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The Best Awful (Suzanne Vale #2)
Suzanne Vale, the Hollywood actress whose drug addictions and rehab rigors were so brilliantly dissected by Carrie Fisher in "Postcards from the Edge," is back. And this time she has a new problem: She's had a child with someone who forgot to tell her he was gay. He forgot to tell her, and she forgot to notice.What's worse, Suzanne's not sure she has what it takes to be th...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
January 1st 2004
by Simon & Schuster
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(1 star for the first half of the book; 4 stars for the way-too-real account of the downward spiral into the abyss; 1 star for the ridiculous Hollywood Ending = 2 Stars total)
Oh, Carrie Fisher, the stories you could tell! (if only you could construct a coherent sentence, or refrain from jokey aphorisms that simply aren't funny or out of context). Of all of Hollywoodland, the one person I've always wanted to meet, who'd seemed the most free of pretention and disaffectedness, who'd be most apt to...more
Oh, Carrie Fisher, the stories you could tell! (if only you could construct a coherent sentence, or refrain from jokey aphorisms that simply aren't funny or out of context). Of all of Hollywoodland, the one person I've always wanted to meet, who'd seemed the most free of pretention and disaffectedness, who'd be most apt to...more
"Like many people when they were manic, she imagined that everything she said was both riveting and worthy of note, and endlessly served up large pieces of her distorted mind. She possessed all the intensity and energy that generally came with intellect, only in her case, those characteristics came hopelessly alone." pg 220. Perhaps THE best insight into Carrie Fisher [Vanity Fair heralded her as "one of our most painfully hilarious correspondents from the edge of sanity"] I suspect this book is...more
Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
Most reviewers praise The Best Awful for its nerve-wracking depiction of insanity and commend Fisher for her honesty. Though she's a sharp and witty writer throughout the novel, Fisher drops a few story lines during her narrator's frenzied journey and cheats readers out of a realistic ending. Unlike Postcards, this sequel does not address Hollywood self-absorption, but focuses solely on Suzanne, with less success. "The deceptive banality of the plot obscures for a while the reality that The Best
...more
I enjoyed Carrie Fisher's Postcards from the Edge, a thinly veiled story of her own struggles with drugs and alcohol. This book continues the story of Suzanne Vale, and her struggle with a diagnosis of manic depression. When Suzanne decides to go off her meds she spirals down into a psychotic episode and ultimately ends up in a mental hospital. Carrie Fisher’s writing is sharp and funny with splashes of brilliant phrasing. Although Suzanne’s descent into madness is scary, the sharp writing made...more
This is the sequel to Postcards from the Edge. The focus of Postcards is rehab and readjustment post-rehab. The focus of this book is having a daughter with a gay man (which, of course, Carrie does have with probably the most powerful gay man in Hollywood) and on bi-polar episodes. I don't even want to go into all the reasons why this book speaks to me very deeply! I think this one may be even better than Postcards. The ongoing tale of "Suzanne Vale" (read: Carrie Fisher) spun, as always, with i...more
I really tried to like this book. I want to like Carrie Fisher's work. She seems like an incredibly kickass person, the sort of aunt you would want on your side when your mother is being completely unreasonable about your choice of boyfriend or when you find yourself alone and crying on a bus.
It seems that Fisher writes a novel after surviving incredibly traumatic of difficult periods in her life. Postcards from the Edge, which is excellent, details her first trip into rehab. Surrender the Pink...more
It seems that Fisher writes a novel after surviving incredibly traumatic of difficult periods in her life. Postcards from the Edge, which is excellent, details her first trip into rehab. Surrender the Pink...more
Having experienced bipolar first hand, I saw myself in this book. At one point I had to stop because the way she described being manic, the experience it was almost too realistic. When Carrie Fisher wrote this book I found it to be very close to her own life. I didn't know she had "it". Truth is stranger than fiction. There was a lot of strange truth in these pages. Who else do you know wakes up to find a dead man in their bed? And that ain't all folks. It's a carnival of mental illness, booze,...more
This novel continues the story of Suzanne Vale, whom we met in "Postcards from the Edge." Here, her husband has left her for a man. Attempting to add some excitement to her life, she stops taking the meds for her bi-polar disorder and quickly experiences a major psychotic break. Fisher does an amazing job with the descent into madness, especialy when she contrasts Suzanne's inner monologue with what her friends and family perceive.
A good and funny story, well told. I've seen this illness stomping on a loved one, it's so difficult to deal with because the person feels so almighty wonderful, when up, that they feel that the meds that keep them level are sucking away all their joy in life and selfhood. The downs are so immobilizing and crushing that nothing constructive or creative can be accomplished, and nothing matters anyway.
The Best Awful, sequel to Postcards From the Edge... I really liked Postcards cos it was so crazy and different. But this one I didn't really like. It was too crazy and pointless. Plain boring. The ex-Hollywood star is mentally unstable again... Only now she has daughter to worry about too. Fisher didn't manage to make it funny this time. At some point I even considered not finishing the book...
Mar 25, 2010
Paige
added it
Carrie Fisher (Princess Leah, Debbie Fisher's daughter), is an accomplished author. Her books tend to be dense and sometimes difficult to read. You have to read them fast in order to understand them - sort of manic reading. This one is no different. I really enjoyed this one which takes up where Postcards from the Edge ends. But, they are semi-weird, tragic-comedy and deceptively profound.
I really wanted to LOVE this book because I like Carrie Fisher so much. Unfortunately, the book was just too overloaded with quick one liners and multiple metaphors. I actually enjoyed the plot and the main proganist quite a bit. I just wish Fisher hadn't overdone the prose. It seems like Fisher has a ton of good material (e.g. one-liner, etc) that she's too anxious to get out there at once.
Dear Readers,
I do believe I may be obsessed with Carrie Fisher!!!! I purchase each of her books as soon as they come out. I find her to be so very honest, yet in a fabulously witty way. I should probably copy this diatribe and just paste in on each of her books in my list. In fact, that's most likely exactly what I shall do.
TaTa for Now,
Susan
I do believe I may be obsessed with Carrie Fisher!!!! I purchase each of her books as soon as they come out. I find her to be so very honest, yet in a fabulously witty way. I should probably copy this diatribe and just paste in on each of her books in my list. In fact, that's most likely exactly what I shall do.
TaTa for Now,
Susan
I listened to this on Audio books, and it was just boring. To me, there really wasn't any type of actual story. Blah blah blah, she's bipolar, she's depressed, she nearly kills herself, she goes into rehab. I have enough depressing things in life to think about. I don't need a book to follow the same lines. This was due back on the 20th, and I didn't even finish the last cd. I never do that. It was just horrible.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. I think it is a hard read, at least for me. There was too much of my child dancing through the pages. I loved it and I hated it. It is a very real look at bi-polar from the patient's point of view. It enlightened me and it terrified me.
Not nearly as good as Postcards From The Edge. She uses an overtly strange writing style that she seems to be trying to impress the reader with and it just makes you conscious of her writing sty;e throughout the book rather than being able to focus on what she's saying.
Just read this over the summer and really got into it. As always (I've read all her books), Carrie Fisher's biting humor and wordplay make for a fun and fast read. There is a section in the middle where the main character's mental health goes awry, and that part became very annoying to me. I understand it was probably supposed to, as the the character was becoming more and more obnoxious, but I'm not very tolerant of people like that. Still, I hung in there and was pleased with where the book en...more
Most people don't know that Carrie Fisher is a script doctor - someone who comes in on a film and "fixes" a script to make it more cohesive, and most importantly, something that will make money. She doesn't get a credit on the film, so noone really knows what films she's called in on. This makes her unique in the fact that she's not just another hollywood misfit cashing in on possible embellishments of her own story growing up the kid of a celebrity, having to go to a far farm to become the most...more
This book is making me jealous of manic-depressives! Only because they seem to be having more fun than just mono-depressives. Fisher is very entertaining and clever with a turn of phrase, but I'm having trouble attaching to her protagonist enough to keep watching her car crash life unfold. It seems like she doesn't take advantage of her blessings - like any of us fully do? - and she can be really snobby at times, but I appreciate that Fisher is candid and unflinching with her characters.
Liked it. Laughed. Am now resolved to never become friends w/Carrie Fisher, despite how awesome she is, b/c she writes about her life and just changes the names.
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.
I really enjoyed Postcards from the Edge and Surrender the Pink. This book is just whiny and repetitive..couldn't even finish it. Terrible!
Borrowed this from a bipolar friend of mine who, amzaingly enough, did not seem to recognize her own behavior mirrored in this book at all.
"I'm just smart enough to be unhappy."
"... her battle to accept a life so often seeming so inexplicably unacceptable."
"... her battle to accept a life so often seeming so inexplicably unacceptable."
This wasn't nearly as interesting as "Wishful Drinking" and "Postcards from the Edge". Seemed to drag.
A sequel to 'Postcards From The Edge' that felt mildly disappointing. Suzanne is now divorced from a guy that became gay and that she has a daughter with. In order to become a more 'fun' parent she begins going back to her old ways of doing drugs. She stops taking her bi-polar meds and winds up spending time in a mental hospital. After getting out she and Leland, the gay guy who left her, end up getting back together. Really? He magically went back to being straight for her? I'm not buying it, a...more
Carrie Fisher is hilarious and has a great eye for the absurd in Hollywood.
The writing felt a little forced at times, like every sentence had to be clever and witty. However, it was an intriguing glimpse at the mind and experiences of a person with bipolar disorder.
Nov 25, 2011
Deb Danielson
added it
Just couldn't get in to it. Throwing it into the "not worth finishing" pile.
This was a pleasant read, but im not particulary motivated to go find myself another book by this author....
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Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, screenwriter and novelist. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy.
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“Do you or do you not like wearing earrings in your mouth that will one day smell like your ex-boyfriend's dick?”
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6 people liked it
“You know the bad thing about being a survivor... You keep having to get into difficult situations in order to show off your gift.”
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6 people liked it
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