What We're Reading: Jan

Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher

This title is a further exploration of the tumultuous life of Carrie Fisher -previously recounted in her best-selling show and book Wishful Drinking. She writes in her raw, laugh-out-loud style about her Hollywood upbringing, being the daughter of two larger-than-life Hollywood stars, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She is incredulous about her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars and the fame and money she acquired from it. She tenderly relates stories about her friend Michael Jackson, feeling a connection to him as another kid surrounded by show business. Many other surprising but true memories are revealed by Fisher in her appealing and provocative reveal. Yet the title Shockaholic and the second chapter set the tone of this memoir. They describe Fisher’s decision to undergo electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) – commonly known as“shock therapy” - to deal with the “pain squared, pain cubed, pain to the nth power” of her life. Because, despite all the wit and genius with language, Carrie Fisher is still hurting. She can quip about her early life: being sadly funny about her father’s absence for many years and then his death, the hopeless comparison between Princess Leia and the real Carrie, and her shame and guilt at impacting her own daughter’s life by being a source of worry to her. Years of drug use could not ease the pain. Her writing seems to have given her a way to help sort things out and ECT has calmed her, even while taking some of her memory. The book is a roller-coaster ride of laughter and sadness and, in some instances, heartbreak. After reading it, one feels like Carrie Fisher needs a big hug – for living through everything she has and continuing to look for strength.