Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

21 reviews

ofclumsywords's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

3.0

The inside story of a 19 year old high school drop out who lived in her famous mothers shadow as a backup singer for her shows, who suddenly gets a part in an low budget sci-fi movie that will soon blow up the screens. The book is almost bittersweet, showing how Carrie got her big break but was also told she needs to lose weight in order to become Princess Leia and falls in unrequited love. A lot of this book is about shedding light on Carrie and Harrison's affair, something that a lot of people speculated on but never got definitive answers until now. The parts of their affair, while good, took up more of the book than I had wanted; but Carrie did include a lot of her personal writing and poems she wrote of their affair and trying to find out who she really was during the filming of the movie. It is almost heartwrenching to hear in her own words how naive she was at 19 and having to learn the lessons of fame, hollywood, and love while she was so young. But the writing in her personal journals was by far my favorite part. She was an excellent writer, and those poems and journal entries put so much emotion into the words that you feel like you can connect with Carrie in a way that you hadn't felt before. 

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sadie_g's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

Loved listening to the audiobook and hearing Carrie and Billie tell Carrie’s story, I would definitely recommend listening to it. It was fun and interesting to get more informative on Carrie, Princess Leia and Star Wars.

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mconroy9137's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75


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jerrysaywhaaa's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

Of the Carrie Fisher books that I’ve read, I don’t think this is her strongest. It’s mostly her going on for way too long about her affair with Harrison Ford with a little bit of complaining about fans/autographs and excerpts from her diary that seem almost too poetic to be real. I think I expected more of her time during the filming of Star Wars than what we got. I recommend her other memoirs, but I don’t think I would recommend this one

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princessdana36's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0

I love love loved this book. Carrie Fisher is a genius and she is a solid writer. I could listen to her tell stories from her past all day :) 

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lycheeteareads's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

3.5


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sugarwookiee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.0


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melsage1823's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

A stunning, insightful and vulnerable memoir into Carrie's teenage years and how she's dealt with the huge Star Wars fame. Miss Fisher your presents and joy is still forever missed. Rest in paradise.

For my first ever Memoir, I have barley anything bad to say. It was absolutely fantastic! My only major problems was the structure and the fact that the audiobook didn't match with my copy I was reading along with. Which lost it half a star.

The structure as a mildly dyslexic reader didn't work for me. It just isn't accessible, I would have loved Carrison and Leia's lap dance broke  into smaller chapters, as well as the diary entries. All the writing was fine I just would have felt more comfortable with the structure broken up better.

Also it might be the fault of the bookseller but with the audiobook and physical copy having whole chunks and paragraphs not matching it felt very messy and tricky to follow along. This is just a minor nit pick though.

Apart from that, chefs kiss. One thing I really appreciate is that the writing style especially with certain sentences in brackets, makes it feel like Carrie is physically having a casual conversation with you and that your not just reading a memoir. Fisher really tries to immerse you into her world, with her witty humour and charm. Spoilers, she succeeds. I couldn't help giggling when it came to the parts of sentences that were in brackets.

Another thing I love is her raw honesty and energy. To many celebrities want to look tough and mask their selves but Carrie isn't. Even when the reader doesn't deserve it, she is raw, honest, witty and not afraid to be vunerable. Her voice ripples threw and she is honest about why just now she wants to share her journal entries and certain other private events just now. I don't think Carrie ever realised this but her willingness to be open about her thoughts about herself has probably helped a lot of people be willing to talk about their mental health as well. 

Finally, the journal entries themselves. I saw some reviews complaining that they're nothing to do with Star Wars but she was a teenage girl for goodness sake! Of course she's gonna be talking about boys. That's what most teenage girls were expected to do. Relating back to my previous comments, the journal entries are honest and authentically Carrie. Probably because her journals were intended to be a safe place to vent her secrets but still. I was really worried about them not being true to Carrie but they indeed were. Some of the entries read like beautiful poetry and most importantly told a story. Those diary entries alone, foretold Carries potential as a fabulous writer.

Overall, a memoir completely worth the read, even if your not a Star Wars fan. Its about the story of a teenager dealing with love and fame that after looking at her parents, didn't want to repeat. We will forever miss you, dear princess.

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soulwinds's review against another edition

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funny informative fast-paced

3.5


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keikosnoodles's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

The audiobook being read by Carrie Fisher and her daughter, Billie, is what pushed this to 4 stars for me. The writing was a bit chaotic and disjointed, with parts somewhat repeating at times. Listening to the author read with her own inflection and emphasis (and accents!) made this a much more enjoyable book. A touching insight into Carrie Fisher, and a personal look into some of her feelings of being and not-being Leia.

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