Postcards From The Edge
After a year long read I’ve finally finished Postcards From The Edge by Carrie Fisher.
When Carrie Fisher died a little over a year ago I thought I would read one of her best selling books, Postcards From The Edge. It received a lot of praise when it first came out and was adapted into a film shortly after. I always knew that Carrie went on to become a successful author after her acting career but hadn’t read of her books so wanted to give one a go.
I hear that the book is semi autobiographical and loosely based on real events from her life but after the first few chapters I quickly forgot any parallels and settled into the book. The main character Suzanne Vale is an actress that starts the book in rehab. We go from hearing about how she got into rehab in the first place to how she decides to get clean and get out. Very early on we are also introduced to other characters in rehab but not from Suzanne’s point of view but immediately switching to their voice. It was a bit weird at first as the only thing that seemed to change was the typeface in the book. The first time this happened I thought I was reading Suzanne’s character but instead I was reading that of Alex - another patient at the rehab clinic. This only lasts for the first section whilst Suzanne is in rehab but I thought it was a very interesting way of presenting her time there.
The rest of the book focusses on Suzanne’s time outside of the clinic and off drugs as she struggles to settle back to life. She picks up her acting career, reconnects with her family and start going on dates again. It is set very clearly in the 80s in California and that comes across very clearly in how the peripheral characters are portrayed. Superficial Hollywood types mostly, but a few close friends to confide in and ask advice of.
It ends with Suzanne, now in a steady relationship, questioning her friend if her boyfriend is too boring. She contemplates of all the problems to have in her life including OD’ing is a boring boyfriend really that bad?
Overall I like it. Not sure about reading another straight away but would like to read some more of hers in the future.