Upper Cut
Publication Date: September 20, 2011
400 Pages
Until I read Carrie White's new book, Upper Cut, I had no idea that being a Hairdresser could be so stinking fascinating.
I had never heard of Carrie White until I read this book. She grew up in California with an alcoholic mother. Be forewarned, the book starts off by launching into Carrie's sexual abuse by her stepfather. It is a bit hard to take, but it is necessary to understand Carrie's childhood. It is only about the first fifteen pages or so, so don't let it keep you from reading this book. Carrie moved around a bit as a teen, but enjoyed her high school years because of sororities, parties, and boys. After high school she realized that she should have focused a little more on school and a little less on parties. She did what a lot of women did during those times did, she went to Cosmetology School.
Carrie soon became the darling hairdresser to the stars. Every name you could possibly think of is in this book from Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate to (every book lover's star) Michael Crichton. With Hollywood success comes great risk. The champagne and cocaine flow freely. And even though Carrie has five kids by the age of twenty-eight, she is in danger of losing all of them because of her habits. She falls in love with a Princess, only referred to as D, and soon the only thing Carrie cares about is how they are going to get to their dealer and pay for their next score. In graphic detail Carrie is brutally honest with herself and the reader as she talks about this dark time in her life. She knows what she is doing is wrong. She knows how the drugs impact her children's lives, but she can not live without the drugs and she can not live without D.
Upper Cut is one of those memoirs that you just can NOT put down. Once Carrie is out of high school and the A-List celebrities start showing up on the pages, you just can not stop reading. We know what Carrie is doing is wrong, but she is such an empathetic character that you just HAVE to finish reading because you just HAVE to see how it turns out. I mean anyone who goes knocking on *THE* Ann-Margaret's door asking to borrow money for drugs most certainly has a tale to tell. Upper Cut is a well written memoir that could easily rival the most decadent of rock-star's memoirs. If you love the type of juicy memoir that drops names of the rich and famous, I strongly urge you to run right out and pick up Upper Cut.
Hi.
This review is great (and true)! I actually had the pleasure of working with her on this book, as coach and editor, for a few years. And it's a fantastic book. Carrie will get a kick out of this when she sees it.
There was a big event here in Los Angeles to kick off the book release (in the legendary Book Soup on the Sunset Strip, where so much of the book takes place) and it was a packed house, books sold out.
She's really a one of a kind person, hairdresser, and writer. I'm going to make her come on here and leave you a comment.
From a fellow fan of Upper Cut
Chiwan
I have ben reading the book "Upper Cut" and found it fascinating. However, in the book, Carrie describes her Princess as K. Who is K?
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