Outspoken, honest commentary of what it's like to be Princess Leia on and off the screen.
How playing Princess Leia changed the author’s life.
When Fisher (Shockaholic, 2012, etc.) accepted the role at age 19, she had no idea the Star Wars franchise would become such a phenomenon. In her mind, like so many others, the original movie was "a cool little off-the-radar movie directed by a bearded guy from Modesto….It wasn't supposed to do what it did—nothing was supposed to do that. Nothing ever had.” In this frank, self-deprecating memoir, the author rehashes her thoughts about her brief and exciting affair with married co-star Harrison Ford, which lasted the duration of the filming of Star Wars, about three months. However, readers in search of the nitty-gritty details of their weekends together won't find them here; Fisher is discreet, leaving much of the physicality of their shared experiences to the imagination. What she does provide are excerpts from her diaries written at the time, which show the naiveté of a 19-year-old in love with her older counterpart, as well as some poorly written love poems. After that overly long section, the author divulges what it’s like to attend conventions where she's paid to sign photographs of her younger self, often snapshots of Princess Leia in her metal bikini sitting beside Jabba the Hutt. Fisher successfully imitates the gushing conversations of various fans, giving insight into the complicated push-pull reality of being a celebrity: you need them to buy your signature so you can pay your bills while at the same time selling a tiny bit of your self-worth, which eventually drains you. Those looking for details about the filming of the Star Wars movies or Fisher's affair should look elsewhere, but those who want to understand the dynamics and personality of a young woman thrust into unexpected stardom and how that shaped the woman she has become will find plenty to ponder here.
Outspoken, honest commentary of what it's like to be Princess Leia on and off the screen.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17359-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Blue Rider Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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