4: Wishful Drinking

Really, if I had told myself that I was going to finish 4 books on the first day of this "abbreviated books" holiday, I wouldn't have believed it.  But that's what happened.  Someone handed me Carrie Fisher's new work this afternoon and, after popping back The Uncommon Reader before sunset, I decided that I would look at the pictures in Fisher's book and, well, one thing led to another...and I read it.

I think that I'll likely get in trouble at Seattle Rep for this, but this book didn't really do it for me.  I'm likely in trouble because Ms. Fisher will be performing her acclaimed one-woman show "Wishful Drinking" on our stages this Spring. It's been wildly popular everywhere it's played and, I mean, I can see how this material is funny -- but I just couldn't get around the "I just had electro-shock therapy and I can't remember anything and, my-oh-my, wasn't my life wonderful and weird" conceit of the whole thing.

I've met Carrie Fisher on three or so occasions.  I found her to be witty and silly and dry and "spot on" when she took aim at a target.  I knew she had problems with alcoholism and pills, etc... anyone who saw Postcards from the Edge knows all about it, but I always thought of her as a creative and real human being.

This book is so cavalier about her experience, and her treatment of the real people in her life is so shallow, that I was just turned off.  

And, that said, I can't wait to see how that material translates when she performs the show live at the Rep this season!  Go!