Postcards from the Edge [Paperback]

Carrie Fisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2002

When we first meet the extraordinary young actress Suzanne Vale, she's feeling like "something on the bottom of someone's shoe, and not even someone interesting." Suzanne is in the harrowing and hilarious throes of drug rehabilitation, trying to understand what happened to her life and how she managed to land in a "drug hospital." Just as Fisher's first film role-the precocious teenager in Shampoo-echoed her own Beverly Hills upbringing, her first book is set within the world she knows better than anyone else: Hollywood. More of a fiction montage than a novel in the conventional sense, this stunning literary debut chronicles Suzanne's vivid, excruciatingly funny experiences-from the clinic to her coming to terms with life in the outside world. Conversations with her psychiatrist-"What worries me is, what if this guy is really the one for me and I haven't had enough therapy to be comfortable with having found him?"; a high-concept, eighties-style affair-"The only way to become intimate for me is repeated exposure. My route to intimacy is routine. I establish a pattern with somebody and then I notice when they're not there?" Sparked by Suzanne's-and Carrie Fisher's-deliciously wry sense of the absurd, Postcards from the Edge is more than a book about stardom and drugs. It is a revealing look at the dangers-and delights-of all our addictions, from money and success to sex and insecurity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Washington Post Book JournalA Wonderfully funny, brash and biting novel. -- Review

About the Author

Carrie Fisher, the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, became an icon when she starred as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy. Her star-studded career includes roles in numerous films such as The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally. She is the author of five bestselling books: Wishful Drinking—which lead to a hit Broadway production of the same name—Surrender the Pink, Delusions of Grandma, The Best Awful, and Postcards from the Edge, the basis for the popular film starring Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep. In 2009, she was nominated for a Grammy award in Best Spoken Word Performance for the audio edition of Wishful Drinking. Fisher's experience with addiction and mental illness—and her willingness to speak honestly about them—have made her a sought-after speaker and respected advocate.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (December 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743466519
• ISBN-13: 978-0743466516
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,455,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carrie Fisher, the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, became an icon when she starred as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy. Her star-studded career includes roles in numerous films such as The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally. She is the author of five bestselling novels, Wishful Drinking, Surrender the Pink, Delusions of Grandma, The Best Awful, and Postcards from the Edge, which was made into a hit film starring Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep. Fisher's experience with addiction and mental illness--and her willingness to speak honestly about them--have made her a sought-after speaker and respected advocate.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A unique voice, August 28, 2002

By 

Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Postcards from the Edge (Mass Market Paperback)

Many people, myself among them, were initially turned off by Carrie Fisher's Postcards from the Edge. Oh no, here comes another Hollywood star who thinks she can run the gamut of the arts. Even though the book was a bestseller when it was released, I couldn't change my initial (and, admittedly) biased opinion--50 million Elvis fans can be wrong. Even when Surrender the Pink, Fisher's second novel, appeared and garnered acclaim, I wasn't satisfied. But then Postcards from the Edge was made into a film with Meryl Streep, and, needing a film to see, I went. And what transpired on the screen (from a screenplay by Fisher) was enough to break through my bias.

Postcards from the Edge is quite different from the movie, however. The movie has a linear story that is quite clearly autobiographical for Fisher--Suzanne Vail is a young star undergoes a stomach pump, then drug rehabilitation, and it all is the result of early fame, and a famous mother that the star has yet to really come to terms with. The book, although similar in parts, has a "postcard" feel. The early section is told through the diary entries of Suzanne and Alex, an addicted young screenwriter. Later sections, told only through the point of view of Suzanne, range from entirely dialogue through more traditional third person narrative.

Fisher understands the process of addiction, that searching for escape, then denial, then endless justification. Her portrayal of drug addiction goes beyond drugs--I've never taken any, but I could see the patterns of addiction in terms of my many vices. She also understands the glad-handing movie culture enough to be able to depict it as glamorous, while also showing the pimples underneath. Bret Easton Ellis has nothing on her one scene of Suzanne going shopping: the brand names, the non-sequiturs, the endless vagaries are all things he would have died to write.

Carrie Fisher has a way with words. She's not the next Dorothy Parker, but there is a fine example of wit in Postcards from the Edge. It's a wit measured by the 80s, by her experience, and by her personality. Ellis can't match it, because he hasn't lived her life. And that's what makes Postcards from the Edge special: it is a book that was written by the only person who could write it. That is, it is unique. And, frankly, that's more than can be said for many books published these days.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, insightful writing, and great showbiz gossip., November 26, 2005

By 

Volkswagen Blues "cead1" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Postcards from the Edge (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It moves quickly and surely (even if its heroine doesn't!), has smarts and wit to spare, and finds a nice balance between portraying the dark side of addiction and the smart-alecky narrator's attempts to deal with it.

Along the way, you're treated also to early-1990s Hollywood gossip, if you follow it closely enough to figure it out. As in a roman a clef, Fisher sneaks dish about famous figures into every page, and if you read between the lines you can catch the jokes about Geena Davis, Harrison Ford, etc.

Gossip aside, though, this is just a well-written book. It moves quickly, making it a great read, and the humor in it is so smart and black that Fisher's characters emerge as simultaneously courageous and unsure of themselves. This makes her protagonist especially endearing, and since the book in anchored around her, it's great that she's so sympathetic.

I recommend "Postcards from the Edge." It takes a unique look at addiction by spotlighting its sources in and effects on the psyche and self-esteem.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humorous, swinging, all you could wish for!!, November 25, 2001

By 

Lilou (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Postcards from the Edge (Paperback)

Just a quick note to remark how much I loved this book! Carrie Fisher beautifully brings us the inside of Hollywood through a web of humor, drugs, relationships, 'Hollywood Party Terror', and much more.

The plot centers on a 30-year-old actress named Susan Vale, and follows her challenges as she overcomes her drug addiction, gets back into the swing of things, and finally falls in love- although her 'unstable' being forbids her from admitting it.

I absolutely adored 'Postcards'! A must-read!

*long live Carrie Fisher*