Customer Reviews

Surrender the Pink

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In Postcards from the Edge you could easily see that there was only a fine line dividing Fisher from the exploits of her main character, Suzanne Vail. After all, Fisher had been in drug therapy; so was Vail. Fisher was a movie star, daughter of movie stars; so was Vail. The success of Postcards from the Edge, however, wasn't in the voyeuristic opportunities of seeing how Fisher's life was like from her point-of-view, but the point-of-view itself: sarcastically caustic and witty. Well, it's all back in Surrender the Pink. And I mean all back. Once again, you wonder just how much of Dinah Kaufman is fictional and how much Fisher. How much of this failed relationship between Dinah and her famous playwright ex-husband Rudy Gendler is taken from the break-up of Fisher and famous songwriter ex-husband Paul Simon. The wit and sarcasm are there as well, this time informed with brief quotes on the nature of sex in the animal kingdom. However, Surrender the Pink isn't quite as satisfying as Postcards from the Edge. For all the action that takes place here, what one remembers are the interminable "talking heads" on the cliched differences between men and women. Even though the characters (and Fisher) realize that they are repeating cliches, it makes it no easier for the reader to swallow. The only thing that kept me reading at times were the occasional glimpses of true lunacy that was the focus of Postcards from the Edge. Surrender the Pink is also a more traditional narrative, with chapters and backflashes that flow evenhandedly, rather than the herky-jerky, episodic nature of Postcards from the Edge. Unfortunately, the bridges in Surrender the Pink probably would have been better exorcised rather than be allowed to bog the narrative as they do. For all its jerks, Postcards from the Edge was the better book.

I FINALLY read "Surrender the Pink" and I have to tell you, while I wasn't quite able to surrender to the story entirely, I did enjoy a semi-fun read. First, the down points. For being such a strong woman, Carrie comes off as entirely too sexist for my tastes. She repeatedly reinforces the idea of the "weaker" sex, continually whining and kavetching about how horrible it is to be a woman. I agree, women are oppressed and a lot of times it's tough, but this male-identified authoress puts her own sex and herself down entirely too much. (As far as the character being a different person other than herself, I'm not buyin' it.) But she does have some pretty funny insights about the human condition and that alone kept me grinning and turning pages. I was fascinated by Carrie's choice to include little science factoids on animal mating habits, juxtaposing these tidbits with facets of her own (character's) story. It was a nice frame. I also dug the open-ending ending,. Glad it's not TOO tidy.

In Postcards from the Edge you could easily see that there was only a fine line dividing Fisher from the exploits of her main character, Suzanne Vail. After all, Fisher had been in drug therapy; so was Vail. Fisher was a movie star, daughter of movie stars; so was Vail. The success of Postcards from the Edge, however, wasn't in the voyeuristic opportunities of seeing how Fisher's life was like from her point-of-view, but the point-of-view itself: sarcastically caustic and witty. Well, it's all back in Surrender the Pink. And I mean all back. Once again, you wonder just how much of Dinah Kaufman is fictional and how much Fisher. How much of this failed relationship between Dinah and her famous playwright ex-husband Rudy Gendler is taken from the break-up of Fisher and famous songwriter ex-husband Paul Simon. The wit and sarcasm are there as well, this time informed with brief quotes on the nature of sex in the animal kingdom. However, Surrender the Pink isn't quite as satisfying as Postcards from the Edge. For all the action that takes place here, what one remembers are the interminable "talking heads" on the cliched differences between men and women. Even though the characters (and Fisher) realize that they are repeating cliches, it makes it no easier for the reader to swallow. The only thing that kept me reading at times were the occasional glimpses of true lunacy that was the focus of Postcards from the Edge. Surrender the Pink is also a more traditional narrative, with chapters and backflashes that flow evenhandedly, rather than the herky-jerky, episodic nature of Postcards from the Edge. Unfortunately, the bridges in Surrender the Pink probably would have been better exorcised rather than be allowed to bog the narrative as they do. For all its jerks, Postcards from the Edge was the better book. (This "review" originally appeared in First Impressions Installment Two [http://www.owt.com/users/gcox/fi.contents.html].)

I have to say that I didn't know anything about Carrie Fisher before I started reading Surrender the Pink. So I just enjoyed the book without having any preconceived notions about it. For the first 60 pages or so I didn't find the plot all too engaging, but it kind of picked up when Dinah travelled east. What I really enjoyed about this book were the language, mostly the dialogues. There is nothing particularly intellectual about them, I just thought they were funny and they made the book well worth reading.

I don't usually read books where the relationship between a man and a woman takes center stage, the horrors that imitate real life are draining and exhausting at times, only making me feel lucky that I don't have to deal with such things. Luckily this book was so much more than that, it was a lot of fun to read and the ending didn't suck, I loved it! After reading "Wishful Drinking" and "Postcards from the Edge" I was ready for one more Carrie Fisher book before I switched themes for a while, this is referred to as a romance but it's got plenty of comedy and non stop male-female conflicts that were anything but romantic.

Dinah Kaufman is a young screenwriter who only wants what she can't have. When she's married to Rudy Gendler conflicts and lack of sweetness and proper communication take a toll on them until they break up. Once he's gone and in another woman's arms there's nothing sweeter to Dinah then the thought of them back together, she suffers from mood swings and unsatisfying flings then goes dry for so long that hunting her ex-husband down in the Hamptons where he's staying with his new blond girlfriend for the summer seems like a great idea. Her career is a success mostly because she's using her dysfunctional relationships as a guide for her fictional characters that reflect her soap opera like life. Dinah is an endearing person, her habit of buying band aids to cover her thumbs so she wont pick at her skin is real albeit whacky, the funny ways in which she tires to become more domesticated (cooking is not one of her virtues) and her search for happiness are all splendidly written and Fisher includes all of Dinah's brainstorming into the story giving her depth. I felt that Dinah sounded little older than her age (twenty eight) but perhaps going through the hellish relationships that she chose to pursue robbed her of her innocence and youthfulness. Once she makes up her mind and goes for the guy, unforeseen obstacles make her question her true heart's desire. The ending was a real surprise ( in a good way) which was nice for a change, lately any book I picked fell apart at the end, but this was solid.

The book was easy to get through once I got used to the constant second guessing that Dinah was doing, I actually liked it best out of all of Carrie's books and the dialogue was priceless, I wanted to bookmark all the fun quotes but at the end there were too many, it's something I would love to read again in the future to make sure I get all of it absorbed because Carrie Fisher has a lot on her mind and writing seems to be a form of therapy for her, I hope she never stops.

- Kasia S.

I wish I'd only read "Postcards From the Edge," which was pretty fantastic -- the first time. "Surrender the Pink" and "The Best Awful" are unnecessary and laborious retreads. There is only so much one can take of Carrie Fisher's alter ego.

Why she named "Surrender the Pink's" character Dinah Kaufman when she bears no discernible difference from Suzanne Vale is confusing at best and damning of Fisher's ability to see outside herself at worst. In "The Best Awful," Suzanne even steals one of Dinah's jokes -- the aphrodisiac/anglodisiac line, which isn't even that funny.

Dinah and Suzanne have all the same quips and cadences and bad taste in men, and they become grating fast. The flirty non-sequiturs, the desperate attempts to be witty at all times. Worse, here, Dinah writes for a soap opera and creates a character that's just like her who pops up from time to time with one-liners of her own (all too florid to ever fly on daytime TV), so we have yet another Carrie Fisher incarnation to contend with.

Fisher and her characters try too hard, and then talk a lot about trying too hard.

This book was really good because of the fact that Carrie has a talent to put her emotions on paper and display the humorous aspects of life throught these wondeful novels she has constructed with her self-image

Surrender the Pink was as enjoyable a read as Postcards from the Edge. Fisher does a good job of letting her characters age and mature although all of them remain somewhat troubled. I found Surrender the Pink an intriguing follow up to Bachelor Girl, a cultural history of the single working woman. Dinah, the protagonist, is a classic example of the conflicted single gal. She loves her job, likes sleeping alone and yet wants to married and maybe have a baby. She toys with trying to get back together with an ex but ultimately comes to her senses. The book, save for the tacked on epilogue, ends with Dinah deciding to stay single. The epilogue choses to save her from spinsterhood, although I'm not sure I like her choice of man. With the epilogue in place, I am reminded of the film Something's Got to Give and I'm thinking of the daughter in the film as being akin to Dinah.

Rudy is a thinly veiled Paul Simon. This is the true story of their love. Interesting to see how the two great minds interact.

Well, let's face it, Carrie Fisher writes about her. She is Dinah. And Rudy seems to be Paul Simon, according to the rumours. As a fan of Simon's, I started to read this book out of curiosity, but... only managed to read half of it. Carrie Fisher is not a writer, she could write columns or articles and be good at it, but a full length book? No. At least not this one. It's boring, mildly funny at best, and even if you imagine the "characters" as their real life "persons" it's boring all the same... sounds like those details of a relationship that are simply not material for a book. It goes on and on... cardboard characters and situations. No plot. The writing just drags. No point... complete bore! You actually say, "why am I reading this?" I should go for a walk instead. It's that bad.
There's only one thing behind this book: The notoriety of the name "Carrie Fisher". It sells. There's not much more to say. Maybe "Postcards" is better, but I'm not interested, after this. She's a good enough actress, period. No wonder this book is sold at 1 cent!