About the Author

Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) became a cultural icon as Princess Leia in the first Star Wars trilogy. She starred in countless films, including Shampoo and When Harry Met Sally. She is the author of Shockaholic; Wishful Drinking (which became a hit Broadway production); and four bestselling novels, Surrender the Pink, Delusions of Grandma, The Best Awful, and Postcards from the Edge.

Reviews

"Shockaholic is a breeze to read: fast-paced and clever, funny enough to make you laugh aloud, and short enough to be read in one sitting. But the moments of insight, of clarity, of vulnerability that Fisher shares with the reader in her characteristically straightforward manner remain long after the last lovely bon mot."--LitReactor.com

"Shockaholic is shocking, but it's the emotional depths that are charged under the therapy's push that really makes this an interesting read." --BookReporter.com

"[A] funny and sad memoir . . . tremendous wit, ample self-deprecation, and a thinly veiled and deep-seated anguish."--Publishers Weekly

"[Fisher] never lets herself veer into woe-is-me-ism. With charming shamelessness, she conducts a brisk and witty tour of her life, delivering up her tragedies as a nonstop laugh riot."--Elle

"Amazing . . . pretty fascinating stuff."--Rosie O'Donnell (Windy City Times interview)

"Carrie Fisher goes from pathos to punch line with a flick of her wit." --Louisville Courier-Journal

"Carrie Fisher is able to deliver a sage, self-deprecating tour of addiction, bipolar disorder, and her experiences with ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy) in a way that leaves readers feeling like she's your funny, cynical, down-to-earth BFF." --BUST

"Even if you're not a Star Wars fan, [Carrie Fisher] will have you laughing as she reveals her amazing experiences in Hollywood and beyond."--The Journal (UK)

"Fisher is a girl who knows how to tell a story . . . she can make us laugh, she can make us cringe, but she can also teach a great deal about the power of forgiveness."--People (4-star review)

"Fisher is a storyteller, very happy to make jokes at her own expense . . . Shockaholic will only enhance her reputation as Hollywood's unofficial amateur therapist."--The Guardian (London)

"Fisher is a writer, an observer, and a keen one at that. Her way with words, even though she claims electroshock treatments have made her forget many of them, is raw and raucous."--Booklist

"Fisher is, at her core, a very good writer who's able to keep us entertained. Fisher deserves praise for being up front about the [electroshock] therapy...If she wants to keep talking, we'll keep listening."--Los Angeles Times

"Fisher's memoir Shockaholic, the follow-up to her successful autobiography and one-woman show, Wishful Drinking, is similarly witty, ramshackle, and outrageous."--Washington Post

"Fisher's word choices and comedic rhythm echo such literary comic masters as S.J. Perelman and Woody Allen . . . she proves the ripe adage that comedy really is tragedy plus time. Grade: A-" --Cleveland Plain Dealer

"For those who are partial to Fisher's sharp and acerbic take on things, her sense of the absurd clearly derived from firsthand experience, Shockaholic . . . doesn't disappoint."--Blogcritics.org

"Hilarious."--Marie Claire

"Hollywood's new poor little rich girl . . . continues her tour down the rabbit hole of Crazy Town, sparking us through brightly lit secret corridors while twisting self-deprecation into an art form. Fisher's wordplay is wicked, relentless, and playful as a bouncy house full of polar bear cubs."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Modern American literature has an enviable tradition of wisecracking dames nursing broken hearts or fragile psyches dating back to Dorothy Parker. To that list we can add Carrie Fisher. . . . We are now well used to the kind of celebrity confessional which details the darker aspects of the celebrity lifestyle. It is to Fisher's credit that she has walked the same route with the kind of panache that makes us laugh."--The Telegraph (Belfast)

"Plenty more weird episodes are packed into [Carrie Fisher's] latest memoir, Shockaholic. . . . Some of the stories are heartbreakingly sad, yet Fisher makes them laugh-out-loud funny on the page."--Sunday Sun (UK)

"Princess Leia Amidala Skywalker Solo strikes again . . . The one-liners keep coming and the temptation is to conclude that all this Gemutlichkeit is distancing behavior, but leave that to her army of shrinks and Dr. Feelgoods and just enjoy the ride."--ShelfAwareness.com

"There's no such thing as TMI in Carrie Fisher's world, and that's why we're hooked on her new memoir, Shockaholic."--Ladies' Home Journal

[Shockaholic] stands out beautifully from what has become the madding memoir crowd."--Buffalo News

Carrie Fisher regales listeners with her thoughts on self-destruction, death, and delirium in this follow-up to Postcards from the Edge, that covers everything from her relationships with her father and stepfather to her electroshock therapy and reaction to the death of Michael Jackson. Poignant and amusing at times, these stories benefit from Fisher's narration, which-like her writing-communicates a willingness to not take herself entirely seriously and a recognition of the sober moments of life. Fisher's tone, emphasis, and delivery match her text. Listeners will be able to hear both the smile in her voice during amusing moments and her genuine grief when discussing harder times. A fine performance and entertaining audio that listeners will certainly enjoy. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In this follow-up to Wishful Drinking, Fisher writes about what it means to be thought of as self-absorbed, to have famous parents who parted notoriously, how it feels to have electroshock therapy, and making peace with the past that includes living with Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, and Elizabeth Taylor; being Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy; waking up next to her dead, gay best friend; and enduring various other adventures that it's hard to believe could have happened to anyone else. Her reading is pitch-perfect: acerbic, revealing, vulnerable, and hilarious. VERDICT Fisher is seriously funny, and this memoir is recommended for all listeners interested in pop culture and celebrity autobiographies.-Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.