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Delusions of Grandma
Now that she's conquered rehab and romance, best-selling novelist Carrie Fisher boldly goes where no man has gone before: motherhood. Hollywood screenwriter Cora Sharpe has taken to writing letters to the unborn child she's tentatively dubbed Esme - even though it sounds like a noise your nose makes. But then, Cora has what one of the endless intimates she thinks of as her Committee calls "a big loud life," and recent events have been no exception. Her confidant and writing partner, Bud, has been on a bipolar roller coaster. Her dear friend William, AIDS-ridden, has finally taken leave of his life, with the aplomb befitting "a suburban show business sultan." And in the vacuum that follows his departure, Cora's romance with quiet, gentle Ray has suddenly flickered and expired. Then Cora finds out she's pregnant, and even the Committee can't steer her through this one. In a fight-or-flight confrontation with maturity, flight seems to have the upper hand. So when her mother, Viv, tries to rally support for her latest madcap scheme - to kidnap her Alzheimer's-stricken father from a nursing home and take him back to Whitewright, Texas, the place of his birth - Cora, for once, is game. With Bud in tow, she signs on for what turns out to be a cosmic (not to mention comic) exploration of the urges that drive us to feather our nests and fill them, to flee them and find our way home. With singular deftness, Fisher captures the ambivalence and absurdity of modern maternity, in her wittiest and wisest novel to date.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Carrie Fisher
19 books2,636 followersCarrie 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.
Her final film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was released on December 15, 2017 and is dedicated to her.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
December 5, 2015
I just love Carrie Fisher, alright? I love her way with words, I love how she fictionalizes her experiences and even though her life is so different from mine, they're grounded in some sort of reality. I love reading her writing; it's messy and sad and serious and silly and ultimately, really really lovely and intimate and personal. No one writes like Fisher, and that she shares her words with us is a blessing.
August 12, 2014
There were definitely things i didn't like about this book. But I feel like, that is true of any book.
I really enjoyed the word play, it was so loving and smooth. I feel like maybe my massive love of puns made me well suited to enjoy this book.
In a lot of ways i spent a long time identifying pretty heavily with Cora, who loves puns, is very romantic and demanding in a sideways sort of a way, and feels like she pushes lovers away because she expects what she sees as common sense responses, but then fails to realise differences, and then spends ages obsessing over how those differences make her incompatible. Her learned pessimism really struck a chord with me. She talks about the endless optimism from others that made her respond with pessimism to balance out, which is defos something i do. She has a lot of very talented and successful friends, and seems to me to be very competent, which is pretty much like a super power.
I dunno. It's just real good.
I liked it a lot.
Maybe you wont.
But anyways.
Going to try to find some more Carrie Fisher books.
Omg edit tho: heaps of people have reviewed this book and specifically rated it low because they hate puns! Boooooo! Hisssss!
Gonna put this higher out of spite.
I really enjoyed the word play, it was so loving and smooth. I feel like maybe my massive love of puns made me well suited to enjoy this book.
In a lot of ways i spent a long time identifying pretty heavily with Cora, who loves puns, is very romantic and demanding in a sideways sort of a way, and feels like she pushes lovers away because she expects what she sees as common sense responses, but then fails to realise differences, and then spends ages obsessing over how those differences make her incompatible. Her learned pessimism really struck a chord with me. She talks about the endless optimism from others that made her respond with pessimism to balance out, which is defos something i do. She has a lot of very talented and successful friends, and seems to me to be very competent, which is pretty much like a super power.
I dunno. It's just real good.
I liked it a lot.
Maybe you wont.
But anyways.
Going to try to find some more Carrie Fisher books.
Omg edit tho: heaps of people have reviewed this book and specifically rated it low because they hate puns! Boooooo! Hisssss!
Gonna put this higher out of spite.
October 15, 2018
I think Carrie was a very clever woman and it definitely comes out in her writing, but I've always had much better luck with her memoirs than her fiction, and here was no exception. She gets on all of these tangents so the books never really go anywhere, and it's all very internal but the characters are still shallow. They're all very quirky but that's basically all I can say about them, though I will give her kudos for writing in the mid 90s a sympathetic portrayal of a man dealing with AIDS.
That being said, it was really interesting reading this and seeing all of the pieces of her life. The main character is someone who was raised in Hollywood and works in it but knows the dark sides of it, she edits scripts, her dedication in the beginning to Billie Catherine and the book being (presumably tho in execution not as much) about her bond with her baby, I can even see bits of herself in the other characters.
That being said, it was really interesting reading this and seeing all of the pieces of her life. The main character is someone who was raised in Hollywood and works in it but knows the dark sides of it, she edits scripts, her dedication in the beginning to Billie Catherine and the book being (presumably tho in execution not as much) about her bond with her baby, I can even see bits of herself in the other characters.
December 3, 2011
I really wanted to like this book, but it was positively awful.
September 4, 2015
Deep, thoughtful, smooth and a humorous play on words... Yes! That’s how I’d define it. Really enjoyed the word play, it was so loving and smooth.
It was:
DEEP...
“... but to conceal is the most effective, popular method of revealing. It always gives away the suppressed pope smoke, the deciding vote.”
FUNNY...
“What was the phrase? Younger women make older men look younger, while younger men make older women look... silly. Maybe it was “feel silly”...
THOUGHTFUL...
“When you get that close to the death, everything living gets a little more lively, everything looks like a little more lifelike, and you love it that much more to keep it near you.”
The ending was not what I expected.
A fiction... written in a nonfiction style, but overall I enjoyed it.
It was:
DEEP...
“... but to conceal is the most effective, popular method of revealing. It always gives away the suppressed pope smoke, the deciding vote.”
FUNNY...
“What was the phrase? Younger women make older men look younger, while younger men make older women look... silly. Maybe it was “feel silly”...
THOUGHTFUL...
“When you get that close to the death, everything living gets a little more lively, everything looks like a little more lifelike, and you love it that much more to keep it near you.”
The ending was not what I expected.
A fiction... written in a nonfiction style, but overall I enjoyed it.
December 29, 2017
Re-read. This is probably my favorite of Carrie's novels. I especially like the quote about Hollywood on pg 145: "They knew there was a world in which people did not go out after dark and accustomed themselves to the sound of gunshots and screeching tires and an abundance of indignities. They could sense this other world just at the edge of theirs, its atmosphere swimming with fumes. This was the high cost of the fireworks and the ponies and the cashmere houndstooth jackets and the twenty-two-karat-gold bracelets hand-crafted from Victorian buttons and worn with immaculately ripped jeans."
April 6, 2016
Enjoyed the clever word play, but this book is really stuck in the 90's, and like all of Fisher's books is fictionalized autobiography. Things worked out different in real life.
However, as one of a series of letters from Fisher's protagonist to her unborn child, this quote sticks out for me.
"I promise to point things out to you, both practical and poisonous, helpful and hilarious. I know the best rides at Knott's Berry Farm and the words of several songs that you might find yourself singing en route from crawling to staggering to standing to borrowing the car.
In fact, I can't imagine I'll be much of a mother to you before you begin labeling everything with language."
This is, not just what a mother does, it's what a writer does, if this article (link below) is accurate.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandsty...
However, as one of a series of letters from Fisher's protagonist to her unborn child, this quote sticks out for me.
"I promise to point things out to you, both practical and poisonous, helpful and hilarious. I know the best rides at Knott's Berry Farm and the words of several songs that you might find yourself singing en route from crawling to staggering to standing to borrowing the car.
In fact, I can't imagine I'll be much of a mother to you before you begin labeling everything with language."
This is, not just what a mother does, it's what a writer does, if this article (link below) is accurate.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandsty...
October 14, 2018
I love Carrie and I think that when she is working on something not nessiccarily hers, and with a strict budget, she can create wonders (her script re-writes and or fixes lead to the movie being better or solid).
But this book was boring. Let's recap one of my notes throughout this read:
"Another scattered female protagonist, who falls in love with a guy who either will leave her or she'll fall out of love with. Add some quirky male friends, a Hollywood job and or job in the business, and bam: a Carrie Fisher novel, inspired by her real life. Also included is meandering and unfocused dialogue that neither adds or helps the plot."
That is it, everyone. That's the book summed up in a short and sweet paragraph.
But this book was boring. Let's recap one of my notes throughout this read:
"Another scattered female protagonist, who falls in love with a guy who either will leave her or she'll fall out of love with. Add some quirky male friends, a Hollywood job and or job in the business, and bam: a Carrie Fisher novel, inspired by her real life. Also included is meandering and unfocused dialogue that neither adds or helps the plot."
That is it, everyone. That's the book summed up in a short and sweet paragraph.
August 17, 2013
I got impatient with it in the first 30 pages. Usually I get further than that when there isn't really anything seriously wrong with it, but it was not holding my attention, I had no desire to know what would happen in the book, the characters that had been introduced were not grabbing me or reeling me in at all. So I looked through the reviews on good reads and even the "positive" ones made it sound like I wouldn't like the book myself. So, I've decided to do what I had thought about and stop reading it. I feel no regret, actually I am relieved. I had thought maybe I just wasn't in a reading mood lately, but I have another book I am now excited to start fresh with.
August 18, 2009
Why on earth did I decide I needed to finish this book? The book jacket summary promises weren't all that exciting in the first place, and then the book was even more disappointing. Even my blog is more coherent than this book, with less foul language.
Also, it is irksome that the main character talks about having Braxton-Hicks [contractions:], and knowing that that means the baby's coming. Um. No, that means the baby is definitely *not* coming.
Also, it is irksome that the main character talks about having Braxton-Hicks [contractions:], and knowing that that means the baby's coming. Um. No, that means the baby is definitely *not* coming.
October 26, 2023
I liked Postcards from the Edge, but this one just didn't grab me.
July 17, 2014
I suppose it���s possible to write more thinly veiled reality as fiction, in theory. Even if I hadn���t always suspected her of writing about herself, a recent article on script doctors mentioned her as one of the most respected. Nor is one surprised to see Meryl Streep acknowledged as a friend when one knows that Meryl Streep played the Carrie role in Postcards From the Edge. It���s fun reading the acknowledgments when you know you���ll recognize some of the names and be able to attach them to characters. (Meryl I would guess became Joan, Bryan became Ray, Billie became Esme became Lily, and Debbie became Vivian). The thing that makes Fisher fun to read is not her plotting. There is no plotting in the traditional sense. It would seem that she takes several episodes from her life, changes the names and some of the characteristics, and the tries to make everything as witty as possible. Why not? Who among us does not wish to constantly rewrite our lives into something more amusing? We all want the chance to go back and put in the thing we should have said. She isn���t cruel about it. I don���t think her child���s father could find much to complain about in what she wrote about him. Even when she describes the way he dumped her she makes no effort to be mean about it. That���s part of what I like about her. She behaves largely like my friends, a little bit older, a different childhood, a life still revolving around Hollywood, but the kind of life where you don���t hate someone just because the relationship didn���t work out. The kind of life where you stay in touch with former lovers (at least some of them) and spend an awful lot of time talking everything over with friends. That���s one of the things I feel as though I���ve lost since I���ve moved up here. Far less time talking for the sake of talking. Everyone here has to be doing something. Croquet is about the least I can get them to agree to. It lets Ginny and Mike and David enjoys the thrill of competition while the rest of us laze around and chat.
A Carrie Fisher book is a conversation I���d like to having. The sort of kiwi (as she calls it) where you talk to someone every day and just pick up where you left off. A conversation where you don���t talk about the big things, everybody already knows about that, but about the smaller things. How it all makes you feel, what color it is, what the empty spaces feel like.
There are celebrities you want to sleep with, celebrities you want to have lunch with, and celebrities you want to be pals with. I���d love to be friends with Carrie Fisher. And reading her books I have the delightful experience of feeling that I am her friend
A Carrie Fisher book is a conversation I���d like to having. The sort of kiwi (as she calls it) where you talk to someone every day and just pick up where you left off. A conversation where you don���t talk about the big things, everybody already knows about that, but about the smaller things. How it all makes you feel, what color it is, what the empty spaces feel like.
There are celebrities you want to sleep with, celebrities you want to have lunch with, and celebrities you want to be pals with. I���d love to be friends with Carrie Fisher. And reading her books I have the delightful experience of feeling that I am her friend
January 31, 2016
This book is full of witty and insightful dialogue and passages but fails for me in that it's missing a strong plot line. I didn't understand why things were happening and why.
Straight away we discover that Cora, our heroine, is pregnant. The first 100 pages are spent getting to know Cora, her relationship with her screen writing partner Bud who seems to be co-dependent on Cora and follows Cora as she meets and falls in and then out of love with Ray who turns out to be the father of her child. I didn't understand their relationship, why they got together, what their fights were about or why they thought their relationship would work at all.
The next part of the story details the arrival of Cora's terminally ill friend William who she has decided to care for in his final days. Again, there is no real explanation as to why this is Cora's role, it's just something that happens. Cora turns to Ray for support and he is there for here. When Cora recovers, they break up again. During this time is when Cora falls pregnant, it fell like a clumsy plot device to me.
The book then jumps again. In the space of a couple of pages Cora discovers she's pregnant, decides how she feels and what she is going to do about her pregnancy and then... well her mother decides that they should break Cora's grandfather out of his nursing home and take him home to Texas... as you do! There is very little mention of the either the mother or the grandfather before this point in the story making this feel very out of nowhere.
There is a lovely link to Cora's child and grandfather at the end but it's a very small pay-off for a largely non-cohesive story.
Straight away we discover that Cora, our heroine, is pregnant. The first 100 pages are spent getting to know Cora, her relationship with her screen writing partner Bud who seems to be co-dependent on Cora and follows Cora as she meets and falls in and then out of love with Ray who turns out to be the father of her child. I didn't understand their relationship, why they got together, what their fights were about or why they thought their relationship would work at all.
The next part of the story details the arrival of Cora's terminally ill friend William who she has decided to care for in his final days. Again, there is no real explanation as to why this is Cora's role, it's just something that happens. Cora turns to Ray for support and he is there for here. When Cora recovers, they break up again. During this time is when Cora falls pregnant, it fell like a clumsy plot device to me.
The book then jumps again. In the space of a couple of pages Cora discovers she's pregnant, decides how she feels and what she is going to do about her pregnancy and then... well her mother decides that they should break Cora's grandfather out of his nursing home and take him home to Texas... as you do! There is very little mention of the either the mother or the grandfather before this point in the story making this feel very out of nowhere.
There is a lovely link to Cora's child and grandfather at the end but it's a very small pay-off for a largely non-cohesive story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2015
"If she'd understood the night she saw Arsenio interviewing Sally Jesse Raphael -- if she'd been able to interpret that as some kind of omen -- perhaps she would have done things differently."
This sentence occurs on the second page of the novel. It's all downhill from there. I started off thinking this was Fisher's best novel -- so cleverly written and so evocative of LA in a certain time and class, and thought it would be my first Fisher novel to get four stars. In the middle, once the brilliant observations subside and the barely altered autobiographical elements start piling up, I thought maybe three stars, as I've rated most of her others. By the end, after suffering through a pointless breakup and kidnapping of a demented elder, I had to say it is her worst novel. It kills me to say it, because I really love Carrie Fisher. Perhaps doctoring scripts (also the profession of her alter ego "Cora") is her strong suit because the basic story outline is already there.
She couldn't even bother to alter the details that much. Although Cora's mother is a costume designer, she's still Debbie Reynolds, down to the story of how she acquired her costumes and her purchase of a cheap Las Vegas hotel to house them.
I didn't even walk away with any metaphors that I could have held on to, as I did with "Surrender the Pink", when I needed a way to frame life's disappointments. Ah, hell.
This sentence occurs on the second page of the novel. It's all downhill from there. I started off thinking this was Fisher's best novel -- so cleverly written and so evocative of LA in a certain time and class, and thought it would be my first Fisher novel to get four stars. In the middle, once the brilliant observations subside and the barely altered autobiographical elements start piling up, I thought maybe three stars, as I've rated most of her others. By the end, after suffering through a pointless breakup and kidnapping of a demented elder, I had to say it is her worst novel. It kills me to say it, because I really love Carrie Fisher. Perhaps doctoring scripts (also the profession of her alter ego "Cora") is her strong suit because the basic story outline is already there.
She couldn't even bother to alter the details that much. Although Cora's mother is a costume designer, she's still Debbie Reynolds, down to the story of how she acquired her costumes and her purchase of a cheap Las Vegas hotel to house them.
I didn't even walk away with any metaphors that I could have held on to, as I did with "Surrender the Pink", when I needed a way to frame life's disappointments. Ah, hell.
August 4, 2014
While the plot and characters were somewhat engaging, it was difficult to get beyond Fisher's slaughter of the English language. She may be clever, but when each and every sentence contains a simile or play on a figure of speech, it becomes unbearable. I enjoy puns, but these are not clever puns. These are weak, easy puns, the low-hanging fruit.
Thankfully, after 100 pages or so she starts to run low on bad puns, and we can proceed with the plot at a more manageable ratio of approximately one terrible pun per paragraph. Amazingly, toward the end of the book there are entire PAGES free of puns!
I will now resist the overwhelming temptation to conclude this review with a pun.
Thankfully, after 100 pages or so she starts to run low on bad puns, and we can proceed with the plot at a more manageable ratio of approximately one terrible pun per paragraph. Amazingly, toward the end of the book there are entire PAGES free of puns!
I will now resist the overwhelming temptation to conclude this review with a pun.
December 31, 2016
When Carrie died this was the first book that I turned to. I remembered her being pregnant, and the chaos that caused. There were wonderful bits where she was writing to her imagined daughter after her imagined death. There were funny bits about how incompetent she was with relationships. But there were also funny bits about her dealing with the very tragic death of a close friend who had aids. He came and stayed with her till he got to ill and had to go to the hospital and passed away. I'd forgotten about that part of the book and it was really touching to read it now. It was great to go back and re-read this and I decided to re-read all her other novels too. Starting with postcards next.
November 23, 2009
Tried slogging my way through this one but I've tried other Carrie Fisher books and I just find myself not relating to or caring much about her characters. With the superlative ratings out there from other readers, I kept pursuing it long after I was ready to give it up, but kept thinking I'd get to a place where I started loving it...it still hadn't happened about 100 pages in when I figured out I read for enjoyment so why make myself read it - it's not as though it's a class assignment requiring a book report to be turned in!
September 19, 2011
Having enjoyed Carrie Fisher's latest hilarity that is Wishful Drinking, I was dazzled with disappointment in this, her first work of fiction (based on fact). I was fortunate to see Ms. Fisher give a talk at Dragon*Con 2011, where she was asked which one of her books was her favorite, and she, without hesitation, indicated that Delusions of Grandma was her #1 fave by herself. Although there were pieces of hilarity scattered throughout the novel, I found it wordy and more a stream of consciousness on what it is to be pregnant.
May 5, 2009
I knew Carrie Fisher possessed an undeniable wit when I saw her perform her one-woman show "Wishful Drinking." 'Delusions' was no exception. Very witty, funny, and charming. I'm honestly impressed with her writing abilities and look forward to reading more by her.
December 4, 2012
Gave this one the 50 page test - it failed. I've read some of Fisher's other tales and have enjoyed them - she's usually witty, loves to name drop (albeit via pseudonym), and pokes fun at herself most of all - but this one didn't grab me.
Have added it to the Bookcrossing release pile.
Have added it to the Bookcrossing release pile.
March 19, 2011
I really wanted to like this. I love Carrie Fisher as an actress and speaker. I hope that it's just this book that's a dud and not her career as a novelist that stinks.
Read
December 9, 2019[Written for the Philadelphia Inquirer April 1994]
"I have come to the conclusion that I don't believe in relationships, pets, or children," announces Bud, a character In Carrie Fisher's third novel. "People have them because they don't want to be alone, you know? They build this elaborate, intricate superstructure designed to ward off their loneliness. which is a fantasy, 'cause you're alone at the end anyway, right? Either in pain or hallucinating or whatever."
This is not an especially original observation, not as cleverly stated as some of the other comments offered by this same character, and not as profound as some of the novel's subtler remarks on the human condition. But it's a good place to begin talking about DELUSIONS OF GRANDMA, because the book might best be described as an exploration of companionship. There is not a great deal said here about pets, but Fisher takes a close look at the sticky webs that connect lovers, friends, parents and children. In a novel sprinkled with puns, jokes and cute turns of phrase, she manages to tell a contemporary love story and to engage the reader in a fresh and quite serious discussion of the big questions: commitment, death, loneliness.
The heroine of DELUSIONS OF GRANDMA is Cora, a successful, once-married screenwriter with a streetwise understanding of the Hollywood scene and an enviable band of friends. Her relationship with Ray, a likable lawyer, accounts for much of the plot.
What accounts for much of the drama — low-key, realistic, and well-put-together drama — is a question: Will Cora and Ray navigate the tumbling currents of infatuation and sail into the calmer seas of a stable marriage? Or will one or both of them abandon ship before the cruise is truly underway?
On the surface, there seems to be no obstacle to their mating for life, but Fischer is not satisfied with mere surfaces, glitzy and appealing as those surfaces may be. What sets this novel a cut above a run-of-the-studio romance, or even a sexy literary L.A. affair, is the author's penetration to the subtler, sneakier layers of pride and stubbornness, the almost invisible psychological reefs surrounding every safe romantic harbor.
Cora is a talker, and her relationship with Ray begins not with exuberant sex but with exuberant conversation. While she is at work in Paris, she and her new lawyer friend carry on increasingly intimate and expensive transoceanic telephone conversations that prepare the soil for the seed of their togetherness. The seed sprouts nicely. Their early relationship features his kindness and her humor, comfortable sex, (described with a few deft strokes instead of the customary he-did-this, she-did-that choreography) and a gentle introduction to each other's histories.
For a while their relationship grows strongly and smoothly, but Cora's quirky humor slowly begins to look like elusiveness, and Ray uses his moods to demand compensation for his unflagging generosity. Fisher guides the reader quickly through these stages, introducing an array of eccentric but believable Hollywood types reminiscent of the cast of Charlie Smith's CHIMNEY ROCK . The central couple is surrounded by directors and producers and fashion designers, people fond of the slap on the back, the phony smile, the eye for the rising star.
But, again, beneath this glittering surface, the author hides something of substance. Cora might seem to be suffering from a simple fear of commitment, but there is more to her than that. Her friends turn out to be loyal friends — quirky, almost bizarre, but loyal — and she is loyal to them in return. Fisher introduces a young man with AIDS and takes us through his last weeks in a way that is as horrifying as it is beautiful. In the space of 20 pages, this man and his death are made vivid, and the tragedy shines a light into the inner recesses of everyone around him.
Having dealt so fluently with love, death and friendship, the novel turns, in its final sections, to the mystery of the relations between parents and children. Cora's grandfather, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, is the object of a benign kidnapping from his nursing home, and, though this section leads nicely into an exploration of the relationship between mother and daughter, it feels slightly contrived, the book's one false step.
In all, DELUSIONS OF GRANDMA is a deftly put-together piece of fiction that falls somewhere between the very serious and the very light and manages to avoid the pitfalls of both extremes: ponderous self-examination on the one hand, and easy cliché on the other.
As In her previous novels, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE and SURRENDER THE PINK, Carrie Fisher has some fun playing with the twists and turns of language; she provides some laughs, some food for thought, some tender moments. Cora's transcendence of her circumstances is the final lesson of the book, and it both encourages us and leaves us to decide for ourselves about the wisdom of believing or not believing in relationships.
"I have come to the conclusion that I don't believe in relationships, pets, or children," announces Bud, a character In Carrie Fisher's third novel. "People have them because they don't want to be alone, you know? They build this elaborate, intricate superstructure designed to ward off their loneliness. which is a fantasy, 'cause you're alone at the end anyway, right? Either in pain or hallucinating or whatever."
This is not an especially original observation, not as cleverly stated as some of the other comments offered by this same character, and not as profound as some of the novel's subtler remarks on the human condition. But it's a good place to begin talking about DELUSIONS OF GRANDMA, because the book might best be described as an exploration of companionship. There is not a great deal said here about pets, but Fisher takes a close look at the sticky webs that connect lovers, friends, parents and children. In a novel sprinkled with puns, jokes and cute turns of phrase, she manages to tell a contemporary love story and to engage the reader in a fresh and quite serious discussion of the big questions: commitment, death, loneliness.
The heroine of DELUSIONS OF GRANDMA is Cora, a successful, once-married screenwriter with a streetwise understanding of the Hollywood scene and an enviable band of friends. Her relationship with Ray, a likable lawyer, accounts for much of the plot.
What accounts for much of the drama — low-key, realistic, and well-put-together drama — is a question: Will Cora and Ray navigate the tumbling currents of infatuation and sail into the calmer seas of a stable marriage? Or will one or both of them abandon ship before the cruise is truly underway?
On the surface, there seems to be no obstacle to their mating for life, but Fischer is not satisfied with mere surfaces, glitzy and appealing as those surfaces may be. What sets this novel a cut above a run-of-the-studio romance, or even a sexy literary L.A. affair, is the author's penetration to the subtler, sneakier layers of pride and stubbornness, the almost invisible psychological reefs surrounding every safe romantic harbor.
Cora is a talker, and her relationship with Ray begins not with exuberant sex but with exuberant conversation. While she is at work in Paris, she and her new lawyer friend carry on increasingly intimate and expensive transoceanic telephone conversations that prepare the soil for the seed of their togetherness. The seed sprouts nicely. Their early relationship features his kindness and her humor, comfortable sex, (described with a few deft strokes instead of the customary he-did-this, she-did-that choreography) and a gentle introduction to each other's histories.
For a while their relationship grows strongly and smoothly, but Cora's quirky humor slowly begins to look like elusiveness, and Ray uses his moods to demand compensation for his unflagging generosity. Fisher guides the reader quickly through these stages, introducing an array of eccentric but believable Hollywood types reminiscent of the cast of Charlie Smith's CHIMNEY ROCK . The central couple is surrounded by directors and producers and fashion designers, people fond of the slap on the back, the phony smile, the eye for the rising star.
But, again, beneath this glittering surface, the author hides something of substance. Cora might seem to be suffering from a simple fear of commitment, but there is more to her than that. Her friends turn out to be loyal friends — quirky, almost bizarre, but loyal — and she is loyal to them in return. Fisher introduces a young man with AIDS and takes us through his last weeks in a way that is as horrifying as it is beautiful. In the space of 20 pages, this man and his death are made vivid, and the tragedy shines a light into the inner recesses of everyone around him.
Having dealt so fluently with love, death and friendship, the novel turns, in its final sections, to the mystery of the relations between parents and children. Cora's grandfather, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, is the object of a benign kidnapping from his nursing home, and, though this section leads nicely into an exploration of the relationship between mother and daughter, it feels slightly contrived, the book's one false step.
In all, DELUSIONS OF GRANDMA is a deftly put-together piece of fiction that falls somewhere between the very serious and the very light and manages to avoid the pitfalls of both extremes: ponderous self-examination on the one hand, and easy cliché on the other.
As In her previous novels, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE and SURRENDER THE PINK, Carrie Fisher has some fun playing with the twists and turns of language; she provides some laughs, some food for thought, some tender moments. Cora's transcendence of her circumstances is the final lesson of the book, and it both encourages us and leaves us to decide for ourselves about the wisdom of believing or not believing in relationships.
March 25, 2017
Didn't expect to but I loved this book. The story of Cora, a Hollywood script doctor who realizes she's pregnant after a sad break-up, is not in itself anything really special, but Carrie Fisher's language is. Her writing rhythm is peculiar and takes some getting used to but when it takes you, it really, really takes you. Loved it.
July 15, 2017
Pretty good. I would give this a 3.5. Carrie Fisher has quite the sense of humor. She usually writes a book of humor and fiction yet based loosely on real life people including herself. A woman who is a "script doctor" who fixes movie and tv scripts and her life. she gets pregnant and ends most chapters with letters to her unborn baby. quirky characters are in this book. comes together pretty well.
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August 1, 2020carrie's fiction definitely gets better with each book i read! i liked this one the most so far
February 10, 2015
Says on the cover "outrageously funny" and "delightful romantic comedy". This is misleading. It is not funny, nor is it romantic. It is not what I would call comedy although Carrie Fisher is good at word play; she is witty and self-deprecating. But it doesn't make this book funny. Some of the hightlights: one of her good friends dies of AIDS. Her boyfriend breaks up with her. Her grandfather has Alzheimer's disease. There are moments that are slightly funny in this overall context, but not much. The pregnancy and the main character's reaction are sweet rather than funny. The mother of the main character is the only one who comes across laugh out loud funny once in awhile.
February 11, 2016
This book deals with the birth of Fisher's daughter and her experience of motherhood. Same commentary as my reviews for Fisher's other books. She's a very witty and conversational wordsmith; her books are mostly fast reads in the style of chick lit. Though sometimes the ruminations run on too long. And the content rating is high PG-13 or R, so proceed with caution. A higher rating for the clever writing is held down by the vulgar content level.
August 4, 2019
You could remove the first 100 pages and it would make no difference. It has it’s moment of wit as most of her work does but it’s also painfully repetitive and often rudderless.
There’s a line in the book about how footnotes don’t have to become life lesson tangents and how annoying it can be when all you’re asking is a question and it is just a question and this is an apt observation for the book itself.
There’s a line in the book about how footnotes don’t have to become life lesson tangents and how annoying it can be when all you’re asking is a question and it is just a question and this is an apt observation for the book itself.
March 13, 2013
A good and fairly easy read for me. Not everyone's cup of tea, a lot of word-play and general strangeness. I found it interesting to find myself in someone else's world, someone who operates almost completely differently from myself.
December 31, 2008
Ah, an interesting way to get into the head of Carrie Fisher. She writes very autobiographically. Entertaining, had some spots of quite the dry wit, but a bit too much information sometimes.
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