Day: March 28, 2018

The Princess Diarist

Author: Carrie Fisher
Narrators: Carrie Fisher and Billie Lourd
Published: November 22, 2016
Audible: 5 hours 10 minutes

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened: February 28- March 5, 2018
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars

Book Description:

The Princess Diarist is Carrie Fisher’s 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 recently 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. Today, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a (sort-of) regular teenager.

Jessica’s Review:

It was bittersweet to listen to the audiobook version of The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher. She also narrated it and it was great to hear her voice again. In some ways it was eerie as she talks about her future death/obituary, and even her mother, and they are both no longer with us.

She talks about her experience with Star Wars and she never expected it to be what it became. She was 19 when she filmed it, so she was still a baby in some ways.  I enjoyed hearing the stories she tells, and she relates them with enthusiasm.  She was not a perfect person and you see that in the drug use she mentions and her affair with Harrison Ford.  If you are looking for juicy details on that you are out of luck, she doesn’t spill them.  Harrison was 34 and married when they had their affair. There is some foul language as well, but nothing extreme: This is someone’s life and no one is perfect.

Fisher found diary entries when she was filming Star Wars.  Those are read by Billie Lourde. You see the feelings she had while she wrote those.  The diary entries are not that long compared to the rest of the book, so for me it was more of a memoir than about her entries.  I actually was not as interested in them as I was with the rest of the memoir.

If you are a fan of Star Wars in any way, I recommend The Princess Diarist.