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WORK TITLE: Carrie Fisher
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NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 291
http://thepenguinpress.com/book/the-news-sorority-diane-sawyer-katie-couric-christiane-amanpour-and-the-ongoing-imperfect-complicated-triumph-of-women-in-tv-news/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born September 16, 1945, in New York, NY; daughter of Daniel and Helen Weller.
EDUCATION:University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1967.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Freelance writer, 1970—.
AWARDS:Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1963; Front Page Award, Newswomen’s Club of New York, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2003; National Headliners Award, 2005; Exceptional Merit in Media award, National Women’s Political Caucus, 2006.
POLITICS: Democrat. RELIGION: Jewish.WRITINGS
Contributor to magazines and newspapers, including Ms., Red Book, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, New York Times Book Review, Cosmopolitan, and Village Voice. Contributing editor to magazines, including New York, 1997-2000, Self, 2001-02, and Glamour, 2002—.
SIDELIGHTS
Sheila Weller once commented of her first novel, Hansel and Gretel in Beverly Hills: “My novel began as a short story I did while in Joseph Heller’s fiction workshop at City College of the City University of New York. It’s about the odd-couple friendship of a salty, down-but-not-defeated fifty-four-year-old divorcée and her forty-year-old gay hairdresser, and what I hope it’s ‘about’ are the unique survival mechanisms, the ironic language, the idiosyncratic and possibly ‘superior’ vision of people who have been defined as social orphans—people outside of the conventional Noah’s Ark couples world. As an unmarried woman, I have an affinity for these people. There’s a lot of subculture dialogue in the book—gay, Jewish, black—survival talk that’s always interested me. The style is rather sitcom-ish. What can I say? I’m a Hollywood kid.”
Weller provides details about this unusual Hollywood upbringing in her memoir, Dancing at Ciro’s: A Family’s Love, Loss, and Scandal on the Sunset Strip. Her parents and maternal uncle, Jews from New York City, moved to California in 1936. There, her father established a successful neurosurgical career, her mother became an arts reporter, and her uncle opened Ciro’s, a nightclub on Sunset Strip where A-list movie stars liked to gather. Beneath this glittering veneer, however, were problems, and by the late 1950s the family disintegrated in a tangle of tax-evasion charges, adultery, violence, and emotional breakdown. Though a writer for Kirkus Reviews found the book lacking in interest, a contributor to Publishers Weekly described it as a “poignant” memoir.
Among Weller’s other nonfiction books are several dealing with high-profile criminal cases. Marrying the Hangman: A True Story of Privilege, Marriage, and Murder examines the 1987 murder of Manhattan journalist Diane Pikul by her stockbroker husband; Amy Fisher: My Story, which Weller wrote with Fisher, describes how the teenage narrator engaged in a sordid affair with a married man and, in a case that drew major media attention in 1992, attempted to kill his wife. Raging Heart: The Intimate Story of the Tragic Marriage of O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson presents material about the infamous Simpson case, in which the former football star was charged in the stabbing death of his estranged wife.
In Girls like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation, Weller presents a group biography of three women songwriters who shaped popular music in the 1960s and 1970s. With her then-husband Gerry Goffin, King—a young Brooklyn homemaker and mother—wrote such seminal hits as “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “Chains.” Mitchell, a folksinger from Canada, wrote delicate ballads that expressed some of the era’s more complex emotional depths; Simon, the daughter of a Manhattan publishing mogul, penned earthy hits such as “You’re So Vain.” Weller discusses her subjects’ music and backgrounds, but also focuses on their many romances: Mitchell had affairs with Graham Nash and Leonard Cohen, Simon dated Warren Beatty and Mick Jagger, and all three women were involved, at one time or another, with James Taylor (Simon married him, though they later divorced). Weller also writes about Mitchell’s difficult decision to give up her daughter, born out of wedlock, for adoption.
Many critics enjoyed Girls like Us. London Times writer Caitlin Moran called it a “fabulous book,” and Pop Matters website contributor Howard Cohen, noting that the book “never settles for simple sensationalism,” commended it as an exemplary model of group biography. In the London Observer, however, Sean O’Hagan expressed disappointment that “the songs take second place to the colourful lives” and that the book is so “heavy on gossipy detail [but] light on penetrating analysis.” Leslie Brody, writing in the Los Angeles Times, felt that Weller’s description of the era “compresses history with a steamroller, making very different events seem to carry equal weight.” But New York Times Book Review contributor Stephanie Zacharek found much of it “entertaining and intelligent,” adding that Weller is “perceptive about the social milieus that … these women had to bust out of.”
Weller traces the history of women on the news, focusing on three trailblazers, in The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour—and the (Ongoing, Imperfect, Complicated) Triumph of Women in TV News. She points out predecessors, including Connie Chung, Barbara Walters, and Leslie Stahl, who paved the way for the three women. She notes that Sawyer faced a backlash over her close relationship with disgraced President Richard Nixon, while Amanpour overcame biases based on her Iranian heritage. Couric made the difficult transition from fluffy morning programming to covering serious news in the evening. In an interview with Liz Smith for the Chicago Tribune Online, Weller explained why she focused on female television anchors: “The most successful women in this business are the ones who have no shame, who are pushy—and at the same time reserve a little ‘feminine.’ The guys are a lot easier to figure out—they’re what they appear, they’re aggressive, they’re snakes, whatever. But the women have to be all things to all people. Trot out the sexiness when they need it. Trot out the cattiness when they need that. They’re much more interesting.”
The News Sorority received mixed reviews. “Her first misstep is to create a very unlikely threesome. As Ms. Weller’s notes at the end of the book indicate, Ms. Amanpour was a late addition. She doesn’t belong in the same category as Ms. Sawyer or Ms. Couric,” remarked Janet Maslin on the New York Times website. Amanda Hess, writing on the Slate website, stated: “Weller’s focus on the stars obscures the equally important project of diversifying the ranks of the people who matter most: the ones who pull the strings behind the scenes.” Kera Bolonik, a contributor to the New York Times Online, commented: “It’s hard to come away from The News Sorority feeling anything less than admiration, if not reverence, for Couric, Sawyer and Amanpour, and sympathy for all the women—from trailblazers like Walters and Stahl to those who never quite broke through.” Washington Post Online writer Roxanne Roberts opined: “It’s worth reading The News Sorority as both a handbook of cutthroat office politics and a cautionary tale. … These women brought ego, ambition and a willingness to play just as rough as the boys to the newsrooms—and made history because of that.” Library Journal writer Judy Solberg stated: “News junkies and fans will love all of the insider details on the media and the lives of these women.”
In Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge, Weller chronicles the life of the complicated actress and writer, who may be best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” movies. She was given that role at the age of nineteen, having starred in no notable films before then. Weller discusses Fisher’s childhood, as the daughter of Hollywood figures, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. She also describes her romantic relationships with stars, including Paul Simon. Fisher became addicted to cocaine and made multiple attempts to shake her habit. She also suffered from bipolar disorder. Fisher wrote about her struggles candidly in bestselling books. Weller comments on Fisher’s role as a feminist and acknowledges the irony of the fact that Fisher died just as a wave of feminism was cresting in Hollywood. In an interview with Elaine Szewczyk, contributor to the Publishers Weekly website, Weller explained why she was drawn to writing about Fisher. She stated: “There is almost nobody more complex than Carrie Fisher, somebody who could be so tough and sardonic and unsentimental, then really break down in tears, really need and want company. It’s hard to find someone who had so many juxtapositions, and a lot of that came from pain.”
A Kirkus Reviews critic suggested: “Weller connects the dots in ways that create a vividly hued portrait. There is no monochrome here but rather an expansive look at a woman who lived large, loved deeply.” A reviewer in Publishers Weekly remarked: “The author does a fine job charting the light and dark aspects of Fisher’s story.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Best Sellers, November, 1978, review of Hansel and Gretel in Beverly Hills, p. 243.
Booklist, March 15, 1992, Peter Robertson, review of Marrying the Hangman: A True Story of Privilege, Marriage, and Murder, p. 1323.
Entertainment Weekly, June 12, 1992, Gene Lyons, review of Marrying the Hangman, p. 50; January 9, 1998, Katherine A. Hazelwood, review of Saint of Circumstance: The Untold Story behind the Alex Kelly Rape Case: Growing Up Rich and Out of Control, p. 64.
Glamour, May, 1992, Laura Mathews, review of Marrying the Hangman, p. 182.
Independent (London, England), Liz Thomson, review of Girls like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 1978, review of Hansel and Gretel in Beverly Hills, p. 332; February 15, 1992, review of Marrying the Hangman, p. 245; October 1, 1997, review of Saint of Circumstance, p. 1520; January 15, 2003, review of Dancing at Ciro’s: A Family’s Love, Loss, and Scandal on the Sunset Strip, p. 136; March 1, 2008, review of Girls like Us; August 1, 2014, review of The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour—and the (Ongoing, Imperfect, Complicated) Triumph of Women in TV News; September 15, 2019, review of Carrie Fisher: Life on the Edge.
Library Journal, April 15, 1978, review of Hansel and Gretel in Beverly Hills, p. 900; March 15, 1992, Wilda Williams, review of Marrying the Hangman, p. 104; February 15, 2003, Rosellen Brewer, review of Dancing at Ciro’s, p. 141; September 1, 2014, Judy Solberg, review of The News Sorority, p. 114.
Los Angeles, July, 1978, Susan Squire, review of Hansel and Gretel in Beverly Hills, p. 226.
Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2003, review of Dancing at Ciro’s, p. R2; May 25, 2008, Leslie Brody, review of Girls like Us.
Ms., July, 1978, review of Hansel and Gretel in Beverly Hills, p. 31.
National Post, April 19, 2008, review of Girls like Us, p. WP13.
New Statesman, May 12, 2008, Yo Zushi, review of Girls like Us, p. 59.
New Woman, June, 1992, Erica Abeel, review of Marrying the Hangman, p. 30.
New York, June 1, 1992, review of Marrying the Hangman, p. 29.
New York Times, April 17, 2008, Janet Maslin, “Heroines in the Footlights, from All Sides Now,” p. E1; May 13, 2008, Stephen Holden, “Trailblazers, but Selling a Romantic Kind of Love,” p. E1.
New York Times Book Review, May 16, 1993, David Kelly, review of Amy Fisher: My Story, p. 32; April 13, 2003, review of Dancing at Ciro’s, p. 22; April 27, 2008, Stephanie Zacharek, review of Girls like Us.
Observer (London, England), April 13, 2008, Sean O’Hagan, review of Girls like Us.
O, the Oprah Magazine, March, 2003, review of Dancing at Ciro’s, p. 169.
Publishers Weekly, April 24, 1978, review of Hansel and Gretel in Beverly Hills, p. 78; February 10, 1992, review of Marrying the Hangman, p. 65; October 27, 1997, review of Saint of Circumstance, p. 58; January 6, 2003, review of Dancing at Ciro’s, p. 48; July 29, 2019, review of Carrie Fisher, p. 68.
Sing Out!, autumn, 2008, Marilyn Cvitanic, review of Girls like Us, p. 101.
Times (London, England), May 2, 2008, Caitlin Moran, review of Girls like Us.
USA Today, April 29, 2008, Elysa Gardner, review of Girls like Us, p. 9.
Washington Post Book World, February 23, 2003, review of Dancing at Ciro’s, p. 3.
Women’s Review of Books, May, 1995, Ann Jones, review of Raging Heart: The Intimate Story of the Tragic Marriage of O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson, p. 1.
ONLINE
Bloomberg News Online, http://www.bloomberg.com/ (September 25, 2014), Sheelah Kolhatkar, review of The News Sorority.
Buffalo News Online, http://www.buffalonews.com/ (September 28, 2014), Jeff Simon, review of The News Sorority.
Caroline Leavittville Blog, http://carolineleavittville.blogspot.com/ (September 29, 2014), Caroline Leavittville, author interview.
Chicago Tribune Online, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/ (June 18, 2014), Liz Smith, author interview.
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (July 2, 2008), profile of Weller; (November 29, 2014), Jesse Kornbluth, review of The News Sorority.
Los Angeles Times Online, http://www.latimes.com/ (October 12, 2014), Geneva Overholser, review of The News Sorority.
New York Daily News Online, http://www.nydailynews.com/ (March 5, 2015), review of The News Sorority.
New York Times Online, http://www.nytimes.com/ (September 26, 2014), Kate Zernik, author interview; (October 1, 2014), Janet Maslin, review of The News Sorority; (October 10, 2014), Kera Bolonik, review of The News Sorority.
Penguin, http://thepenguinpress.com/ (March 5, 2015), author biography and reviews of The News Sorority.
PopMatters, http://www.popmatters.com/ (July 2, 2008), Howard Cohen, review of Girls like Us.
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (July 26, 2019), Elaine Szewczyk, author interview.
Slate, http://www.slate.com/ (September 29, 2014), Amanda Hess, review of The News Sorority.
Vanity Fair Online, http://www.vanityfair.com/ (July 2, 2008), Jonathan Kelly, “Q&A: Sheila Weller on Women Rock ‘n’ Rollers of the ’60s.”
Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (September 26, 2014), Roxanne Roberts, review of The News Sorority.
Sheila Weller is a best-selling author and award-winning magazine journalist specializing in women's lives, social issues, cultural history, and feminist investigative.
Her latest book, "The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour - and the Triumph of Women in TV News," is a lively and detailed story of three very particular lives and a testament to the extraordinary character of women everywhere.
Her sixth book was the critically acclaimed "Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- And The Journey of a Generation." On the New York Times Bestseller list for 8 weeks, it has sold over 170,000 copies, is featured in numerous Women's Studies programs at major universities, and was chosen as one of the Best Books of 2008 by Library Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Amazon.com, and Tina Brown's DailyBeast.
Her previous books, including the New York Times bestseller "Raging Heart," have included well-regarded, news-breaking nonfiction accounts of high profile crimes against women and their social and legal implications.
She is a writer for Vanity Fair, a Senior Contributing Editor for Glamour, a former Contributing Editor for New York, a reviewer for The New York Times, and has written and writes for numerous other magazines.
She has won nine major magazine awards, including six Newswomen's Club of New York Front Page Awards and two Exceptional Merit in Media Awards from The National Women's Political Caucus, and she was one of three winners, for her body of work, for Magazine Feature Writing on a Variety of Subjects in the 2005 National Headliners Award.
Sheila Weller is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning magazine journalist. She is the author of five books, most recently her 2003 family memoir, Dancing at Ciro's, which The Washington Post called "a substantial contribution to American social history." She is the senior contributing editor at Glamour, a contributor to Vanity Fair, and a former contributing editor of New York magazine. To learn more, visit GirlsLikeUstheBook.com.
QUOTED: "There is almost nobody more complex than Carrie Fisher, somebody who could be so tough and sardonic and unsentimental, then really break down in tears, really need and want company. It’s hard to find someone who had so many juxtapositions, and a lot of that came from pain."
Edgy Woman: PW Talks with Sheila Weller
By Elaine Szewczyk | Jul 26, 2019
Comments
In Carrie Fisher: Life on the Edge (FSG/Crichton, Nov.), Weller explores the life and career of the “badass” writer and actress, who died in 2016.
What drew you to Carrie Fisher?
Photo: Laura Pedrick
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There is almost nobody more complex than Carrie Fisher, somebody who could be so tough and sardonic and unsentimental, then really break down in tears, really need and want company. It’s hard to find someone who had so many juxtapositions, and a lot of that came from pain. The bipolarity was always with her, the inherited drug addiction was always with her, whether she acted on it or not. That was a double whammy, and yet she was incredibly productive. She never stopped working.
Are there similarities between Fisher and the women you profiled in Girls Like Us, your 2008 biography of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon?
They were all iconic. They had fascinating lives, they had fascinating people in their lives, and they were constantly productive. And nothing kept them down. Whether it was bad romances or personal tragedies, they made material out of it.
Fisher had major substance abuse issues. What challenges come with writing about someone with such a complicated past?
The challenge is to remain sympathetic and empathetic. I wanted to show her in all her forms. The challenge is being honest and not sugarcoating it, to have the reader be there with the person, feeling what they’re going through.
You write that Fisher became a role model for young women at the end of her life. Why do you think that was?
Because she was so honest. She died at a time when we had just elected a president, Donald Trump, who made a virtue out of dishonesty and has made an absolute success of dishonesty and people loving him because he’s dishonest. So her honesty, which was fierce, which was a 10 on scale of one to 10, was something that I think lived with us a little bit unconsciously as the Trump presidency moved on.
Fisher was known for her legendary parties. What made her a people magnet?
She said it herself, I want to have a personality big enough to explode in the sky on New Year’s Eve over Hong Kong. That was something she wanted as a child. And she achieved it. There are people who are naturally charismatic. Some people just have it. She had a personality, a sense of wit, and she truly cared about other people.
How should Fisher be remembered?
Carrie had bipolar disorder and I think one of the most significant legacies of her life was destigmatizing that in a very strong way. She let you know that mental illness is chronic, and even if she feels better and looks totally great for a period of months or years, it is a chronic disease. We need empathy for it and laughter. That was one of the hidden lessons she gave.
A version of this article appeared in the 07/29/2019 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Edgy Woman
QUOTED: "Weller connects the dots in ways that create a vividly hued portrait. There is no monochrome here but rather an expansive look at a woman who lived large, loved deeply."
Weller, Sheila CARRIE FISHER Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Adult Nonfiction) $28.00 11, 12 ISBN: 978-0-374-28223-3
An intimate and effusive tribute to Carrie Fisher (1956-2016).
Between traditional biography and commemorative journalism lies a place where facts meet fandom, where both casual observers and devotees alike can bear witness to an extraordinary life. Weller (The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour--and the (Ongoing, Imperfect, Complicated) Triumph of Women in TV News, 2014, etc.) could find those coordinates in her sleep. That's not to say she didn't work incredibly hard to pull together this endearing collection of stories about the late actor. The author is a seasoned veteran of panoramic storytelling; as a result, her narrative is occasionally almost as difficult to keep up with as Fisher herself. The book begins and ends with the fateful trans-Atlantic flight that signaled her impending death, but in between, readers have more than 300 pages to fall in love with the quirky, brilliant, outrageously witty woman who graced the silver screen as Princess Leia, among other roles. Weller interviewed scores of Fisher's friends, former lovers, colleagues, and family members to shape a mostly chronological, highly detailed rendering of her life. The author dives deep into her subject's childhood, films, books, marriages, friendships, and highly publicized battles with addiction and mental illness. The latter two elements provide some of the most poignant moments of the book, as readers get a revealing look at Fisher's eventual acceptance of--and fierce honesty about--living with drug addiction and bipolar disorder. Occasionally, the dizzying array of quotes and voluminous backstories of Fisher's friends and family get a bit taxing, and the book is brimming with gossipy tidbits. Regardless, Weller connects the dots in ways that create a vividly hued portrait. There is no monochrome here but rather an expansive look at a woman who lived large, loved deeply, and did a lot to destigmatize mental illness.
Whether you were well-acquainted with Fisher or not, this book will make you miss her.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Weller, Sheila: CARRIE FISHER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2019, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A599964363/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0b58bd08. Accessed 7 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A599964363
QUOTED: "The author does a fine job charting the light and dark aspects of Fisher's story."
Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge
Sheila Weller. FSG/Crichton, $28 (416p) ISBN 978-0-374-28223-3
Actress and author Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) is celebrated for her wit and strength in this comprehensive biography by journalist Weller (The News Sorority). Fisher--daughter of actors Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher--got her break at 19 when she was cast as Princess Leia in Star Wars, a role that Weller says turned Fisher into a "feminist action hero." The author does a fine job charting the light and dark aspects of Fisher's story, which includes a career as a bestselling author and battles with drug addiction and bipolar disorder. Weller discusses Fisher's cocaine use and her attempts to get sober; her marriage to singer Paul Simon; her code-pendent bond with her mother; and her creative process ("all of her books would be written by her sketching the words on a notepad while flopped on her bed, with editors often on the premises"). Along the way, Weller shares snippets of her interviews with Fisher's friends, including Richard Dreyfuss and Salman Rushdie, who lament Fisher's passing, and praises Fisher for her bold tongue, adding: "She died just before her brand of raunchily self-styled feminism, a candor she possessed all her life, swept over her town, her industry, America." Weller insightfully illuminates the life of a powerful performer and wordsmith who was unafraid to share her struggles with the world. (NOV.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge." Publishers Weekly, 29 July 2019, p. 68+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A595916211/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f1ab296e. Accessed 7 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A595916211