The Best Awful

So the author of this book is Carrie Fisher. It is an incredibly polished fictional tale of a woman whose husband is gay and leaves her, and her young daughter, for another man. The trials and tribulations described are what the main character Suzanne Vale calls, "Chicken Soup for the Fag Widow." This book has one of the most accurate descriptions of bi-polar experiences I've read thus far and is worth reading just for the insight into that mental illness itself. The book is obviously semiautobiographical as Fisher is the daughter of the also famous Debbie Reynolds. Except for a trite part of the story where Suzanne goes into a mental health institute, which is stereotypical (Girl, Interrupted allusions) and flippant about health care show more professionals, the book was much more than I was expecting. Carrie Fisher has written several books (this is the second for these characters, Postcards From the Edge being the first) and she shows mastery over the artform. Fisher is probably more famous than Meryl Streep who has the most Academy Awards of any female. Except for The Deer Hunter, Sophie's Choice, and Doubt, you haven't missed anything. Streep actually was in the film version of Postcards From the Edge so I'm sure the respect between the two actresses exists at a high level. Nevertheless, Fisher was in the greatest trilogy in film history, Star Wars. Fisher's character of Princess Leia is far more important cinematic history than anything Streep has ever done. Fisher, having mastered two art distinct forms, is obviously the more talented of the two and I'm writing this to stake her claim.
The title of the book, The Best Awful, comes from a line where Suzanne describes her bipolar breakdown as awful but that she could make the 'awful' better by getting healthy again and returning to a normal life with professional help and family and friends' support. The Best Awful is an upbeat book and meant to help people not feel isolated in Hollywood, even if they are diagnosed with mental illness. If you have worked with mentally ill patients (me) or know someone who suffers from the various manifestations of it this book will amaze you for its honest descriptions of the internal mental dialogue that goes on when someone is trying their best to make it through a bad or 'awful' day. show less

Writing is probably easiest if done during a manic state. All the writer's block stuff is avoided. Were I in one now, I'd have finished this review long ago. Even deciding to give it 4 stars was difficult. It should probably only get 3 stars but it's funnier than most of my 3 star books so I decided on 4. Already I'm reconsidering.

In the end, I like Carrie Fischer's jokes. I would write like she does if I could but I'm not funny enough and it's probably just as well because it totally doesn't work for her depressive phase and it takes over everything else. There are well imagined scenes and insights that are buried under wordplay. The lily ends up being gilded. Or perhaps the proper metaphor is that she snorts Oxycontin when she's show more already high enough without it.

The actual plot isn't really that interesting. It's all in the telling. I hope most of it isn't really true but fear it probably is. At least I can laugh at it.

It would be nice if Suzanne or perhaps Carrie could have some kind of therapy that isn't based on the assumption that her problems are just genetic and chemical. Even something simple that allows her to attempt to find some meaning instead of just to function better. Now that I mention it, it would be nice if everyone could have that. show less

I listened to the audiobook, read by the author. Like "Postcards From the Edge," this one was said to be very much mined from her real life. It was by no means great, but in once again detailing the many trials of her alter ego, Suzanne Vale, some huge belly laughs were to be found - especially in scenes when she would gently mock and/or imitate her movie-star mother.

The main trajectory of these stories - there isn't really a plot - focuses on Suzanne's struggle to cope with the fact that her husband, and the father of her child, has left her for a man. Suzanne has bipolar disorder, and this hugely life-altering event doesn't help her situation. She wants to be a good mother to her daughter, Honey, and keep her life on an even keel, show more but it is a struggle. Eventually, after some bad personal and medication choices, she suffers a breakdown and ends up doing a short stint in a mental hospital. Upon her release, she resolves to stay on track, for herself and for her loved ones.

Since Carrie Fisher so recently passed away, it was especially poignant listening to these revelatory stories drawn from her life. Her humorous views on life in the shadow of her famous mother were well-documented, and a recurring theme in "Postcards From the Edge" was how Debbie Reynolds seemed incapable of not stealing the spotlight, even from her own daughter. So I like to think Carrie would have found it wryly humorous that the very next day after she herself died of a heart attack, her mother died of a stroke - overshadowing her for the final time. show less

I don't know if it was because I was miffed that she was just writing a memoir in the third person using different names, or that the characterization of Suzanne Vale reminded me too much of someone else in my life, but either way it made it extremely difficult to enjoy this book.

Carrie Fisher’s raw honestly and battles with mental illness is heartbreaking.

I quite enjoyed this book. Carrie Fisher has a way of making the most unfunny things humorous.

I just loved this book. Carrie Fisher always has great one-liners in her novels that you can quote again and again. She definitely puts "fun" in dysfunctional!