 2 hours to do her iconic Leia hair. The excitement a very young Carrie Fisher had about being in foreign England in the ‘70s and working on this strange space fantasy is palpable too.
The headline-grabbing affair with Ford though is weak sauce. She confirms what most people already knew about him: he’s about as interesting as a plank of wood. Have you ever seen an interview with the man? Duller than dull. He’s a personality vacuum; a quiet, boring stoner who barely speaks or exhibits emotion. Their affair wasn’t that interesting either. He was trapped in a failing marriage (he would divorce two years after Star Wars was released) and the two were both lonely and horny, hooking up on weekends and smoking weed.
Fisher says she smoked so much of Ford’s potent weed that she’s all but forgotten most of the detail of their time together – what a cop-out! They carried on like that for the duration of filming and ended the affair when they returned to the States. Zzz…
The actual diaries themselves take up about a fifth of the book (and it’s not a long book!) and is easily the worst part of it. They read like most teen diaries, full of insecurity and melodrama, only Fisher fancied herself a poet too so there is a ton of bad, cringey poetry also included. The book closes out with an extensive and totally pointless chapter (coughpaddingcough) where Fisher complains about how she makes her lucrative living signing autographs for losers at cons – that really is the impression you get of how she views her fans. The tone is condescending and bitter even though she’s aware that without Star Wars she’d be unknown and penniless - what an ungrateful, miserable bitch!
Fisher’s writing style is very chatty but almost manic a lot of the time. She’s also under the false impression that she’s hilarious but her “jokes” are really bad – like open mic night bad. She calls signing autographs at cons “celebrity lap dances” and makes outdated references and then tells you the references are outdated. Ha… ha? It becomes really tiresome, really quickly.
I enjoyed the details on the actual Star Wars shoot but most of the book, especially the Carrison affair, was utterly boring. Readers looking for juicy deets on the affair won’t find them here and online articles have already picked out the relevant bits so most people won’t have to read this book for that anyway. All that’s left are the tedious ramblings of a sad, mad old woman capitalising once more on some mega-popular movies she was in a long, long time ago, reminding everyone that she was once relevant while desperately trying to remember what it felt like to be attractive. -
I liked that this book had a central theme, since most non-fiction tends to be a more sprawling narrative. It all revolves around Carrie's experience with Star Wars and what becoming and being knwon as Princess Leai meant to her. I listened to the audiobook and Carrie read it herself, which was kind of a heartbreaking experience because she often ponders what her legacy after her death will be. I, like so many, grew up with Star Wars so I really enjoyed hearing this story.
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Wow, I really enjoyed reading this memoir by Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, particularly her diary entries written when she was in her teens and filming Star Wars. She’s a funny writer regardless, and it was great that the audiobook was narrated by her personally!, but the entries penned by her back when she was young were absolutely amazing writing, very insightful psychologically and fascinating to read.
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. -
What an incredible, complicated, witty, damaged, talented, creative, self-destructive and intelligent woman.
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Even though I wouldn't consider myself a fan of the Star Wars movies, this book has been on my to be read list for awhile. I just love reading celeb memoirs and Carrie Fisher always came across as refreshingly honest and humorous in interviews. And while Carrie certainly opened up in this book, I still was left wanting more as this read more like a partial story of her life while working on Star Wars rather than the full thing.
The book contains her recollections of the acting gig that completely changed her life as well as personal diary entries during that time period. However, the primary focus is her affair with Harrison Ford rather than her work. I am honestly pretty shocked that I was bored when it came to the stuff about her love life as normally I'm all about juicy bits of gossip like that. Even though the book clocks in at around 250 pages, it is a very quick read and left me feeling like there was much more she could have expanded on in order to give the book some more substance. I haven't read her previous memoir, Wishful Drinking so maybe she used up more of her stories about this time period in that one and didn't want to repeat herself in this book. Regardless, her personality does shine through in this book, but I recommend it more as a library read than purchase. -
I have a confession to make… I’m not a Star Wars fan. Ive seen them (the original three at least) and they were enjoyable but overall just not my thing. I am however a Carrie Fisher fan and I am so happy I picked this one up.
Those like me who have no emotional connection to Star Wars shouldn’t let that prevent them from reading this. This isn’t some romanticized reminiscence of the filming one of the most iconic movies of all time. What we have here is a brutally honest look at an insecure, 19 year old girl who is experiencing her first starring role (which will lead to instant fame), and an affair with her older, married, costar (who could resist Harrison Ford?).
While reading this I saw many similarities to my own personal diaries of that age, the insecurity, the self introspection/deprecation, the mixed emotions of falling for someone you know you cannot truly have.
Carrie also discusses the impact that being Princess Leia has had on her life from the beginning of filming until her passing, the pros and cons of forever being connected to easily one of the most well known, well loved characters in history.
As always, Fisher's comic wit and brilliant personality shine through and I hope other non-Star Wars fans will still give one a shot. -
I was not a huge Carrie Fisher or Star Wars fan, in fact I only just watched Star Wars for the first time the year Episode VII came out. I didn't even know that Debbie Reynolds was her mother until she passed away.
That said, I think Carrie is an excellent memoirist. She is direct and honest and very much herself, and in audio, it's fantastic. Carrie came across her diaries from the early Star Wars days, where she was the "typical" late teens early 20s angsty idealistic woman. She was very honest about her feelings, wrote awful poetry (think Mortified podcast), and all of it is relatable. Her daughter reads the excerpts from her diaries at the time and Carrie reads the rest. I listened to the entire thing in two days, just found all the extra spaces in my day and found reasons to listen.
I received a copy of the audiobook from the publisher through their Volumes app, but I would have spent a credit on it in Audible if I hadn't had this one. -
I love Carrie Fisher. I've read all her books and really enjoyed them. This book however, was a disappointment. Much of it was pointless 'filler' that was completely unnecessary to the story Carrie was trying to tell.
For instance, the whole first chapter...'It was 1976'...is just a listing of all the things that were happening in the year 1976. Now, I get 3 or 4, hell, maybe even 5 or 6 examples so she can set the scene, but as it went on and on it became very clear that she wasn't going to have enough content to fill a 250+ page book.
Some of the following chapters weren't bad. Especially 'Carrison', which basically documents her brief affair with co-star Harrison Ford. While I always felt Harrison Ford was a bit of a pompous asshole, Carrie's description of him pretty much solidified that opinion.
After 'Carrison' though, things went down hill...FAST. The chapter 'Notes from his Periphery, or the Glib Martyr', is straight from the pages of her lost diaries, and it is PAINFUL. It's pages and pages of a 19 year old stoner trying to sound deep and meaningful with her 'poetry', and torturing herself with her intense infatuation of her married co-star. Trying to rationalize how she can continue to sleep with him when he's,
1. Married, and
2. Apparently has no idea how to have an actual CONVERSATION...yet she does nothing about the situation and keeps beating herself up over it.
I didn't think it could get much worse...but I was wrong. The final chapters are a blur because they were so damn boring that I started skimming. 'Leia's Lapdance' is pages of the mundane stories various fans have told her while at different signing appearances (such as Comic Con). Seriously...the whole chapter is OTHER peoples stories about why they love her and what Princess Leia means to them. I don't care about THEIR stories...I wanted to read HERS.
Overall, if your a Star Wars fanatic (which I am), then you're going to read it regardless of the reviews, but this definitely not her best work. -
A beautiful memoir by one of my childhood heroines.
RIP dear sweet Carrie Fisher.
My Rating: 5 stars -
I'm not usually one to read memoirs or even a slice of a tiny and specific autobiography like this, but I was tempted both because of my sadness for her death and the fact that it was nominated for the Hugos this year.
That being said, I wasn't prepared for how much I enjoyed her quirky and excellent and witty writing, her unabashedly honest reveal about her on-set fling with Harrison Ford, or the nearly unbearably sweet and conflicted original diary, itself.
Don't go into this expecting a behind the scenes expose or anything, but you can truthfully come out of it feeling a sense of awe and joy for having been a part of something so big... even coming from the actress in the metal bikini. :)
Reading this is both sweet and heartbreaking at the same time.
I, like so many others, love Star Wars, but as with so many people like me, I tend to forget that the people involved with it are just as fascinating in their own right. I learned that Carrie Fisher was rather freaking cool. :) -
Even though I'm not a Star Wars fan, I am a big fan of Carrie Fisher.
I loved how outspoken and honest she was about her life and mental health. After listening to The Princess Diarist I now love how honest she was about her affair with Harrison Ford. I also greatly enjoyed her talking about some of her fan interactions; hilarious.
It's nice to hear someone from Hollywood talking about how insecure she was about her hair, her weight, etc... You would never know it from watching Princess Leia and her buns of Navarone. (As she called them.) As a role model for strong women, one could do much worse than the Princess.
Recommended for anyone interested in learning more about Carrie Fisher and Star Wars. -
Princess Leia was the only princess I looked up to and wished to be growing up. Princess Leia was tough, smart, beautiful, with a fantastic hairstyle and a Jedi for a brother. Also, she had the best looking scoundrel in space, Han Solo. What little girl didn't want to be her? So when this came out, and I heard what it was about, I knew I had to read it.
Carrie Fisher is a sarcastic, funny and honest writer, not hesitating to write about herself in a not so pretty light. I admire that and so I will read her books faithfully, knowing she isn't writing the fairy tale version of Hollywood and her celebrity. But Carrie Fisher doesn't bash her fame, she knows she is loved for her most famous character, Princess Leia, and in return, loves Leia as well and will always do what is right for Leia, no matter the weird way it effects her own life.
This may not have the trivia one hopes for, but I love that it didn't have much of that. It was a look inside the head of a young, inexperienced woman, who loved the wrong man, and fell into sudden fame. It is funny, wise and insightful. A great read for women who are Star Wars fans, and have loved Han Solo for as long as they could remember. -
I knew this was going to be good, so as I usually do, I put off reading it for a while. When I finally got to it, I was sucked in immediately. Carrie Fisher is at once hilarious and thought-provoking, and her commentary looking back on the time of the filming of Star Wars, as well as her diary entries, are fascinating. I’m definitely going to read her other writing when I get the chance.
— Jessica Yang
from The Best Books We Read In February 2017:
http://bookriot.com/2017/02/28/riot-r... -
<<¿Quién crees que habrías sido si no hubieras sido una princesa intergaláctica?>>
Sería yo.
Ya lo sabéis. Carrie.
Solo yo. -
I can’t promise that this is going to be an objective review; I feel this needs to be made clear from the outset.
Five days ago, Carrie Fisher died, and in a year of deeply meaningful celebrity deaths from an era of entertainment so many of us look back on fondly, this felt like a final kick in the gut (followed a day later, of course, by her mother, Debbie Reynolds).Who do I think I would’ve been if I hadn’t been Princess Leia? Am I Princess Leia, or is she me? Split the difference and you’d be closer to the truth. Star Wars was and is my job. It can’t fire me and I’ll never be able to quit, and why would I want to? (This is both a rhetorical and real question.)
Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia meant a lot to so many young girls and women who grew up watching these films. From her (them?) we learnt that a princess (or a girl, for that matter) doesn’t have to sit around waiting to be saved, and that we could be opinionated, strong, speak our minds, and have a sense of humour. Of course, many male fans of the show adored her just as much. This hurt is not to be felt by only the womenfolk.There’s the girl with my signature tattooed to her ass, the couple that named their child Leia Carrie, the guy who had his name legally changed to Luke Skywalker. (Imagine the policeman’s face when he stops Luke Skywalker for speeding: “What happened, Obi-Wan wouldn’t let you use the X-wing fighter tonight?”) They have marriage ceremonies where, instead of the more traditional vows, one says, “I love you,” and the other says, “I know.” They come dressed in the outfits, and not only are the women in the metal bikini but some men are wearing it, too, and it looks fantastic.
Whoever you are, if you were and are a big fan on the movies (the original three; four five and six) you will have your own share of fond memories tied to the franchise.
The rest of this review can be found
HERE!
- Pre-read -
I told myself when I went to bed that I was finally going to get around to posting some of my tabbed updates on this one today... And then news hit.
I can't promise this is going to be an unbiased review, and I didn't realise quite how much she meant to me until I heard the news and started crying.
"Drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra."
Vale, Carrie Fisher.
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I love, love, love Carrie Fisher. Not Pricess Leia - although she has her moments, but the 'real' Carrie Fisher. The one who bared her soul in her autobiographical novels and biographical books, her one woman stream of consciousness shows and in the HBO documentary about her and her mother.
If you are looking for a Hollywood tell all, or a behind the scenes on the shooting of Star Wars this isn't the book. This is the story of a 19 year old high school drop out who ended up being in the BIGGEST movie franchise of all time and how it impacted the rest of her life.
In this book she reveals that during the filming she had a relationship with Harrison Ford. She omits the details and keeps it in a softened, often funny, reminiscent tone. But this book made me feel extreme dislike for Harrison Ford. Because he was a grown man of 34 messing around with a socially and emotionally retarded 19 year old. The excerpts of her diary are heart wrenching and hint at the future mental health issues she will face.
Reading it made me think that there is more to Indy's exchange with Marion in Raiders
Indiana: I never meant to hurt you.
Marion: I was a child. I was in love. It was wrong and you knew it!
Indiana: You knew what you were doing.
Marion: Now I do. This is my place. Get out!
She was a 19 year old keeping a secret; Ford was married at the time and thinking, like all young women, that this man you are sleeping with really cares about you. She honestly addresses the 'location' aspect of filming and her understanding that she wasn't Miss Right she was Miss Right Now. Still 40 years later her words from that time are painful to read.
What makes this a great book is that Carrie Fisher, God rest her soul, was really funny. -
Growing up loving the movie Star Wars, this was a great behind the scenes look into the lives of the cast. Carrie is a funny writer and she has a knack for writing about the human condition. I laughed at all the scenes she paints with questions her fans ask her during book signing and some of them are poignant. I'm sad we lost Carrie last year and I'm glad we have this lasting memory of her and her experience as Princess Leia.
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I love Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia - both are my heroes. I read and fell in love with Wishful Drinking. Carrie’s poignancy about struggles and awkwardness in life is equally matched with her quirky sense of humor, which is why I picked up The Princess Diarist. While I don’t feel it matches the level of writing in her earlier memoirs, I did still enjoy hearing about her experiences. Some of the stories are repeated: her parents’ marriage and break-up, her casting calls for Star Wars, etc. However, she adds new elements with her reflection on the relationship she had with Harrison Ford during the making of A New Hope. She includes memories of their time together and selections from her journals during the time. Hearing her youthful musings on life and love resonated with my younger self, just as much as her reflections matched my own current thoughts about myself, my weight, and getting older. She also has a section about what life after A New Hope has been like for her, especially in response to the fandom of Star Wars. While the memoir feels disjointed, I really did love each section. Yes, her other novels and memoirs are probably better, but I still love the insights she gives in The Princess Diarist. Fisher’s sense of humor balances the youthful contemplation that sometimes borders on melancholy and maudlin. I would absolutely recommend The Princess Diarist for the Star Wars fan, the Princess/General Leia worshippers, and especially the Carrie Fisher lovers.
