You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir
Ratings7
Average rating3.3
15
Ratings7
Average rating3.3
A National Bestseller
Have you ever wondered what it would be like talk to Parker Posey? On an airplane, with Parker as your seat companion, perhaps? Parker’s irreverent, hilarious, and enchanting memoir gives you the opportunity. Full of personal stories, whimsical how-tos, recipes, and beautiful handmade collages created by the author herself, You’re On an Airplane is a delight in every way.
In her first book, actress and star of movies such as Dazed and Confused, Party Girl, You’ve Got Mail, The House of Yes, and so many more, Posey opens up about the art of acting, life on the set, and the realities of its accompanying fame. A funny and colorful southern childhood prepared Posey for a life of creating and entertaining, which not only extends to acting but to the craft of pottery, sewing, collage, yoga, and cooking, all of which readers will find in this whimsical, hilarious, always entertaining book. Parker takes us into her childhood home, behind the scenes of the indie film revolution in the 90s, the delightful absurdity of the big-budget genre thrillers she’s turned into art in a whole new way, and the creativity that will always be part of both her acting and her personal life.
With Posey’s memorable, hilarious, and poignant voice, her book gives the reader a feeling of traveling through not only a memoir, but an exploration, meditation, and celebration of what it means to be an artist. Buckle up and enjoy the journey.
source: https://www.booksontape.com/book/557538/youre-on-an-airplane/
Reviews with the most likes.
Fairly interesting memoir, with nothing chronological about it. After reading some other reviews, I wish I had listened to the audio version–seems like it was more entertaining. Without sound effects, I kept forgetting we were supposed to be on an airplane. Also, weird to read about Woody Allen and Louis C.K. Just weird.
This memoir is certainly as weird as she is. She starts with the conceit that you're sitting on an airplane next to her hearing her story, but then only sticks to that for a little while. I enjoy her voice so I liked listening to the audio, but she added in lots of sound effects to go along with the conceit that were distracting. The book itself has great 90's zine style pictures, but overall she didn't edit this in any narrative way, despite having 3-4 editors thanked, so it veers everywhere and includes recipes and other ephemera. She also calls it self-mythologizing, which is true in that she doesn't analyze her choices or relationships, and tells stories about Louis C.K., Woody Alan, & Ryan Adams with no critical analysis, in fact directly stating that Woody and Soon-Yi are great together....so that's all pretty gross. She also comes across as pretty unlikable - rude to service workers, non-apologetic about accidents she caused, both using and then complaining about her fame - and whether that was intentional or not, or just part of the self-mythologizing, is anyone's guess.
Great idea for a memoir. Perfectly attuned with Poseys natural sensibilities.
First of all my Parker Posey fan status is: moderate, and I think you might need to be fan status: super and/or actually related to her to really click with this. Her schtick is that she's sitting next to you on an airplane and just chatting about her life, which facilitates a really casual tone...perhaps too casual, and too prone to assuming I want to know all the details about her home renovations and various yoga studios (this book is seriously like full-on, Yelp reviews for every yoga studio/pottery studio/vegetarian restaurant/co-op/etc she's ever belonged to??).
It's also interesting to me that this book came out in 2018 and she talks about working with Louis CK and Woody Allen in ONLY the most GLOWING terms?? Like including, uncomfortably, mentioning that Woody and Soon-yi seemed to be made for each other??? like girl ok I'm glad you had a good experience working with those men I guess but also uhhhhh
The book is also full of like...weird...collage-style photos of herself?
IDK it was a quick read and had some good celeb gossip but overall.........?
