The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
The last book from beloved Hollywood icon Carrie Fisher, The Princess Diarist is an intimate, hilarious, and revealing recollection of what happened behind the scenes on one of the most famous film sets of all time, the first Star Wars movie.
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. Before her passing, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon was indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her costar, Harrison Ford.
With these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, The Princess Diarist is Fisher's intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time--and what developed behind the scenes. Fisher also 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. Laugh-out-loud hilarious and endlessly quotable, The Princess Diarist brims with the candor and introspection of a diary while offering shrewd insight into one of Hollywood's most beloved stars.
I bought this in November 2017 for $4.95. It must have been on sale on Audible.
I enjoyed listening to Carrie tell this story but I don't think I would have liked reading it. There were some moments (like when she talks about going to conventions) where she has one sided conversations (the POV of the fans) and I think it worked best hearing her perform it. I also miss hearing her snarky wit.
I thought there would be more diary entries from 1976 but I can see why there weren't more than the one that her daughter, Billie, narrates. It was really poetic. I liked the prose but it is not a detailed. It's more poetic quips about her feelings and only Carrie could understand what she wrote. Without her previous explanations about what happened between her and Harrison Ford when they filmed A New Hope, I would have no idea what that diary entry was about.
I did like this one line from the diary entry: "using our very large vocabulary to disguise our very common sense."
Some things made me laugh:
-When Carrie says her grandma, Maxine Reynolds, had 3 different glares: suspicious, hostile, and disappointment.
-Harrison's repose face is a scowl and he's not a people pleaser.
-No one could tell if George Lucas was surprised at his birthday party because he doesn't make facial expressions.
-There was a tug of war between Harrison and the crew for Carrie's maidenhood/virtue.
- Men at conventions liked Leia's "unthreatening little bitchiness" and asked her to write either the "too short to be a stormtrooper" or the "nerf herder" line on their photos.
As for the affair she had with Harrison...he was a bit of a real-life scoundrel and she was an insecure 19 year old. That is all I have to say about that.
This was a good, fast listen and I'm glad I bought it on that sale.
3 out of 5 Princess Leia's hair buns.