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Postcards from the Edge

(Suzanne Vale #1)

Carrie Fisher

3.60 · Rating details · 13,304 ratings · 1,228 reviews

Fisher beautifully brings readers the inside of Hollywood through a web of humor, drugs, relationships, Hollywood Party Terror, and much more. The plot centers on a 30-year-old actress named Suzanne Vale, and follows her challenges as she overcomes her drug addiction, gets back into the swing of things, and falls in love, sort of.

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Paperback, 226 pages

Published December 31st 2002 by Pocket (first published August 1st 1987)

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Feb 04, 2016 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nutters, funny-haha, own-it-spent-my-food-money-on-it, or-just-watch-the-movie, memoir

Carrie Fisher died today and now the interwebs are exploding with billions of fangirls who never watched a Star Wars movie until the Manic Pixies told them they should. That sounds hateful, but I don't really ~~give a shit~~ mean it to be . (Confession: I'm not a ginormous Star Wars fan myself.) I am a huge Carrie Fisher fan, though, and it's mainly due to this book.

Postcards from the Edge is a semi-autobiographical story about Carrie after coming out of a stint in rehab. I read this book when I w ...more

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Jan 21, 2017 Carol rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, memoir, read-2017, saw-the-movie, biography

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE is the semi-autobiographical novel based on the turbulent life of Carrie Fisher.

The first third of the story recounting 30 days of actress Suzanne Vale's life in rehab was pretty intense and nerve-racking reading (for me) and if you can get through lives and stories of drug dealers, addicts and rather disgusting Hollywood types in those pages, the rest of the novel will be a breeze.

While I loved the movie with its witty and sarcastic dark humor, the novel came across (for

...more

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Feb 26, 2017 Matt rated it it was ok

Shelves: audiobook

In her first piece of fiction, Fisher seeks to relay some sentiments through this quasi-biographical story. Suzanne Vale is an actress who has succumbed to the horrors of addiction and finds herself in a treatment facility. While there, she recounts some of her views on fellow addicts and the trials of life on the inside. Released back into her real world, Vale begins the slow process of re-establishing herself, securing a new agent while trying to return to the life she knows so well. However, In her first piece of fiction, Fisher seeks to relay some sentiments through this quasi-biographical story. Suzanne Vale is an actress who has succumbed to the horrors of addiction and finds herself in a treatment facility. While there, she recounts some of her views on fellow addicts and the trials of life on the inside. Released back into her real world, Vale begins the slow process of re-establishing herself, securing a new agent while trying to return to the life she knows so well. However, as seems to be the yoke of all those who have tasted fame, she finds herself in a form of purgatory, unsure where she fits in and how others will see her. By the end of this short piece, she has found a form of amorous connection, though it is unclear if it will be long-lasting. Truly a scattering of thoughts that tries to relate back to her own life, Fisher may have work her side-buns too tightly if this is supposed to be high quality writing.

I respect that everyone has their life and ideas that shape them. I also am sure that it is difficult to be a Hollywood actress and face the rigours of the bright lights and paparazzi on a daily basis. However, like all people, actors are people and have to face the everyday world. Fisher seeks, I think, to portray a form of herself in the Vale character, but it comes across more as a justification for acts and serves as a trivial and superficial approach to life. A few characters who were lacklustre and a plot... was there one? At times I was unsure what I was reading, wondering if this might be some form of monologue that sought to tell stories and anecdotes. This was not a story as much as it was a means to express herself without using her own name and experiences. If only to honour her recent passing, I will likely try the second Vale piece and see what comes of this, but I am certain to list RETURN TO SENDER on this particular postcard.

Thank you Madam Fisher for your insights. Perhaps stick to recounting stories about yourself and not using a straw man in the form of Suzanne Vale.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/ ...more

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Jan 21, 2018 Calista rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: famous, series, genre-comedy, series-unfinished, z-carrie-fisher, 1987, women, genre-drama-tragedy

I enjoyed Carrie's first novel. It was witty and interesting. Suzanne is obviously based loosely on her life from other stories I have read of hers. I feel like this was one of the first behind the scenes of Hollywood. I'm sure there were things before this, but this was a big tell-all basically.

There was the rehab portion, the looking for love portion of the book and the part where she is trying to accept normal portion. I felt the dialogue was snappy, there were funny moments. I enjoy the stor ...more

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Aug 18, 2007 Erin added it · review of another edition

ok.

you know that moment, at the party-you-didn't-want-to-come-to, filled with the important-people-from-work-who-don't-really-like-you, standing in the corner-of-the apartment-marked-specifically-for-losers-and-the-apartment-cat (who is now drunk and stuffed on mini shrimp popper appetizers)? the moment where you realize that you didn't wear the right shoes, your dress is being worn as a shirt by the most beautiful woman in the room, and everyone in the entire WORLD is staring at you when they a ok.

you know that moment, at the party-you-didn't-want-to-come-to, filled with the important-people-from-work-who-don't-really-like-you, standing in the corner-of-the apartment-marked-specifically-for-losers-and-the-apartment-cat (who is now drunk and stuffed on mini shrimp popper appetizers)? the moment where you realize that you didn't wear the right shoes, your dress is being worn as a shirt by the most beautiful woman in the room, and everyone in the entire WORLD is staring at you when they are not too busy rubbing elbows, sucking up, or have just plain finished judging everyone closest too them and have run out of material?

yeah, that moment.

i've never been addicted to cocaine, so i can't really review what i don't know. but let's be honest. it sounded... AWESOME. carrie fisher, i didn't think standing around being stoned in "the empire strikes back" was going to prepare you for anything later in life, because that's what they taught us in DARE. but apparently it prepared you to be super observant, hilariosly witty, and amazingly devious in your vary-ing writing styles (vary-ing? what? can my editor get on that spelling please? thnx)

i was amused throughout, an impressive feat because the only thing more boring than reading about people doing drugs, making bad decisions, having disgustingly casual sex, and laying around gorging themselves in self pity is watching it. (eg scorpio rising. the entire film).

anyway, back to that "moment". i was amused throughout because i spent most of "throughout" thinking, oh shit, i've done that. i've thought that. i've said that exact thing, out loud, in front of a bunch of people who probably shouldn't have heard it. no matter how different the characters are from you, their stream-of-concious honesty taps those inner demons we try so very hard to keep under wraps. judgemental, annoyed, impatient, self doubting, and insecure, we've all stood in the corner of the room with the drunk housepet and simultaneously worried about our hair while berating the host for her absyminal choice in cutlery. and we don't feel bad about it either.

maybe we DO need another therapy session for this, but hell, we like your writing, ms. fisher, and we don't intend to stop reading soon.

("we"? as in plural? as in when did this review jump from me to we? can i get an editor on that? thnx)

...more

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Dec 24, 2016 Jonathan rated it it was amazing

Motherfucking goddam shit. Rest in peace Carrie, you were wonderful

******

Get better soon Carrie, you wonderful nutbag. Am listening to Hearts and Bones and sending thoughts and strength and health in your direction.

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Feb 03, 2018 Rachel Aranda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-rentals, audiobooks, owned

This was Ms. Carrie Fisher's debut novel and it's a good one. It's honest, fun, and quite realistic of the struggles of being a recovering "pills addict" and famous actress who doesn't quite know what normal is but trying to find a sense of normalcy. Like everyone in the world, Suzanne has doubts about herself, her life choices, and career as a movie star and I understood and connected with that. I'm a worrier and Suzanne is a worrier too. The only thing I didn't quite like about the plot is how ...more

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Aug 01, 2016 Naksed rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs, humor, celebrities, audio-book

Sometimes I feel like I've got my nose pressed up against the window of a bakery, only I'm the bread.

In Postcards from the Edge, Carrie Fisher writes a part-fiction, part-memoirs account about the highs and lows of life in Hollywood. And by that, I mean the highs of drug consumption followed by the lows of withdrawal during the inevitable stay in rehab.

It is truly fascinating to listen to the her voice spewing the most intricate, absurdist, intellectual and insightful witticisms, trying to ...more

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Jan 10, 2020 Anna Bendewald rated it it was amazing

I read this when I was 20 and a movie was about to be made of it. Holy smokes! It blew the lid off my concept of fame and boundaries between mothers and daughters and threw propriety out the window --er, off the edge of the cliff in the title. How human Debbie and Carrie were. Boy, they were born with all the gifts and got to feel all the feels. Life isn't easy even when you've got it all and no one makes it out alive.

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Feb 06, 2016 Maria rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I searched what became one of my favourite online bookstores for Carrie Fisher in the hope of finding a copy of Wishful Drinking. Instead, I found myself staring at a list of available titles that included Postcards from the Edge. And the question was, why not?

Postcards from the Edge mainly follows the story of an actress who found her way to a rehab clinic after losing – almost for good – her life to drugs. Suzanne has reached her thirties and, after her drug scandal, is having a hard time find ...more

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Jan 12, 2019 * A Reader Obsessed * rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: z-2018, not-mm

1.5 Stars

Apparently, Hollywood ego is just not my cuppa, and I really couldn't motivate myself to care much about an insecure actress struggling with self acceptance and being happy.

I will give credit to the acerbic, smartly funny wit. However, the last chapter was the best and that's a long journey to go to get some goodness.

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Jun 21, 2017 Stacey D. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

For someone who suffered from drug addiction and depression, Carrie Fisher was a force to be reckoned with when it came to being in touch with her feelings. She really puts them out there in the embodiment of Suzanne Vale, the novel's main character. Geez, she must have felt incredibly vulnerable doing so, too: both as a big celebrity presence and as a former addict. If anyone in Hollywood and America didn't know her story, they knew now.

And was she funny! There are some truly memorable lines h ...more

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Jun 19, 2010 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club

I'll give it a 3.5. Not great literature, but entertaining, even if certain parts went on a bit too long. Fisher's writing style was definitely funny. I did laugh out loud several times, and not that many books make me do that.

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Dec 21, 2016 debra rated it it was amazing

I know at the time I read this-I just loved it- and wouldn't stop reading parts of it to anyone who would let me. Don't know if it would be the same now-but at the time I thought it was just so funny and clever.

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Dec 20, 2015 Davita rated it did not like it

She's an excellent author, the subject matter just wasn't to my liking & I just couldn't get into it. I am interested in giving her other books a try, though. ...more

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Jan 18, 2017 Julie James rated it really liked it

Really enjoyed this one--lots of wry, witty lines made all the better by Carrie Fisher's great narration.

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May 29, 2012 Ashley rated it did not like it

Oh, Carrie Fisher.... Such a terrible book. It wasn't poorly written, just hard to care about any of the characters, the narrator in particular. Thankfully, it's a short read so you don't have to suffer for long.

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Jan 13, 2017 Janine Urban rated it did not like it

I picked this up to see what all the hype was about. I should have left it. It wasn't my cup of tea.

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Feb 22, 2017 Liz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, book-to-screen, contemporary-realistic-fiction

So good. In the middle, I wondered how it was going to wrap up or touch back on how Suzanne progressed throughout the novel. Very well done.

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Jan 19, 2011 Elisabeth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies

This book only furthered my belief that Carrie Fisher is a genius. The book is NOTHING like the movie, except for a small part in the middle, but since Carrie also wrote the screenplay it is all good. A lot of what she says in this book rang oddly true to me which was a little confronting, but only made me love it more.

Negative parts? In the beginning when alex narrates the story, he was sooooo annoying, but then again, he was a cokehead and those are known for being annoying. So point well mad ...more

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Jun 18, 2016 Andi rated it it was ok

review to come...

EDIT:

So. Here is the deal, because there is not much to tell about this book because nothing seems to happen after the character gets out of rehab.

This book has no plot for 2/3rds. Sad, but true. I think Carrie Fisher is a great writer. She has a way of creating this characters that have a ton of flaws but are witty and real. I think Suzanne is her - this was her outlet, this was her way of writing out her feelings and not caring if a story came out of it.

Also, Alex... why were ...more

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Dec 10, 2008 Herb rated it did not like it

Shelves: celebrities, motion-picture-actors-and-actresses, fiction

What an awful book! Sheesh....nothing but an overly long series of ramblings (yes, dear hearts, I realize the protagonist is a recovering addict & addicts are supposedly prone to rambling sometimes), but I kept waiting for a point to be made until I realized the book had ended & that possibly there wasn't going to be one. Terrible. ...more

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Nov 02, 2008 Kasey rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: nope

Not really sure there was a plot in there....anywhere. I am planning to watch the movie. I'll bet it's nothing like the book.
And I was right! Watched the movie just yesterday & was amazed that the screenplay was written by the author & almost unrecognizable.
Not that it was any good either! ...more

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Jun 18, 2010 Wendy rated it did not like it · review of another edition

maybe it's just me, but i didn't care about this book at all. i had high hopes, which may have been the problem. i found the characters and dialogue forgettable, and the action was limited. not impressed.

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Dec 20, 2010 Louize rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommended to Louize by: the movie

“Most people dream big, you dream small. It’s just whatever you haven’t got is what you want. It isn’t the life, it’s what you do with it. So, do something regular with your irregular life, rather than trying to get a regular one, ‘cause you’d just do something irregular with that.”

Driven by my fondness of the film adaptation, I grabbed this book from an on-sale bin from BookSale. I’m sure you’re all aware of the all-star cast movie; and of Meryl Streep and Shirley McLaine’s Golden Globe and Oscar’s nomination for this film. The film, itself, was ill-received and closely-scrutinized though.

The story revolved around Suzanne Vale, an actress and a rehab patient for drug addiction. While unlike the film, which was funny and catchy, the book was much sensible for me. It was focused on the subject of recovery from drug addiction, while the movie focused more on the constant friction between the over-bearing mother and her low-esteemed daughter.

The book was written in 5 parts. The prologue was written in postcards sent to her brother, friend and grandmother. It was followed by a self-narration in journal form, covering most of her stay and acquaintances in the rehabilitation center. Then, a dialogue/monologue with a producer (turned lover) followed. The 4th part was a third-person narrative of how Suzanne is struggling to put her life together, recovering her status as an actress, and as a person in need of a worthy relationship. Brought about by the heart-to-heart talk with her sententious grandmother, Suzanne found some semblance in her struggles and took hold of some normalcy in her life. In conclusion, the 5th part was a letter addressed to the doctor who pumped her stomach during her drug overdose, prior to her rehab.

Needless to say, the book was written in a very unusual style. It will either interest you more, or try your patience. Looking past that, the story and lesson applies to most of us, struggling through rehab or not, since we are all in this ever winding process of discovering and rediscovering our purpose in life. This is a vague story behind the question: When are we going to let go of what we want, and accept the things we should have?

“P.S. That night in the emergency room, do you recall if I threw up something I needed? Some small but trivial thing that belonged inside? I distinctly feel as though I’m missing something.
But then, I always have.”

...more

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Mar 12, 2020 Ashleigh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: uno-2020

Didn't realise when I read The Best Awful There Is a few years ago that I had actually read a sequel book and can't believe it's taking me this long to read the first book.

Carrie Fisher is, and has been for some time, a huge inspiration in my life. She's done incredible things for the world with her openness about mental health and addiction, and battling with mental health issues myself, I feel like I've been able to relate to her journey.

Postcards from the Edge is a semi-autobiographical stor ...more

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May 01, 2018 Tanya rated it liked it · review of another edition

Carrie Fisher's first book, published when she was thirty-one—right after she did a stint in rehab, and only three years after she came to terms with her bipolar disorder diagnosis—is really best described as semi-autobiographical. I've read all her memoirs, and Suzanne Vale is an author surrogate if ever there was one, with the whole plot of Postcards from the Edge consisting of satirized real-life events from Carrie's turbulent life. In the resulting, highly-quotable novel, movie actress Suzan Carrie Fisher's first book, published when she was thirty-one—right after she did a stint in rehab, and only three years after she came to terms with her bipolar disorder diagnosis—is really best described as semi-autobiographical. I've read all her memoirs, and Suzanne Vale is an author surrogate if ever there was one, with the whole plot of Postcards from the Edge consisting of satirized real-life events from Carrie's turbulent life. In the resulting, highly-quotable novel, movie actress Suzanne is trying to get her life back in order after overdosing and spending a month in a drug clinic—the parallels to Carrie's biography are glaringly obvious, and can be found even in little throw-away lines such as Suzanne's penchant for falling in love with gay men, or having dated a senator.

"The positive way to look at this is that from here things can only go up. But I've been up, and I always felt like a trespasser. A transient at the top. It's like I've got a visa for happiness, but for sadness I've got a lifetime pass. I shot through my twenties like a luminous thread through a dark needle, blazing toward my destination: Nowhere."

The woman could write—for a new author, this was a really strong debut, and I think part of the reason this was such a hit (it was even adapted into a star-studded movie a couple of years later, which is great in its own right, but bears little resemblance to the novel), was that she simply stunned everyone with her talent and insight. Celebrities certainly talked about their struggle with addiction long before she did, but this kind of openness was a first: She was brutally honest, and never once tried to make excuses for her choices and behavior. Pardon me if I may tend to blur the lines between author and protagonist, but they are essentially one and the same. I don't think there ever was anyone in Hollywood who was as disarmingly candid and as endearingly real as Carrie was—her dry wit and deadpan humor are hard to be rivaled, and she lets it all bleed into Suzanne.

"Suzanne wondered when she had begun to be more of a personality than a person. When her shrink had pointed it out to her, she'd felt as though she'd actually known it for a long time. When she was twenty-one she had written in her journal, “I narrate a life I'm reluctant to live.""

There are a few flaws though, which is where my pretty average rating comes in: The first is the way the narrative style changes within sections—part of it may have been the horribly formatted ebook I read, but I found it confusing to follow in parts: From the epistolary prologues and epilogues, we pass through sections of journal excerpts, alternating monologues and bits of dialogue, before settling into a more traditional third-person narrative for the latter half. I don't think the switches in style and especially perspective added to the story, and I would've preferred it if the whole book had been written as actual "postcards" from Suzanne's point of view. The second is that there is virtually no plot to speak of once Suzanne gets out of rehab, so for over half the book. This was however likely intended to show how mundane the process of getting a life back on track after a crisis is, so I don't want to give it too much of a negative bearing—and I didn't mind it, because the feisty wit compensates for it. The third and final aspect I didn't care for is the character of Alex. I understand why he was in there and why we were given his point of view as well, but I found his parts overwrought, contrived, and obnoxious—ultimately, I just could not stand the guy, and felt like he was robbing me of precious time I'd rather have spent in Suzanne's fascinating head.

"She wondered how long she was going to stay in bed. She wondered if she would awaken one morning—maybe tomorrow morning—and feel like bounding back into her life, refreshed and unafraid. She wanted so to be tranquil, to be someone who took walks in the late-afternoon sun, listening to the birds and crickets and feeling the whole world breathe. Instead, she lived in her head like a madwoman locked in a tower, hearing the wind howling through her hair and waiting for someone to come and rescue her from feeling things so deeply that her bones burned. She had plenty of evidence that she had a good life. She just couldn't feel the life she saw she had."

As with Carrie's later memoirs, while you try to deal with all the dazzling jokes she flings at you, you'll get a sense of how brilliant she was, yet also how exhausting living inside her mind must've been. She was incredibly introspective and in touch with her feelings, as perhaps only the famous, recovering addict daughter of an even more famous Hollywood pair could be. She possessed an awareness of having no idea what "normal" is, but struggled all her life to find something resembling normality and stability, anyway.

—————

All my book reviews can be found here · Buy on BookDepository ...more

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May 05, 2020 Juliana rated it it was ok

It was okay. I like how it started but it felt like a bunch of tangents after awhile

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Dec 28, 2016 C. rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: riedel-titles-2017

I picked-up “Postcards From The Edge” over a decade ago, a highly-regarded literary oeuvre and film. My cinematic cover erroneously suggests the tale of an inadvertently-upstaging famous Mother, which I thought that the story was. However, just one week ago: our world lost Carrie Fisher. I was content to hear-out any story she weaved. I am a “Star Wars” fan but respect her as an acclaimed authoress too, whom I looked forward to experiencing. She was always a riot in interviews, like the one with ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Elizabeth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriftbooks

The structure of this book is kind of bizarre and it feels a bit like reading a string of writing exercises by a promising young writer. The segments are in first person stream of consciousness, diary entries, third person and maybe another. But almost the entire 2nd half is 3rd person which feels like the beginning was just an experiment and then she decided to finish it up more conventionally. The book focuses much more on drug use and romantic relationship problems than the movie does, which ...more

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About Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher

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Carrie Fisher was an American actress, screenwriter and author, most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy. Fisher was the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. She had one daughter, Billie Lourd (b. 1992).

Her final film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was released on December 15, 2017 and is dedicated to her. ...more