Shockaholic

October 10, 2011
In this funny and sad memoir, Fisher (Wishful Drinking) tackles her difficult decision to pursue ongoing electroshock therapy, an unpopular medical alternative which she lauds as a last-ditch effort to alleviate the pain of living her particular life: "I was in pain squared, pain cubed, pain to the nth power." Writing with tremendous wit, ample self-deprecation, and a thinly veiled and deep-seated anguish, she shares stories about a riveting dinner with Senators Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy, and her friendship with Michael Jackson, among others. Fisher confides that she's become someone who "could be counted on to be amusing" at various public functions, frequently including "references to my infamous family." Fisher's father Eddie, whom she barely saw until she was 20, supplied her with drugs. Later, she nursed her father during his illnesses, which she writes about in the latter half of the book in a number of moving reflections.