Book info

• Title The Princess Diarist
• Author Carrie Fisher
• Year 2016
• Genre Memoir

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. Now her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her co-star, Harrison Ford. In these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, Fisher 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.

Thoughts

This was an odd little memoir. Obviously Carrie is an absolute treasure and her writing is brilliant - witty and insightful, startlingly honest and cutting but also warm and endearing. However, the structure of the book felt odd, it’s in three main parts. The first is a fascinating look back at how Carrie got the role in Star Wars in the first place, at such a young age. Then there’s a big segment focused on notes and poems from a diary written during an alleged affair with Harrison Ford. And finally, a look at what it’s like being famous and getting older, and more removed from the part that you’ll forever be known for.

The beginning and end were okay, but the middle bit felt too raw. I imagine it was the kind of thing the writer wants to get off their chest but to what end?

Rating: 3 / 5