Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge (2024)

I was swept away by this book immediately as it recounted the birth of Carrie Fisher to her famous Hollywood star parents Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. All the screen magazines covered this idyllic family, and I found myself googling those covers to see the serious expressions on baby Carrie's face. They lived in a closed off Beverly Hills enclave surrounded by other stars. I loved reading about Carrie growing up as a teenager and how delicate and pretty she was with her soft, long hair. She had a younger brother Todd, but it wasn't long before Carrie's father abandoned the family to run off and marry the recently widowed Elizabeth Taylor. Carrie was very affected by this, but reconciled with her father when she was older.

Carrie inherited her father's vocal prowess and could really belt out a tune. Debbie was a workhorse, and she would always push to incorporate Carrie into her stage shows. You can see a performance of Carrie singing Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" on YouTube as a teenager. She sounds well beyond her years! In the documentary of Carrie & Debbie's relationship "Bright Lights" filmed just prior to their deaths, Debbie tearfully laments that Carrie never wanted much to sing, yet Carrie had a such beautiful voice...she "wished she had it".

Carrie's debut film performance was at the age of sixteen in the 1975 movie "Shampoo" starring Warren Beatty. This happens to be one of my very favorite films. However, a few years later fate stepped in when she was chosen for the part of Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" movie. This was an iconic role that cemented her fame for decades to come. However, she was much more than an actress and a singer. Her true passion was writing. She had a penchant for sitting on her huge bed and writing on legal pads as she composed her books. She branched out into writing screenplays when her autobiographical book Postcards from the Edge was optioned for the screen. She was so great at this that she became the most sought after "script doctor" in town, having a hand in improving the lines of many famous films.

However, Carrie suffered greatly with the mental illness major bipolar disorder as well as inherited drug addiction ( from her father Eddie Fisher). She was very frank about her illness throughout her life. To illustrate her self-depracating humor, the tiles in her kitchen were decorated with the design of Prozac pills. When she was cremated, her ashes were placed in an urn shaped like a giant Prozac pill! She also had a penchant for placing a grand piano in the bathroom. When she befriended musician James Blunt, he wrote his breakthrough hit "You're Beautiful" while living at her house and she promoted him to people she knew in high places so that he would get signed to a record deal. He played it at her memorial service.

She was the best friend you could ever have, and she had many. The most sought after party of the year was when she and actress/director Penny Marshall would hold a joint birthday party attended by so many celebrities it would blow your mind. She was great friends with (and the New York neighbor of) actor RIchard Dreyfuss, who also suffered with the same mental illness as Carrie.

She was only married once and that was to musician Paul Simon. Fifteen years Carrie's elder, he fancied himself an intellectual and made Carrie feel inferior. Even though their marriage was brief, their relationship spanned many years, prior to the marriage and especially after. She also suffered an ectopic pregnancy during this marriage, but instead of receiving emotional support from Paul he regarded her coldly. Carrie had many lovers during her life, but her greatest love seems to have been the father of her only child (daughter Billie), Creative Artists agent Bryan Lourd. They were never officially married, but he gutted Carrie when he confessed that he was gay.

Carrie Fisher certainly had a very rich life, tempered by struggles with mental illness and drug addiction. She was a loyal, great friend, generous to a fault, a hard worker (just like her mom Debbie Reynolds), multi-talented and loved by many. I didn't know much about her before reading this book, but now that I do I hope to get around to several of her books which I own on kindle. She was a fascinating woman, and this was an excellent and well-researched biography of her extraordinary life.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan for providing an advance reader copy via Edelweiss.

Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge by Sheila Weller is a detailed biography of someone who lived her entire life in the limelight. From the day Carrie was born, she was famous because of her parents’ Hollywood fame. Her mother, Debbie Reynolds and father, Eddie Fisher were the talk of the town and so were their children. A life lived in a fishbowl proved to be difficult for young Carrie and continued to affect her for the rest of her life. She battled mental illness and drug addictions and was unlucky in love, much like her own mother. She overcame all these obstacles and became a highly-praised actress, a writer, a memoirist and she was known for her humor and honesty in one-woman shows and books about her life. This is a well-written bio, informative without being gossipy, of a woman who was admired and loved by many.

This is a book for Carrie Fisher fans or for those like me who are really wanting to know more about her since her passing. I remember how huge her death was, on a return flight from London, just a bit before Christmas in 2016. It really was kind of a shock, as she wasn’t that old and seemed pretty healthy. Sheila Weller covers Carrie’s life here, going back before she was even born to show the makeup of her parents’ Hollywood celebrity marriage. It’s a good bio of a life that had quite a trajectory, I’m trying to imagine having the parents she had, then being in Star Wars, among other movies, AND being married to singer Paul Simon. Sure, that happens every day.

Carrie really must have been quite something as a friend and a person to have such an amazing list of people as friends. Real friends, not just acquaintances. Oh, and let’s not forget to throw in becoming an author too, of multiple best selling books, not to be sneezed at either. And all of this done in spite of dealing with some serious bipolar problems that were more than a challenge, and a lifelong problem with drug addiction. She later began speaking out on being bipolar and being open about mental illness. This was a really good book, almost perfect, for learning about Ms. Fisher as the author seems to have done some great research with many of the people who knew and loved her best. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Sheila Weller, and the publisher.

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I just love biographies, memoirs, and autobiographies, especially when they are about someone I’ve “known” most of my life. Like many from my generation, I fell for Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. I thought she was mesmerizingly beautiful and magical. Most of all, she was formidable, and little did I know, the actor was just as strong as the character.

Later in my life, I vaguely remember interviews with Carrie after the drug overdose, and also one with her mother, when she talked about her life, including her father’s affair with Elizabeth Taylor. I can remember a short-run talent show where she mentored young movie producers. She was opinionated, even fierce, but wow, did she ever know her craft.

This book shines a light on aspects of Carrie’s life and unique personality. I was enthralled reading about her relationship with Paul Simon, and I was saddened each time I read about her difficulties with Bipolar, addiction, and mental health. Carrie was so many things to so many people, and those afflictions did not define her. They may have limited her lifespan, but they didn’t limit her imprint left behind on so many who knew and loved her.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent immersed in this glimpse into Carrie Fisher’s life. My image of her magic and her strength are still in tact, and while I’m certainly much more aware of her complexity and the difficulty in her life, I’m even more in awe of her strength and talent.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com

“Carrie Fisher: A Life On The Edge” (2019) written by NYT bestselling biographer Shelia Weller, covers the remarkable and extraordinary life of this actress, author and activist. Carrie Fisher received world -wide acclaim for her starring role as Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars epic (1977), she is the only actress ever to kill a king sized slug while wearing a sparkling mental bikini and to have that likeness molded into a Pez Dispenser.

Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) was born a year after the marriage of her celebrity parents—Eddie Fisher (1928-2010) and Debbie Reynolds (1932-2016). This famous couple found themselves in the scandalous spotlight when Eddie left his beautiful glamorous wife and young children to marry Elizabeth Taylor. Ms. Fisher never hesitated to use her family history and dysfunction as topics in her bestselling award winning comedy routines, plays and memoirs. Her parent’s lack of parenting skills bordered on child neglect and Ms. Fisher referred to her father as a “Sperm Donor” Despite this, Ms. Fisher cared deeply for her parents and provided financial support following several of their divorces and poor financial choices.

According to Weller, Ms. Fisher was likely generous to a fault, she had several close friends that included Penny Marshall and Richard Dreyfus. As a popular hostess, she covered restaurant and bar tabs when dining out with friends. To celebrate her marriage to Paul Simon (m.1983-84), Fisher traveled with her closest friends to the Middle East, the newlyweds floated down the Nile River with their guests on a rented barge. Ms. Fisher remained friends with Simon following their divorce. Eventually Ms. Fisher became a single parent of her infant daughter Billie Lourd (1992-), and spoke candidly in her shows about being left for a man.

Decades ago, popular media slowly began to cover addiction, recovery and mental illness. In addition to Betty Ford, Carrie Fisher was among the first celebrities to speak openly and gave numerous interviews about these sensitive issues, including her struggle with Bipolar Disorder: she received a diagnosis when she was 24. In the mid-1980’s Fisher decided to try her hand at writing: her first book, “Postcards From The Edge” (1990) was made into a Hollywood movie. Several successful memoirs and novels followed, including her frequently sold-out one woman comedy show.

Throughout the book, Weller portrays Fisher in a lighter easy going manner that seems to avoid more serious darker subject matter. In some instances, I couldn’t help but wonder if readers were getting the entire story. Fans greatly saddened when Fisher suddenly passed away and Debbie Reynolds death immediately followed. Fisher, such an exuberant and grand funny lady will be remembered by fans in her finest Princess Leia roles. ** With thanks to Sarah Crichton Books via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

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2.5 Stars

I tried to go into this biography with an open mind. Carrie Fisher wrote four memoirs and four semi-autobiographical novels. She told us a lot about herself in those eight books and countless interviews. She told us with tight writing and an insightfulness that was often painful. Still, I thought, perhaps there was more to be said, by those who loved and mourned her. So I requested the ARC. Not long after, Fisher's family disavowed the biography. Carrie's daughter Billie Lourd and brother Todd Fisher have spoken about the fact that Sheila Weller never knew Carrie Fisher, though that's not an uncommon thing since many biographers are writing about people who are dead. While anyone has the right to write a biography, if the work is just a great big long compendium of tabloid and magazine articles with little depth beyond what the writer subject had already offered up in their own writing, you don't have much of a book. That was one of my problems with A Life on the Edge. Too many passages read like a compendium of Page Six. Others feel like a less incisive rehash of what Carrie wrote herself. The caliber of the writing here was troubling to me. Exactly how many best friends can a person have over the course of twenty pages and a few years? Yes, she had many friends. Were they all her besties? The timeline, especially in the Star Wars years, feels like it's just smeared all over the place to include as many famous names as possible. Her parents were famous, and she was famous. They knew a lot of famous people. An accounting of names isn't insightful, and bestie status isn't insightful. Telling us that perhaps she had so many female friends, (like for instance, Joan Hackett) who were old enough to be her mother due to her early problems in her relationship with her mother, now that exploration might have been insightful. And why was fact-checking so poor? (It's the Cocoanut Grove Lounge, folks. Coconut Grove is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida. I checked the final copy of the book, and it was still wrong.) When you get sloppy with the small things, what do we think about the big things, such as people being willing to go on the record and talk about Carrie's last years, last days, last hours? I found little here that you can't get from reading the many articles there are about Carrie Fisher, and what Carrie Fisher wrote about Carrie Fisher. I think anyone who picks up this book is probably already sympathetic to struggles with addiction and mental health issues and how those issues can conspire to take some of the brightest stars from us. It's heartbreaking to think that Fisher relapsed because of all the stressors she faced in her last months. It's heartbreaking to think that we won't ever have her acerbic description of that relapse and recovery from it. I just wanted more from this biography. I'm not sure it's possible to get that. I think I should just go back and read Carrie's books again.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

"If my life wasn't funny it would just be true, and that is unacceptable." -- Carrie Fisher

I have a bit of a soft spot for Carrie Fisher as she's probably the first actress I was truly aware of, because the original Star Wars trilogy represents some of the earliest live-action films that I saw at movie theaters as a child. (I am just old enough to have seen The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in 1980 and 1983, respectively, though I caught the first film on a re-release in '81 or '82.) I'm sure Ms. Fisher heard countless similar stories in fan letters and/or at convention appearances.

However, as an adult I became much more aware of her writing skills, both as an uncredited 'script doctor' for Hollywood movies (providing funnier dialogue and/or fleshing out the female characters, per her own admission) and as a full-fledged author. I enjoyed her candid autobiographical works Wishful Drinking, Shockaholic, and The Princess Diaries, and some day I'll get to her string of novels.

Weller's A Life on the Edge was an excellent biography in presenting all of the good (movie stardom; parenthood), the bad (failed marriages / relationships; problematic mental health issues), and the ugly (drug addiction) with compassion and clarity from Fisher's all-too-short but interesting life. What most strongly resonated, though, was Fisher - despite her flaws or quirks, and NONE of us are perfect - often effortlessly and sincerely morphing between best friend-confidante-mentor-'big sister' roles for a large number of people (school classmates, fellow celebrities, etc.) in her circle. It was said she could make anyone she met an 'instant sidekick,' and it sounds like on her better days she was quite the character and just a lot of fun to be around. However, it was oft-repeated that she was also caring, nurturing, and wittily realistic to friends and acquaintances who needed assistance, sound advice or just a kind word. We should all be so lucky to have someone like that in our orbit.

Sheila Weller writes a beautiful and intimate portrait of a Hollywood Icon, the one and only Carrie Fisher. Born to Hollywood Royalty, father Eddie Fisher and mother Debbie Reynolds, Fisher from the time of her birth, lived a life so public filled with scandal and drama, and yet have been admired and adored by people all over the world. Most of us know her as Princess Lea with her hair buns, and as the fearless Resistance leader who would later be Han Solo’s love interest in both on screen and off screen with Harrison Ford.

Fisher was known to speak about her addiction and helped de stigmatize mental illness through her interviews and multiple books she has written about her bipolar disorder. Her sudden death due to cardiac arrest during her flight from London to Los Angeles was only made more shocking by the sudden death of her mother the following day.

The beauty of this biography is that we see Fisher through the facets of her being a woman who was fierce and advocated for mental health, a generous and sincere friend, a caring and loving daughter, and a talented actress and writer. This biography is exhaustively written with rich details and information on her life.

Though this is an unauthorized biography, I felt that this is something I would highly recommend, and well worth the read. Weller gave it all the respect it deserved, and I was moved by the stories presented on Fisher’s life on the Edge.

Highly Recommend and will not disappoint!

I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

Admittedly, I'm picky about biographies. I tend not to enjoy them and often shun them in favor of autobiographies and memoirs, because they always seem shallow and heartless when they're not written by the person who is the subject of the book. That was definitely the case here. I felt like I was reading a textbook rather than a biography, and in the 50 or so pages I suffered through, I didn't learn anything I couldn't have learned via a quick Google search. This is definitely not worth the lengthy read for anyone other than maybe the most die-hard of Carrie Fisher fans.

I loved reading this book, although there was virtually nothing between its covers that I did not already know. I do have the unfair advantage of being the foremost researcher in modern Leiaology. Your jaws may have dropped, but this vocation does not require costly tuition payments. To consider yourself a fan of Carrie Fisher, all you have to do is follow her, which she made so easy with her everywoman-ness and honesty. both as General Leia and in her writings. Sheila Weller does not honor this in he book, though she does bullet-list the most popular of Carrie's bon mots, which I've already pointed out are known to her staunch supporters. Weller's synopses of Star Wars plot lines are grandmotherly at best, her even-handedness wavers throughout the anecdotal presentation, and nowhere in this book did I get the feeling that she, Weller, cared about anything other than her reputation as a writer and her own bank account. (Maybe unfair, but my feeling nonetheless, and the book's $28 price tag would seem to agree with me). If I am being defensive, it may be because I know as much as you can learn about Ms. Fisher without straying too far from the TV or the library, and I also have the uncommon distinction of being an adult human with sensitivity towards others, an increasing uncommon trait, I find. Bryan Lourd's feelings echo my own--he said: “The only books about Carrie Fisher worth reading are the ones Carrie wrote herself. She perfectly told us everything we needed to know." Five stars to Bryan Lourd. Consider joining the First Order, Ms. Weller.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Carrie Fisher’s name? I highly doubt anyone’s answer would be anything other than the iconic Princess Leia from Star Wars, right?

But this beloved actress was so much more than cinnamon bun hair and a golden bikini. She was a mother, a writer, a script doctor, and a fiercely loyal friend to so many.

I was born just a few years after the original Star Wars was released, so my 80’s childhood was chock full of light sabers and cliche sayings like “May the Force Be With You” and “I Am Your Father”, and for a little girl like me – Princess Leia was my kind of princess. I gravitated more towards her than any frilly, pink cartoon in the Disney movies. She was bold, and fearless, and exactly what I wanted in a heroine.

But being such an iconic figure and huge celebrity definitely came with a price for Carrie, and she struggled most of her life with addiction, mental illness, and feelings of inadequacy. And this book delves into a lot of that – and sheds light on what a strong and no BS woman she was… so similar to that princess I adored back in the 80s.

The book leaves no details of Carrie’s life out and has a TON of juicy Hollywood gossip! We learn about her famous parents, America’s screen darling Debbie Reynolds and heartthrob crooner Eddie Fisher, and how she yearned to come out from under their shadows. Their tumultuous relationship paved the way for several rocky romances in Carrie’s own life including the highly publicized marriage to Paul Simon among others.

In almost every aspect of her life, drugs and alcohol were prevalent. Even up until her recent death. She battled bipolar disorder like a stormtrooper and did everything to not let it define her. Although full of stories of overdoses and hospital visits, this look into her life shines such a light on WHO Carrie was – and she was nothing short of amazing.

The interviews praise her humor, her candor and honesty, and how everyone wanted to be her friend – and not because she was Leia – but because she was Carrie.

I’ve always adored Carrie Fisher, because she seems like the feminist icon we all need these days. Her brevity, individuality, and strength was like a hurricane that people gravitated towards, including myself. I loved her book, Postcards from the Edge, she doctored scripts of some of my favorite movies, including Drop Dead Fred and The Wedding Singer, and after seeing her in Wishful Drinking on Broadway, I ached for days afterwards because of laughing so hard.

This book is a beautiful ode to a woman who was so brilliant, and yet so troubled. And even though the force may not have always been with her… Carrie Fisher WAS a force all on her own.

Imagine for a moment, that you've never tasted ice cream (I know, but just go with it). You want to know why every one actually "screams for iced cream". If you live in a world where ice cream no longer exists and you can't taste it, but a well read friend has, well then ask them. Have them explain to you for some hundreds of pages in equivalent conversation what it was like. Let them tell you the year ice cream was created, why it was a hit with kids and adults alike, let them detail the steps in manufacturing it and distributing it.

If, however, you want to know more about what ice cream's like and the ice cream actually wrote a book about the experience, chain smoking her way through it, jotting down the things most people would brush away, and acerbically commenting on the hom*ogenization process in a way only she, the ice cream could, then read that book. If the ice cream wrote scads of books, then read those. If the ice cream wrote and starred in a one-ice cream-show about what it's like to be tasted by everyone on the planet and later dismissed because ice cream doesn't stay fresh past it's expiration date and has way more fat content than she used to, and then the ice cream lets filmmakers into her carton to see what it's like from the inside, then see those. All of this is the long way to say that reading a book about Carrie Fisher's life and work can be a decent supplement to your experience, but don't be surprised if it leaves you feeling like something is missing. Because if you want to really know what ice cream tastes like and understand why we love it, (sorry, we're back to the metaphor) then there are no short cuts... you just have to taste the f*cking ice cream.

So if you want the true feeling of knowing more about Carrie's life, if your goal as a reader is to feel like you understand Carrie as a person, because she's touched your life, and you relate to her struggles and are bowled over by her dry wit and sympathetic to her ambivalence with the extreme highs and lows she seemed pre-ordained to live out? If you want to feel kinship without sacrificing the truth of the facts as lived? She may have passed on, but her work is here. Carrie Fisher made exploring and sharing her life and her flaws, the focus of three memoirs, several novels, a one-woman show, and a documentary. And while most people, famous or not, seem to be curating their image and distracting from their flaws and imperfections because they want to be admired, Carrie Fisher wanted, above all else, to be understood. She had an innate faith that if you understood her, you might admire her. And that need, which shine through in her humor and candor and kindness, are as much a key to her beauty as those giant brown eyes, the pillowy lips, and the flashes of "f*ck you" that we admire.

If however, I'm preaching to the proverbial choir, and you just want a sympathetic laying out of the facts and some details, or if you are wanting these before doing a deeper dive into Fisher's own words, then read away. This is an even handed, often insightful look at the facts. Likewise, if you want to understand Carrie's side of the relationship with her famous mother Debbie Reynolds? This book helped me to get a much stronger grasp on what it might have been like to live with someone as charming, vivacious, and undeniably winning as Debbie Reynolds, who loves her fiercely, and yet, in spite of outward appearances, keeps a tight hold of her rank in the relationship, and deeply values her image in the public eye, occasionally, if unwittingly sacrificing her daughter's confidence by alternately micromanaging her and then leaving her for much of the time in the care of others.

Also in the book's favor is that it becomes apparent early on that the intention of this biography is to tell the truth as best as the author is able. She deeply admires Carrie as a person and as an artist. She researched, she probed, she dug deep, and she laid out all that research in this book. What she doesn't do, for good and ill, is interpret as much as she needed, in order to give the reader a true sense of being on the inside. This was probably because she didn't want to play armchair psychologist and also because she didn't get the full access she would have liked. Therefore, the book reads like a second hand story as gleaned through articles and interviews with friends of Carrie's, and through interviews and speeches by Carrie herself, that are accessible online. It can leave one feeling dissatisfied.

Equally dissatisfying is the fact that Carrie's casual social life is given such uneven attention, to the detriment of her family life with people like her brother or her step sister Tina, or what it might have really been like when mother and daughter were alone. Additionally, there are no tender stories about Carrie and Billie, or really why Bryan Lourd might be considered "the love of her life" that could give one a real sense of how important these parts of her life were, or how the razor wit might have been spared in their presence. This is very likely because Weller got a lot of access to Fisher's outer circle of friends and acquaintances, while her inner circle closed ranks and shut her out. So some of those having less contact with Carrie receive a lot of time and importance placed on the things their eyes saw. My critique isn't intended to undervalue these sights, or the intentions of those who witnessed them, but to say that their placement and weight given in the book by Weller, may not be for the reasons implied, and in some instances, too much kindness is afforded them because they were good enough to grant the author an interview.

The most glaring example of this is detailed from an interview given by Penelope Spheeris, the director of a low-budget film Carrie shot after she was released from rehab, when no one wanted to insure her for work. Spheeris fought very hard to get Carrie on the film and put her own reputation on the line, giving Carrie a chance to prove herself as reliable. This is how the story is described, and there is truth to this. However, what is vastly understated is how much the film and Spheeris needed Carrie's name, presence, and the publicity of her comeback story, in order for the film to be seen at all when and if the film got made.

Carrie was given routine drug tests and was under a very heavy watch by all involved in the film, including Spheeris, which must have been infantilizing and humiliating to go through. Then, when the filming is complete and Carrie has relapsed, Spheeris says that the two of them did a lot of drugs together, had many drug fueled adventures. When Carrie later turned on her and created distance, Spheeris was left at a loss because she felt dismissed in spite of offering help when Carrie most needed it. The explanation by the author? Sometimes it's difficult to be seen at such a weak point in one's life and to be helped so much by someone. Carrie was likely overwhelmed by the vulnerability of that exposure, and knowing she would never be able to balance the scales, or say an appropriate thank you, she had to cut the relationship off.

Ummmmm... say what? It doesn't take a genius to see that once Fisher realized the mistake she had made in her relapse she might not look so fondly on someone who kept her clean when it served her own interests, and then partied equally as hard with her once Carrie was no longer needed to assist her career. That someone could be so careless with her, knowing what this kind of activity would cost her, had cost her, likely left Fisher feeling twice used. I understand that Weller felt loyalty to her source, but a greater loyalty was owed to her subject.

To sum it all up, this book is, in spite of its flaws, a solid addition to your understanding of Carrie Fisher if you are already familiar with the work and want some objectivity and some clarification on things you are still curious about. The translator of Carrie's life and work is kind, clear eyed, knowledgeable and sincere. But she cannot provide the wit, warmth, and slightly crazed brilliance, nor the flashes of insight and self forgiveness that Carrie herself did, because Weller, nor could any one else be, is just not up to that task.

(Reviewer received a proof of the book for an honest review)

I've been thinking of Star Wars a lot lately, since I've become obsessed with the Mandolarian. I loved Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds.

I wanted to learn more about Carrie's life so I got this book from the library. Although Sheila writes about Carrie in a mostly respectful way, the overall revelations and writing style of this book was too gossipy and tabloidish for me to enjoy.

I felt like Carrie would not approve of me reading this book and would want me to read one of her own instead.

A fairly practical approach, via Fisher's own writings and interviews with her many friends that includes an interesting account of her life-long battle with mental health issues. I felt at times that it almost lacked a biographer's objectivity and there were one too many 'her dear friend ...' but ultimately it is a well-presented and well-researched work. And, perhaps, it's greatest strength is that I now want to read Fisher's own account in her memoirs.

Loved this book about Carrie Fishers life. She led a honest and truthful life and had a no f*cks given attitude. I wish more women were like her. I also wish I couldve partied with her since her parties were legendary. Now i have to read her 7 books!

Definitely not for Star Wars fans. Not for Carrie Fisher or Debbie Reynolds fans either. Slow start. Couldn't finish it.

Touching very good biography of Carrie Fisher. The author obviously had access to the most important people in Carrie’s life. I felt bad for Debbie because she is sometimes characterized by Carrie’s friends as being a bit of a police woman and strict but another explains that she had to consider everyone a potential drug dealer. Which I think might be true. None of the friends here claim they gave her drug but some say they partied with her. Todd, her brother is very much in the background and I suspect he always was. This biography provides a full life.

It dates me, terribly, that I actually remember the Life, Look and Photoplay stories about "America's Sweethearts," Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. Later, Eddie flew to the side of his best friend, Mike Todd's, widow, Elizabeth Taylor. It was a scandal, especially for my mother who grew up in South Philadelphia and remembered Eddie's grandfather selling bananas from a pushcart.

How could they not be perfect with infant son, Todd, and cherubic Carrie rounding out the family. We never know what goes on in another person's life, do we?

We never know until someone writes a tell-all book about the adorable toddler who grew up to be a kick-ass example of princesses who don't need saving. They save galaxies by themselves. That is what Sheila Weller has done. From childhood friends, to adult beaus, to costars and her multitude of dear friends, Carrie was an old soul who seemed wise beyond her years. Raised by egotistical parents and truly awful stepfathers, Carrie is wounded by the world. She constantly seeks ego stroking and, like her mother, chooses all of the wrong men. However, if the author is to be believed Carrie maintains good relationships with practically everyone. It is hard not to notice that Carrie greases many of these friendships with grandiose presents and stays in her house of the days. Many of these parties are drug fueled, especially the one the night before John Belushi died at the Hotel Marmont.

Carrie, the wild child, becomes notorious for her drug addictions and mental illness. Friends died, Carrie rehabbed, and then she backslid. throughout it all she wrote and entertained because, a) she needed money to buy people's love and b) because she had a strong work ethic and a desire to express herself creatively through her art and writing.

If you have read Carrie's memoirs, books, and seen the movies she script doctored (and there were some even I didn't know about), you already know all the good lines in the book. Her one woman show, Wishful Drinking, is a must-read for her fans and film buffs in general. It is honest, it is funny as hell, and, like all good works of comedy, it has pathos.

Billie Lourde, Carrie's daughter with top agent, Brian Lourde (the husband "she turned gay") are not happy with this unauthorized biography and I guess I an understand why. Carrie, after all, is an icon, even a feminist ion, to young girls and middle aged women fighting sexism and ageism. She attacked both with flying fists and the sharpest tongue this side of the Pacific. This book reveals that the icon was often bitter and hurt by social media, and that much of her humor and wisdom was the world's best cover for insecurity about her lack of formal education and the wear and tear of time and drugs on her body and her mind.

I cried when Carrie Fisher died, sobbed when Debbie Reynolds died because they both represented something that Hollywood seriously lacks, these days; innate charm instead of cookie cutter starlets who have a long way to go to really sparkle.

Clearly I liked the book, but I didn't love the book. It just dealt rather cavalierly with Carrie's flaws, because despite the money and charm and endlessly sharp wit, she was a deeply flawed human being. too many of her friends seemed like hangers on, too many spurred the demons that eventually caused her death.

Here are three people whose deaths made me cry because they had so much more to give: Nora Ephron, Robin Williams and Carrie Fisher. If Carrie had written this book, it would have been much shorter, and much more engaging. However, for fans, it's worth the read. Her force wil always be with us.

Sheila Weller did an excellent job telling the life of Carrie Fisher. I found this book considerably more satisfying than the one by Carrie Fisher’s brother. There a many insights into the quirky aspects of Ms Fisher’s personality and Sheila Weller did a great deal of research into Bi-polar disorder. Illuminating and worth a read!

I have to admit to some ambivalent feelings about this book, due to Carrie's family's reaction to the imminent publication of Weller's bio of Carrie. A month ago, Bryan Lourd, on behalf of his and Carrie's daughter, Billie, denounced the bio stating that the family was not involved. Todd Fisher, Carrie's brother, also spoke out, directing people to Carrie's own works (Postcards from the Edge, Wishful Drinking, The Princess Diarist, etc) for
what is important to know about Carrie. Had I read those press releases before today, I may have never picked up A Life on the Edge, and that would have been a shame.

I am currently almost 70% through the actual bio itself, but only 42% through the whole book...the last quarter of the 412 page book being NOTES...names of those interviewed and quoted in text, as well as citations of quotes used from other sources. So...a really WELL documented manuscript.

I have learned much about Carrie that I didn't know...even after reading Postcards and most of her non-fiction. I will finish it, hopefully before its Tuesday, November 12th publication date. So far it has been well worth it to learn about this woman I have admired since I was 13, and she was 19. To learn about all she overcame to become the witty, intelligent, well-read "writer who is an actor," whom she wanted to be. So many facets to her.

Adding to my update on Weller's bio of Carrie Fisher posted yesterday....

Upon finishing the book, I have not changed my opinion that it was worth the read. Weller delves into all aspects of Carrie's life...from her birth into a dysfunctional Hollywood family in 1956 to her untimely death in 2016. Nothing is off limits. But that's the way Carrie lived...so much of her life an open book. I have so much more respect and admiration for Carrie after reading this book. All that she overcame, not just to be an actor or author, but to be a daughter, sister, friend, and mother. This is a moving bio, that more than once brought me to tears.

Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge is due to be released tomorrow, November 12, 2019.

My thanks to Edelweiss and Sarah Crichton Books for an advanced digital copy to read and review.

Carrie Fisher was a fascinating human with complex, intense life. I enjoy watching her on-screen, reading her books and reading about her. Sheila Weller's book is a tribute to Carrie's both marvellous and difficult, heartbreaking and glamourous life. Carrie was so gifted, smart and had such an amazing sense of humour. At the same time she was battling addiction and mental illness, the battle she eventually lost. This book shows Carrie as a human being, the good and the bad.

Uneven, repetitive, occasionally floundering in awkwardness.
I would like to have a new pair of shoes for each time it says
"...and they instantly became best friends for life."
I would beat Imelda Marcos.
Still very enjoyable, written with empathy, warmth and even tenderness towards Carrie Fisher and her, mostly failed, struggle to keep balance between bouts of creative frenzy and bouts of manic-depressive illness, between binges and rehabs.
Last but not least - a great source of report and gossip from
"the white hot centre of celebrity life".

Carrie Fisher’s actual books are much better. This is just a bunch of quoted material from other sources thrown together in an often incoherent hodgepodge nonlinear fashion. I understand why the family didnt want it coming out...the quality is atrocious😉

I couldn’t get into this.

It seemed like the author just cut and pasted everything anyone has ever said about carrie. It was dry and too textbooky for me. DNF.

I was never a big Carrie Fisher fan, but the fact that she had Bipolar made her more interesting to me and I wanted to read about her life.

Carrie Fisher led a very interesting life. She was many things--actress, writer, script doctor, voice actress, caretaker to her mother, mental health advocate, and probably a lot more. She had a one woman show (which I watched on HBO) and she had a wonderful singing voice, which she refused to capitalize on because "that was her mother's thing." She called not becoming a singer her "little rebellion."

The daughter of America's Sweetheart, Debbie Reynolds, and the most popular singer at the time, Eddie Fisher, her upbringing was Hollywood unconventional. She endured the scandalous break-up of her parents when her father famously left her mother for Elizabeth Taylor. She saw little of him after that as he wrestled with his own drug addiction and went through one marriage after another. Throughout her life she never stopped working to achieve his attention and approval. She watched her mother marry two more times, both men subsequently bankrupting her--one of them to fund his gambling and prostitutes. Because she never finished high school (her mother pulled her out and took her to NY to be back-up in one of her shows) she was always insecure about her intelligence. Apparently she was extremely witty and she was drawn to witty and intelligent people.

Of course, I first became aware of her for her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars. I remember very clearly sitting next to my dad in the movie theater and feeling like I had never seen anything like that movie. Her performance was not memorable, and I do remember being surprised by the choice of actress for the role as she wasn't as pretty as one would expect (partly probably due to the hairstyle--she looked much more attractive in the second film). I never did see her first movie with Warren Beatty, "Shampoo," but would like to (although I'm not willing to pay a rental fee to see it). I love the movie "Postcards From The Edge" (I also re-watched this during the reading of this book) which is based on her first book (which she wrote in her late 20's--pretty impressive). I would like to read that book, but oddly the library doesn't have it. I loved Carrie in the film "When Harry Met Sally" which is one of my favorite movies.

She was married twice, once to Paul Simon when she was in her early 20's, and later to Bryan Lourd who later came out and left her for another man.

Later in life Carrie finally accepted her diagnosis of Bipolar, although she fought against it for many years with alcohol and drugs. She became what's known as a duel diagnosis. She became a figure who was heralded for bravery and honesty with regard to mental health. I remember seeing her grace the cover of BP Hope which I subscribe to.

During the time that I read this book I watched her one woman show, "Wishful Drinking," and the HBO documentary (Bright Lights) which followed Carrie and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, around prior to Debbie's winning the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award. Seeing those gave me more insight into who Carrie really was. I enjoyed her show where she poked fun at her upbringing, and spoke openly about all kinds of things. The most uncomfortable bit was the opening where she talked candidly (yet she was able to make it funny) about the death of one of her friends who died in her bed after doing drugs with her. Her dislike of the aging process was identifiable to anyone who is discovering the changes that happen throughout the years. Her openness, honesty, humor, and wit are admirable and one can see why she had so many friends in her life and why people liked her.

I remember well her untimely death--after suffering 2 sleep apnea incidents on an airplane she began vomiting and went into cardiac arrest. She never recovered, dying a few days later. And who can forget her mother suffering a stroke shortly thereafter and herself dying a day later.

A well-written book about a unique and gifted woman who was taken too soon.

The actress and writer Carrie Fisher spent her entire life in the public eye. The daughter of two entertainment industry icons, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, she grew up in Beverly Hills when it was the epicenter of Hollywood glamour. Her parents’ relationships were frequently tabloid fodder, and she was one of the more popular kids at Beverly Hills High. She later found fame in a galaxy, far, far away as Princess Leia in Star Wars and became an unlikely sex symbol with her “take no prisoners” attitude. Fisher appeared in two critically acclaimed New York-based films in the eighties—Hannah and Her Sisters and When Harry Met Sally—before her acting career fizzled. She had a second successful career as an author, writing autobiographical novels such as Postcards from the Edge and “punching” up the dialogue in the screenplays of major feature films with wit and humor. In the final act of her career, Fisher successfully toured with her one woman show, Wishful Drinking; had recurring roles on several TV shows; and reprised her role as Leia in the Star Wars' sequels.

Weller recounts how Fisher made a slow journey from early struggles with drug abuse to accepting her bipolar disorder diagnosis. After Fisher survived several overdoses and some tumultuous relationships, she began to look inward to find the root cause of her behavior. She discovered that she inherited a propensity for depression and addictive behavior from her father. After the birth of her daughter Billie, Fisher took the initiative to control her manic episodes with prescription drugs. Later in her life, she became a fierce advocate for others who suffered from mental illness and addiction, and frequently spoke of her problems in public, including the weight gain caused by most anti-depressants. Her therapy dog, Gary Fisher, was often by her side.

Fisher’s last year on earth, 2016, was the busiest of her career. The Last Jedi was filmed in the first half of the year and her last memoir, The Princess Diarist, was published in November. She started writing an advice column for The Guardian. Returning from a trip to London to film scenes from the Amazon/Channel 4 show Catastrophe, Fisher collapsed near the end of a transatlantic flight and went into cardiac arrest. She would never wake up. Tragically, her mother Debbie Reynolds passed away the day after her daughter. A large cross section of Hollywood stars came to mourn the actresses in private and public memorials after their deaths.

Weller’s book is a fitting memorial to Fisher’s life as an artist and an activist. As reflected in her portrayal of General Leia in the Star Wars sequels, Carrie Fisher’s legacy endures as a fearless female role model.

Reviewed by David B., Librarian, InfoNow

When I heard that a biography about Carrie Fisher was coming out, I was pretty excited to read it. Having read Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking (great autobiography) and The Princess Diarist, I figured that there were other events in her life that she had not touched upon herself, that would be included in this biography. And of course, there are, but they are few and far between.

Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge By Sheila Weller was one of the most boring books I have ever had the displeasure of reading. I usually read books fairly quickly, but this one took me over two months, and I had to stop reading every fifty pages because it was so tedious. There are excellent biographies out there, and then there are biographies that read like stale history books. This is a stale history book about an extraordinary person.

And then there is the ending. After trudging through this long and numbing book, I got to a sentence that I should have expected:

“In an America led by a man who has persistently gotten away with being a liar, her legacy as a startling self-truth teller has made her triply relevant.”

Seriously? Can I watch new television programs or read new books without hearing President Donald Trump’s name? Sheila Weller just had to put her dig in. Here’s some advice, Sheila: As a biographer, when writing about a person’s life, don’t inject your own political views, or for that matter, any of your views. We don’t care about them. All we want to know about is Carrie Fisher’s life. I know there will be replies to this review saying that Carrie Fisher hated Mr. Trump. I know this, and wouldn’t mind reading that in this book, since that was HER own view. And since we’re on this topic, that “man” has done more good for this country than any other president in the last thirty years. Whether you love him or hate him, we all need a break from it, but sadly no one in the entertainment world understands this.

If you want to learn about Carrie Fisher’s life, you are better off just reading one of her books. Even her family recommended this advice when they heard this biography was coming out:

“The only books about Carrie Fisher worth reading are the ones Carrie wrote herself. She perfectly told us everything we needed to know.”
-Bryan & Billie Lourd

How strange to age alongside Star Wars, from seeing the original in pajamas at a drive-in, to a long crush on Han Solo and then an enduring fascination with the brilliant novelist and wit Carrie Fisher. After reading her novels I would drive around the city, thinking of her magical union with Paul Simon, whose songs also helped form the fabric of my young life. I picked this book up at every available opportunity and eagerly read the praise and outlandish accounts as if it were about myself, as if all personal insecurities could be contradicted by your dearest amazing friends, friends like Salman Rushdie and Sharon Horgan and Penny Marshall. She was engaged to Dan Akroyd! She and Harrison Ford were still drunk from partying with the Rolling Stones at Eric Idle’s house when they filmed the scene of the Millenium Falcon flying into Cloud City! She forgave her neglectful selfish parents and was famously generous and open to those she met. Postcards, conversations and stories are packed into this meticulously researched and respectful book. Life was not a fairytale for Carrie Fisher, but there was so much to admire and enthrall, and it was comforting for me in some bizarre inscrutable way that she had an overflowing life that affected so many others, that the whole pattern made an unforgettable shape. I’m sorry that she died, and glad that she lived.

Almost everything here was news to me, therefore I found this biography be enjoyable enough. I am more of a fan of her one-woman-show (Wishful Drinking), and Postcards from the Edge, than of Star Wars. And I knew all about her famous parents.

In fact, one of my first jobs was at an answering service where Eddie Fisher was a client. One time he called in for his messages and announced that "he saw Jesus in the desert!" That appears to be typical of the guy portrayed in this book. In fact, Carrie's manic behavior was probably inherited from him.

I did find the writing style to be a little annoying and it felt a little superficial. In fact, I had assumed it was written by someone much younger because she kept interjecting things like how Debbie and Eddie were featured in Photoplay Magazine, "the Instagram of its day!" Thus I was surprised to learn that she is not a Millennial, and that her father owned Ciro's nightclub during the Rat Pack days.

That and she was portrayed as brilliant, generous, and sort of a Mother Theresa to the bi-Polar community. Maybe she was, but all those superlatives seemed repetitive after a while. That's why I probably wouldn't recommend this to someone who already knows all this stuff, or is a super completionist fanatic.

This was a great look into Carrie Fisher's life. The author did her research and has a lot of first hand quotes from Carrie's friends and others throughout her life. It's the kind of biography which leaves you feeling like you knew the person it was about and those are the best kind.

The author uses a lot of Carrie's own words (from interviews, books, letters) so you really feel like you get a first hand account of who Carrie Fisher was. I like that Weller shows who Carrie was growing up, what kind of friend she was and what she liked to do. She's very fair, there's a lot of people who have high praise for Carrie but she does include anecdotes from classmates or friends who got on Carrie's bad side and suffered the consequences.

This just gave me such a better appreciation for Carrie Fisher, and for others who struggle with the heavy weight of serious mental illness like she did. Weller does a great job explaining how terrible it was for Carrie and the hold it had on her. But I liked the despite all her flaws I came away from this book liking who she was and what she cared about. She was a good and generous friend, who often helped others.

This is one of my favorite things Carrie said about herself that was included in this book: "When I love, I love for miles and miles. A love so big it should either be outlawed or it should have a capital and it's own currency". I thought that was great.