I’m not totally sure why I picked this book, I didn’t watch the Star Wars movies until I was in college, and as such, they never caught fire for me. I enjoy watching them with my 9 year old kid, because they bring him joy, but I’m Luke warm over them (my phone capitalized the “luke” so I didn’t set out to make a pun, but here we are). I was browsing audio books from my library and I wanted a light read.
This book passed the time well enough, but it was incredibly uneven to me. The intro talked about how finding diaries she’d written during the shooting of the original movie sparked her to write a book, but that seemed to really only take shape when talking about her affair with Harrison Ford. There was a little bit of background on her life prior to getting into acting, including a truly cringeworthy relationship with her mom pertaining to being underage and hooking up with older men. It then shifted into background on how she got the role and the early days of filming. However, the vast majority of the writings about that time period focused on her affair with Ford. When she published the original entries, they were challenging to get through. They were overwrought and tedious in their repetition and heavy descriptions. And yet, like one of those Magic Eye posters, as I stated to glaze over from it all, I felt there was a relatable quality to what was buried underneath (or at least is imagine that’s a good comparisons because I’ve never been able to figure those things out). I remembered back to being that age and having a relationship with a toxic guy and the weight of desperately wanting him to love me while also knowing I shouldn’t be with him. I also appreciated how much different her style was when she was writing in the present.
The final section focused on post Star Wars fame and the double edged sword of playing such an iconic role. The melding of her identity with Leia and the expectations that are placed on actresses felt earnest and sad. The parts about signing autographs and going to conventions were a little harder, because she seemed to really dislike it, and grew weary of even the earnest fans, but admitted that she was willing to do it for the money.
Overall, there were some humorous parts that were worth reading, but I think a good editor and breaking them into shorter essays or articles would have been much better.