The Princess Diarist / Carrie Fisher / 257 pgs

Like many others, I wasn't as interested in reading Carrie Fisher's book until she passed at the end of December. Since I am always interested in reading diaries (one of my favorite books is The Reagan Diaries), I thought this must be of interest. Before the book came out in October, I remember being less than impressed with Carrie Fisher revealing her affair with Harrison Ford (then married to his first wife) while they were on the set of Star Wars. I thought it was tacky and tasteless for her to do so while both Harrison Ford and his first wife were still living. It turns out, that if she had not revealed the affair in this book, the secret would have likely died with her.

The book is a bit weird. I've never read Carrie Fisher's writings before, and so I was unfamiliar with her style. It was very stream-of-conscious, which I have enjoyed in novels like The Road and Blindness but found confusing in what was supposed to be autobiographical. Also, there were times it seems Ms. Fisher was an unreliable narrator, acting like she couldn't quite remember how certain conversations go but speculating on them nevertheless. It turns out only about 60 pages of the 250 page book were her writings from the time the first Star Wars movie was in production. The rest is just lead up and aftermath. Obviously, there are times when Ms. Fisher mentions how she wants to be remembered when she dies, the effects of getting old, getting things on paper before she dies, but of course write as someone who had no idea how quickly death was coming for her. At the end, in her acknowledgements, she tells her mom how happy that she is still around and chastises her for an apparent recent health scare. She was never to know that her mom would pass the very next day after Carrie died. An interesting book for those who are interested in the making of Star Wars and want to read something juicy about beloved movie stars. I was less than impressed with her affair, and more interested in how she was doing in those last few years before she died.