What do you think?
Rate this book
You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir
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 incredible 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 audiobook, 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 listeners will find in this whimsical, hilarious, always entertaining audiobook.
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 audiobook gives the listener 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.
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 audiobook, 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 listeners will find in this whimsical, hilarious, always entertaining audiobook.
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 audiobook gives the listener 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.
8 pages, Audible Audio
First published July 24, 2018
449 people are currently reading
5,338 people want to read
About the author
Parker Posey
8听books47听followersParker Posey is well known for her work with many independent filmmakers of her generation, including Richard Linklater, Hal Hartley, Zoe Cassavettes, and Rebecca Miller. Following her breakout role in the cult hit Dazed and Confused, she starred in Christopher Guest鈥檚 classic mockumentaries and appeared in such Hollywood films as You鈥檝e Got Mail, Superman Returns, Josie and the Pussycats, Scream 3, and Blade Trinity. Posey currently plays Dr. Smith in Netflix鈥檚 remake of Lost in Space.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 797 reviews
August 8, 2018
Oh, Parker Posey. How I loved you. This was so badly written, it seemed like she wrote random interesting sentences or paragraphs on napkins, flung them in the air, and had someone else type them into a book. There was ZERO order to the memoir - not by chronology, theme, nothing. I was 250 pages in before she starting talking about the Christopher Guest movies. Worst of all, I like her less after reading this because in a lot of her anecdotes, she comes off as kind of a jerk - reminding people in her pottery club "But I'm famous," or asking waitstaff why french toast isn't available at their fancy brunch, or giving a flight attendant a hard time about her dog. The only reason I kept reading were the pictures throughout - now those were delightful.
August 10, 2018
You know that old saying, 鈥淣ever meet your heroes.鈥�? 鈥楴uf said.
October 16, 2018
Parker Posey was not gifted with an over-abundance of self-awareness, which makes for a very odd memoir. Early on I wondered if she didn't have any friends who were willing to let her know that many of these stories do not portray her in any sort of flattering light. Then I wondered if maybe her editor hated her - she credits no fewer than 4 people for editing, so maybe.
What I learned from this book is that she's rude to service workers, whether they're flight attendants or restaurant workers, but convinced that she is the aggrieved party and they are just trying to make her life difficult ("In retrospect, I can see that in his head he made me the bully and used me as an opportunity to finally berate someone." This because a flight attendant had the nerve to remind her that her dog needed to stay in its carrier during a flight.) She's passive-aggressive and obnoxious, but that's just because she's being funny and you don't get her humor. She takes no responsibility for bad behavior. She floods her landlord's apartment, causing damage but "The next day I called my dad to tell him the whole story, and we laughed hard about it."
There are chapters about working with both Louis CK and Woody Allen, but she never addresses the controversy about the first and as to the allegations around the second all she really has to say is, "I wonder if it will be staged as an opera in fifty years. To each his own."
The conceit of this memoir is that you're sitting next to Parker on a plane and she is regaling you with her stories. Which now sounds like a level of hell I hadn't previously known existed.
What I learned from this book is that she's rude to service workers, whether they're flight attendants or restaurant workers, but convinced that she is the aggrieved party and they are just trying to make her life difficult ("In retrospect, I can see that in his head he made me the bully and used me as an opportunity to finally berate someone." This because a flight attendant had the nerve to remind her that her dog needed to stay in its carrier during a flight.) She's passive-aggressive and obnoxious, but that's just because she's being funny and you don't get her humor. She takes no responsibility for bad behavior. She floods her landlord's apartment, causing damage but "The next day I called my dad to tell him the whole story, and we laughed hard about it."
There are chapters about working with both Louis CK and Woody Allen, but she never addresses the controversy about the first and as to the allegations around the second all she really has to say is, "I wonder if it will be staged as an opera in fifty years. To each his own."
The conceit of this memoir is that you're sitting next to Parker on a plane and she is regaling you with her stories. Which now sounds like a level of hell I hadn't previously known existed.
December 23, 2022
The Year of Women--in which I'm devoting 2021 to reading female authors only--continues with Parker Posey and You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir. Published in 2018, this book is predominantly for those familiar with the actor's scene stealing romps in films like Dazed and Confused or Best In Show, or her four-episode arc in Season 3 of Louie playing a听bookstore听clerk who succumbs to cancer. Words on a page simply can't do her unique performances across three decades justice, but fans should savor this dryly manic peek into the life of one of the most prolific actors of her generation.
-- So, my name: When mom was eleven, she was a Girl Scout, and her friend's older sister had a daughter named Parker. Back then my mom thought to herself, "If I ever have a little girl I will give her a strong name like Parker." Her own name was Lynda, spelled with a "Y," and she always hated it. "The obligatory Y," my mom called it. Why, Y, why? So when the doctor asked for a name, my mom said Parker for my first name and Christian for my middle name, because they wanted the help of Jesus and of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Posey was from my father, obviously. My mother says she thought the name Posey was silly, and it really is. I know, my name sounds made up.
-- Anyway, the focus and energy to shoot in film, which is costly material and not disposable, made the work happen differently. Everyone whirled around like dervishes. Actors hit their marks, made their cues, and knew their lines--there wasn't time to spare. No dillydallying by the crew but horses at the gate, reflexes on, moving large equipment like C-stands and ladders and sandbags to blast off the shot as quickly as possible. "Time is money!" was shouted all day long. Sometimes, I'd sing back, "GE, we bring good things to life." "GE" is short for the grips and electrical department--the ones doing the heavy lifting and loading of the lighting and electrical equipment.
-- I was skeptical about Blade: Trinity but when I got my fangs, I got more into it. I put them on and ordered a sandwich at the deli and walked the sidewalks in the East Village, doing errands and acting natural--just another reason to love New York. I got on the phone with the wardrobe designer and shared all these ideas about what a thousand-year-old vampire would wear: talismans of various skulls of the people and animals she'd sucked the life out of, multinational monk garb, crucifixes, grunge Elizabethan, a monkey's head on some monk beads that she'd swing around like Bette Davis. I wanted to be a dirty and chic cavewoman with hair extensions that varied in length and texture--for my vampire to be moody and nihilistic, yet romantic and emotional. I went to set only to have all this nixed, and I ended up as a corporate vampire. I wore designer clothes and dyed my eyebrows blond, wore blue contacts, and sported mainly a tight all-business ponytail. It was actually enough of a change to get me going.
-- As I stood there in Mountain Pose, more memories and repressed feelings came up. The biggest thing, probably, was that I recognized myself--or my life. I stood there in prayer, with hands at my heart center, and just felt my life up to that point. I saw the speed of my life and all this running. How I'd grab on to parts and my work as if it were real, as if it were something I could hold on to. I just wanted to be distracted and absorbed at the same time and have it be about something or someone else. I was reaching outside myself, mostly. It's so weird because really I want to disappear and acting allows for that, but at the same time you can see me on the screen of this airplane. Anyway, I started to realize stuff.
-- Best In Show is a movie everyone loves. No one's ever said they didn't like it, and if they did I would run away from that person. I'm always shocked when I hear, "The person you played is my sister!" or "She's just like my wife!" I mean, that's nuts! The woman I played screamed at her husband at airports, was maniacally entitled and demanding, and threw fits and yelled at hotel managers and pet store owners. I guess we all get to that point sometimes, though? I have, obviously.
Probably the best compliment I ever received was in the parking lot of a Lowe's hardware store in upstate New York. This man had his five-year-old son with him, and he said, pointing at me, "This is the crazy dog lady from Best In Show, and the little kid started laughing. I mean, done. Nothing makes me happier than a five-year-old boy laughing at a grown woman acting like a five-year-old. It's an honor to be a part of this group and to have made so many people laugh.
Parker Posey has never married or had biological children (many illustrated photos of her 14-year-old bichon frise/ poodle/ Maltese dog Gracie are included), so You're on an Airplane is devoted entirely to Posey's larger than life childhood, her idiosyncratic career and the spaces that fall in between when she's just her own person, for better or for worse. She recounts being "famous" and having to admit to her director Nora Ephron that she had $1.75 in her checking account. She admits that she's been wrong for roles she's wanted but been rejected for (the female lead in Speed that made Sandra Bullock a star is cited).
I was encouraged to read how Posey grew up without connections to show business in rural Louisiana and Mississippi, so discouraged in her hometowns that she didn't want to go outside. She doesn't offer much acting or career advice, but in writing about her journey, does illustrate why she's been so successful. It says something about her uniqueness that so many directors from Richard Linklater to Christopher Guest to Nora Ephron to Woody Allen cast her over and over again. Her whole energy and style reminds me of a character on her way to visit Pee-wee's Playhouse and her book is a lot of fun in that spirit.
Parker Posey was born in 1968 in Baltimore but grew up in Monroe, Louisiana and Laurel, Mississippi. Her father was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as a captain liaison officer in Vietnam. Coming home, he ultimately opened a Chevy dealership. Her mother became a junior high school teacher. After studying ballet as a teenager, Posey attended State University of New York at Purchase to study drama, where she spent three years on academic probation due to her tendency to skip听rehearsals. Her senior year, an agent landed her a recurring role on the soap opera As the World Turns playing a troublesome teenager.听
Posey's film work led to the thankless honorary "Queen of the Indies" during the 1990s in low budget movies like Dazed and Confused, Party Girl, The House of Yes, The Daytrippers and Clockwatchers. She was chosen to join Christopher Guest's repertory company with roles in all of his mockumentaries, including Best In Show. She also appeared in You've Got Mail, Josie and the Pussycats, Scream 3, Blade: Trinity and Superman Returns. She recently played Dr. Smith in Netflix's reboot of Lost In Space. Posey currently lives in New York City, where she's resided most of her life.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
-- Don't Look Now and Other Stories, Daphne du Maurier
-- You May See a Stranger: Stories, Paula Whyman
-- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw
-- White Teeth, Zadie Smith
-- Eva Luna, Isabel Allende
-- Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion听 听
-- Eve's Hollywood, Eve Babitz
-- So, my name: When mom was eleven, she was a Girl Scout, and her friend's older sister had a daughter named Parker. Back then my mom thought to herself, "If I ever have a little girl I will give her a strong name like Parker." Her own name was Lynda, spelled with a "Y," and she always hated it. "The obligatory Y," my mom called it. Why, Y, why? So when the doctor asked for a name, my mom said Parker for my first name and Christian for my middle name, because they wanted the help of Jesus and of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Posey was from my father, obviously. My mother says she thought the name Posey was silly, and it really is. I know, my name sounds made up.
-- Anyway, the focus and energy to shoot in film, which is costly material and not disposable, made the work happen differently. Everyone whirled around like dervishes. Actors hit their marks, made their cues, and knew their lines--there wasn't time to spare. No dillydallying by the crew but horses at the gate, reflexes on, moving large equipment like C-stands and ladders and sandbags to blast off the shot as quickly as possible. "Time is money!" was shouted all day long. Sometimes, I'd sing back, "GE, we bring good things to life." "GE" is short for the grips and electrical department--the ones doing the heavy lifting and loading of the lighting and electrical equipment.
-- I was skeptical about Blade: Trinity but when I got my fangs, I got more into it. I put them on and ordered a sandwich at the deli and walked the sidewalks in the East Village, doing errands and acting natural--just another reason to love New York. I got on the phone with the wardrobe designer and shared all these ideas about what a thousand-year-old vampire would wear: talismans of various skulls of the people and animals she'd sucked the life out of, multinational monk garb, crucifixes, grunge Elizabethan, a monkey's head on some monk beads that she'd swing around like Bette Davis. I wanted to be a dirty and chic cavewoman with hair extensions that varied in length and texture--for my vampire to be moody and nihilistic, yet romantic and emotional. I went to set only to have all this nixed, and I ended up as a corporate vampire. I wore designer clothes and dyed my eyebrows blond, wore blue contacts, and sported mainly a tight all-business ponytail. It was actually enough of a change to get me going.
-- As I stood there in Mountain Pose, more memories and repressed feelings came up. The biggest thing, probably, was that I recognized myself--or my life. I stood there in prayer, with hands at my heart center, and just felt my life up to that point. I saw the speed of my life and all this running. How I'd grab on to parts and my work as if it were real, as if it were something I could hold on to. I just wanted to be distracted and absorbed at the same time and have it be about something or someone else. I was reaching outside myself, mostly. It's so weird because really I want to disappear and acting allows for that, but at the same time you can see me on the screen of this airplane. Anyway, I started to realize stuff.
-- Best In Show is a movie everyone loves. No one's ever said they didn't like it, and if they did I would run away from that person. I'm always shocked when I hear, "The person you played is my sister!" or "She's just like my wife!" I mean, that's nuts! The woman I played screamed at her husband at airports, was maniacally entitled and demanding, and threw fits and yelled at hotel managers and pet store owners. I guess we all get to that point sometimes, though? I have, obviously.
Probably the best compliment I ever received was in the parking lot of a Lowe's hardware store in upstate New York. This man had his five-year-old son with him, and he said, pointing at me, "This is the crazy dog lady from Best In Show, and the little kid started laughing. I mean, done. Nothing makes me happier than a five-year-old boy laughing at a grown woman acting like a five-year-old. It's an honor to be a part of this group and to have made so many people laugh.
Parker Posey has never married or had biological children (many illustrated photos of her 14-year-old bichon frise/ poodle/ Maltese dog Gracie are included), so You're on an Airplane is devoted entirely to Posey's larger than life childhood, her idiosyncratic career and the spaces that fall in between when she's just her own person, for better or for worse. She recounts being "famous" and having to admit to her director Nora Ephron that she had $1.75 in her checking account. She admits that she's been wrong for roles she's wanted but been rejected for (the female lead in Speed that made Sandra Bullock a star is cited).
I was encouraged to read how Posey grew up without connections to show business in rural Louisiana and Mississippi, so discouraged in her hometowns that she didn't want to go outside. She doesn't offer much acting or career advice, but in writing about her journey, does illustrate why she's been so successful. It says something about her uniqueness that so many directors from Richard Linklater to Christopher Guest to Nora Ephron to Woody Allen cast her over and over again. Her whole energy and style reminds me of a character on her way to visit Pee-wee's Playhouse and her book is a lot of fun in that spirit.
Parker Posey was born in 1968 in Baltimore but grew up in Monroe, Louisiana and Laurel, Mississippi. Her father was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as a captain liaison officer in Vietnam. Coming home, he ultimately opened a Chevy dealership. Her mother became a junior high school teacher. After studying ballet as a teenager, Posey attended State University of New York at Purchase to study drama, where she spent three years on academic probation due to her tendency to skip听rehearsals. Her senior year, an agent landed her a recurring role on the soap opera As the World Turns playing a troublesome teenager.听
Posey's film work led to the thankless honorary "Queen of the Indies" during the 1990s in low budget movies like Dazed and Confused, Party Girl, The House of Yes, The Daytrippers and Clockwatchers. She was chosen to join Christopher Guest's repertory company with roles in all of his mockumentaries, including Best In Show. She also appeared in You've Got Mail, Josie and the Pussycats, Scream 3, Blade: Trinity and Superman Returns. She recently played Dr. Smith in Netflix's reboot of Lost In Space. Posey currently lives in New York City, where she's resided most of her life.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
-- Don't Look Now and Other Stories, Daphne du Maurier
-- You May See a Stranger: Stories, Paula Whyman
-- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw
-- White Teeth, Zadie Smith
-- Eva Luna, Isabel Allende
-- Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion听 听
-- Eve's Hollywood, Eve Babitz
Read
September 5, 2018Too much sucking up to Woody Allen and Louis C.K., not enough about Josie and the Pussycats.
April 24, 2022
You're on an Airplane is quirky and a little bit annoying, much like Parker Posey herself鈥攁nd I say this as a fan! Parker's quirkiness and annoyingness are part of her charm. Having said that, there are many good things about this memoir. The tales of her upbringing in the South by very young parents have that... whole Southern thing going for them, for lack of a better word鈥攔eminding me a bit of Mary Karr's Southern thing, for example. Of course, her tales of working on Dazed and Confused and other indie films are engrossing, and her chapter about working on Louie successfully paints a portrait of Louis CK's good qualities and his dark side (I'm sure other readers will disagree with me on that, but I liked the way it was handled). As for her chapter on working with Woody Allen, it was interesting but I can only assume it was written before Dylan Farrow's accusations became public.
I've started listening to audiobooks very recently, and this was a good choice for that format. The entire conceit of the book is that you, the reader, are sitting next to Parker on a plane and she's regaling you with her life stories, and it really did feel like that at times. Parker also has a great voice for this sort of thing, warm and confiding and a little bit sultry. When she included a chapter I wasn't interested in, like an experimental riff on Vancouver caf茅 society (at least I think that's what it was about) or what seems like her entire yoga routine explained, I felt OK about zoning out a bit (which is odd because if I'd been reading it in physical form I would've felt compelled to pay attention rather than skim it). I guess at those times the lulling sound of Parker's voice was enough.
Another thing I loved about this book was Parker's refusal to explain her life choices. In these sorts of celebrity memoirs, women often seem to feel that they have to talk a lot about their relationships (romantic or otherwise) and how they ended, why they chose the work they chose, why they married or didn't, had kids or didn't, etc., etc. We don't really have to do all this explaining, and I think as a gender we'd be better off if we didn't. I appreciated the fact that Parker seems to agree with me on this point. It actually opened the door for a lot more nuance in every story she told, the fact that she didn't feel like she had to sum everything up with a neat conclusion.
There are a lot of negative reviews for this book. Some of them complain Parker is unlikable, to which I say "Who cares?" Some of them call it poorly written. I don't think it is, but again, this is where the audiobook came in handy. Whether or not this is a good book, for me it was definitely a good listen.
I've started listening to audiobooks very recently, and this was a good choice for that format. The entire conceit of the book is that you, the reader, are sitting next to Parker on a plane and she's regaling you with her life stories, and it really did feel like that at times. Parker also has a great voice for this sort of thing, warm and confiding and a little bit sultry. When she included a chapter I wasn't interested in, like an experimental riff on Vancouver caf茅 society (at least I think that's what it was about) or what seems like her entire yoga routine explained, I felt OK about zoning out a bit (which is odd because if I'd been reading it in physical form I would've felt compelled to pay attention rather than skim it). I guess at those times the lulling sound of Parker's voice was enough.
Another thing I loved about this book was Parker's refusal to explain her life choices. In these sorts of celebrity memoirs, women often seem to feel that they have to talk a lot about their relationships (romantic or otherwise) and how they ended, why they chose the work they chose, why they married or didn't, had kids or didn't, etc., etc. We don't really have to do all this explaining, and I think as a gender we'd be better off if we didn't. I appreciated the fact that Parker seems to agree with me on this point. It actually opened the door for a lot more nuance in every story she told, the fact that she didn't feel like she had to sum everything up with a neat conclusion.
There are a lot of negative reviews for this book. Some of them complain Parker is unlikable, to which I say "Who cares?" Some of them call it poorly written. I don't think it is, but again, this is where the audiobook came in handy. Whether or not this is a good book, for me it was definitely a good listen.
June 30, 2018
My book is called You're on an Airplane. It's a memoir pronounced with the emphasis on 鈥渕e鈥�. Think of it like an actor who was cornered into writing.
The opening premise of is that you're sitting beside Parker Posey on a flight, and with such close proximity and time to waste, she begins to tell you about her life and her career as an indy actor. The premise is embraced in the beginning 鈥� with Posey interrupting her storytelling to ask the flight attendant for a seltzer or a warm cookie; to ask sporadic questions of yourself 鈥� but the concept eventually kind of fizzles out, with fewer and fewer references to the imaginary scenario as it goes along. (Which was fine so far as smooth storytelling goes, but it did make the conceit feel slightly pointless in the end.) A celebrity memoir is a strange animal 鈥� the author presumably wants to tell you about herself, but it's not like she owes you her soul 鈥� and while I learned plenty about Parker Posey's childhood, hobbies, and celebrity encounters, there's nothing deeply revelatory or shocking here (and again, she doesn't owe me that anyway.) Usual caveat: I read an ARC and quotes may not be in their final forms.
I was on As the World Turns at the time, fresh from dropping out of college after three years on probation, mainly for a bad attitude because I didn't want to rehearse scenes in acting class, preferring instead to wing it. I had a lazy attitude for things I didn't feel were important, like circus class. I didn't have the guts to be a real clown and already knew how to juggle. I skipped class to clown around and kept my probation letters in the freezer, for some reason 鈥� an act of self-preservation, maybe.
Posey reveals an interesting family tree; with big personalities going back a few generations and her own parents seeming like cool but odd ducks (I loved the newborn picture of Posey wearing false eyelashes: 鈥淵ou were so small I didn't know what to do with you鈥�, explained her Mom). But there's really nothing about how Posey broke into acting 鈥� all of sudden she's on a popular soap opera while also filming Dazed and Confused. From there, Posey recalls film projects out of any chronological order, and while from her stories you understand that she approaches acting as a serious art form 鈥� filming scenes often leave her exhausted, hysterical, or in tears 鈥� there's nothing about her processes or personal philosophy of her craft.
Auditioning feels like my real self has been punished and sent to my room, while my pretend self is forced to make nice when there is nothing I've done wrong. At an audition in my twenties I spazzed out so much that the casting director asked my agent if I was on drugs. I wasn't, but just had lots of energy and was excited to be there.
Posey writes about her more famous costars over the years, but it's not gossipy (the few times she has something slightly negative to say about someone, she doesn't name the person). She found Wesley Snipes to be distant, Vince Vaughn to be sweetly supportive; Liza Minnelli and Catherine O'Hara to be funny and wise; Louis CK is a complicated auteur and Woody Allen is the 鈥済reatest living director鈥�. On meeting Liev Schreiber:
Liev came in fresh off his motorcycle, holding his helmet and exuding a strong actor's attitude. He acted like he'd just finished Yale School of Drama, which he had. This was before The New York Times said he was the greatest living theater actor of his generation, or something to that extent. He was the envy of so many of his contemporaries and treated the small part as a favor to Daisy, which it was. Liev is spectacular onstage. He later told me that he almost didn't do the part in Party Girl because I seemed like an idiot.
In addition to interesting enough storytelling, the book itself contains pages of collage, recipes, and both a very long description of a sequence of yoga moves and a very long explanation of how to throw clay on a pottery wheel. With stories of meeting with a dog psychic to discuss her emotional service animal (and beloved pet, Gracie), investigating Ayurvedic medicine (as it relates to the nature of your own body in conflict with the nature of the settings it finds itself in), and meeting with an analyst who explains the mental stress of Posey exposing herself onscreen as an unconscious reenactment of having been put on display in an incubator as a premature infant, there's a real risk of Posey coming off as a bit flakey. But then I read a review in which goes:
In her book, the actress finds her own ways to provoke. At one point, she refers to her past lives in India. Asked about it, she said she enjoys toying with the image that people have of her.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like I鈥檓 playing with being the person people expect,鈥� Ms. Posey said, 鈥減erforming that on paper.鈥�
If that's Posey's game, it's not obvious; but okay 鈥� she's the artist here. You don't get the sense that Posey is living the fabulous celebrity lifestyle of fame and fortune, and it's also hard to say from this memoir if what she has is worth the tradeoff of not being able to live a normal, anonymous life. There's a late scene at the co-op pottery studio she's a member of 鈥� a place that expects its members to share the chores or pay a $15/month fee 鈥� and another woman tells her that by paying the fee, it makes it seem to the other members that Posey must think she's special. Posey explains that she is special; she's famous; she can't go to the grocery store without being recognised by someone. And this scene seems like the crux of the book: It's hard to feel sorry, exactly, for a middle aged actress who still has the cachet to only work on projects that personally appeal to her, but what cost does she pay for this career? On the one hand, why would she want to spend her limited down time mopping a pottery studio? But on the other hand, it makes her seem totally out of touch 鈥� this is not a 鈥渘ormal鈥� life, and that must be hard.
People say such weird things to you when you're famous 鈥� like a cardboard cutout version of yourself wearing a mirrored mask.
Ultimately, we don't learn anything deeply personal about Posey in this memoir (not that she owes the reader that) and this isn't your typical 鈥淗ow I broke into show business鈥� (a la Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mindy Kalin) celebrity origin story. You're on an Airplane contains the story of a life, but it does feel crafted and curated; but what else would you expect an artist to create? This may be of more interest to someone who watches more indy movies than I do, but I wasn't unhappy to have joined Posey on this flight.
August 4, 2022
I used to be diligent about writing reviews but life gets in the way more often than not. Parker Posey has always been a spirit animal of mine. From her indie queen reign to her current honest and delightful memoir. She embraces an eccentric lifestyle without the trappings of an actress aging. The stories tucked in these pages are full of her spirit and her voice. She is unapologetic in who she is and delights in the everyday occurrences mixed in with memories and nostalgia. At one point I had to slow down because I didn鈥檛 want to ever finish listening to her tales and musings. I shed a tear when I turned the last page. I will definitely be reading again when I need to be in her world which in many ways mimics mine (minus the acting of course!) and continue praying that one day her and I will be dear friends.
August 4, 2022 update: STILL love Parker forever. Felt even more kindred maybe because it鈥檚 been almost 4 years exactly when I first read it and now we are both in our 50鈥檚. I wish I had female friends like her. Or that we were friends. Both single. No kids. Just on different coasts with dramatically different lives but both still child like and eccentric. Bless your heart Parker!
August 4, 2022 update: STILL love Parker forever. Felt even more kindred maybe because it鈥檚 been almost 4 years exactly when I first read it and now we are both in our 50鈥檚. I wish I had female friends like her. Or that we were friends. Both single. No kids. Just on different coasts with dramatically different lives but both still child like and eccentric. Bless your heart Parker!
September 6, 2018
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.........?
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.........?
August 18, 2018
3.5 stars would be more like it. Enjoyably larky, with an especially artful and funny opening. But at a certain point, the lack of organization gets the better of her; like many celeb memoirs, the back half of the book suffers. I liked her stories about growing up in Louisiana (who knew?) and her fondness for her parents and elders. There鈥檚 plenty here about her childhood, but apparently she was never a teenager. She goes from 10 to 24. (To me, she鈥檒l always be the mean girl from the class of 鈥�77 in 鈥淒azed and Confused.鈥�) Anyhow, some good LOLs here. I was less enamored when she goes off on spiritual/mystical tangents.
August 30, 2018
It should be no surprise that Parker Posey comes off as a somewhat eccentric character in her book: You鈥檙e on an Airplane. While not necessarily certifiable (she is not Howard Hughes hiding Mason jars overflowing with her urine in the basement), Posey is revealed instead to be more on the Aunt Jenny end of the spectrum. Aunt Jenny was the crazy distant relative on the Brady Bunch that Jan was worried she was going to become because of their similar appearance as young girls.
Many people up on their pop culture should know Posey from her acting roles in independent movies. I feel most would recognize Posey for her searing and unconventional portrayal of 鈥淪tephanie鈥� from 1993鈥檚 Coneheads movie, her tender performance as 鈥淩ollerblader鈥� in the motion picture Mixed Nuts, and her multifaceted depiction of troubled teen Tess Shelby on daytime serial As the World Turns.
You鈥檙e on an Airplane is written as if the reader is seated next to Posey on a fixed wing aircraft. The kind of powered flying apparatus those annoying Wright brothers from back in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina are always prattling on about. The tales range from Posey鈥檚 forays into unconventional yoga styles, to recipes of preferred dishes, to backstage stories of her cinematic experiences in Tinseltown. The text is dappled with black and white pictures of Posey in odd poses and postures. This art layout resembles the cut and pasting of those self-published zines so popular in the 鈥�90鈥檚 鈥� hot off the press of the nearest Kinko鈥檚 photocopier.
There is a lot of marginal information in the antidotes here, many Dad jokes, puns, and off the wall observations. But there are also many hidden gems. Posey conveys the sometimes difficult life of a not always in demand contract worker. There are moments when money gets tight and instances when it is hard for her (as an actress in her 40鈥檚) to find work. Life can be tough and people in this superficial industry can be mean. Posey is always gracious and kind when speaking of her fellow actors (which range from naked bongo-playing and deodorant adverse Matthew McConaughey to the suplexing wrestling lug Triple H). Interestingly, Posey has worked with the controversial Woody Allen and Louis C.K. but pretty much remains professional and gracious in her recollections of these experiences.
There is no doubt that Posey is a big goofball. But it is hard not to root for her. Goofballs are great, they make the world a happier, shiner place and this could be said for Posey as well.
Many people up on their pop culture should know Posey from her acting roles in independent movies. I feel most would recognize Posey for her searing and unconventional portrayal of 鈥淪tephanie鈥� from 1993鈥檚 Coneheads movie, her tender performance as 鈥淩ollerblader鈥� in the motion picture Mixed Nuts, and her multifaceted depiction of troubled teen Tess Shelby on daytime serial As the World Turns.
You鈥檙e on an Airplane is written as if the reader is seated next to Posey on a fixed wing aircraft. The kind of powered flying apparatus those annoying Wright brothers from back in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina are always prattling on about. The tales range from Posey鈥檚 forays into unconventional yoga styles, to recipes of preferred dishes, to backstage stories of her cinematic experiences in Tinseltown. The text is dappled with black and white pictures of Posey in odd poses and postures. This art layout resembles the cut and pasting of those self-published zines so popular in the 鈥�90鈥檚 鈥� hot off the press of the nearest Kinko鈥檚 photocopier.
There is a lot of marginal information in the antidotes here, many Dad jokes, puns, and off the wall observations. But there are also many hidden gems. Posey conveys the sometimes difficult life of a not always in demand contract worker. There are moments when money gets tight and instances when it is hard for her (as an actress in her 40鈥檚) to find work. Life can be tough and people in this superficial industry can be mean. Posey is always gracious and kind when speaking of her fellow actors (which range from naked bongo-playing and deodorant adverse Matthew McConaughey to the suplexing wrestling lug Triple H). Interestingly, Posey has worked with the controversial Woody Allen and Louis C.K. but pretty much remains professional and gracious in her recollections of these experiences.
There is no doubt that Posey is a big goofball. But it is hard not to root for her. Goofballs are great, they make the world a happier, shiner place and this could be said for Posey as well.
August 19, 2018
I've found Parker Posey's film roles to be weird and random (and usually brilliant), so I've always imagined her to be a weird and random individual.
Turns out I was right.
You're on an Airplane听is Posey's memoir, written as if she finds herself bored on a long flight and decides to spend her time telling stories about her life to the person seated next to her on the airplane.
The stories she chooses to share are told in no particular order, spanning childhood and near present day throughout the book. 听(I mention this first because it may be a bookish peeve for some readers who need chronological order or at least a theme.)
She tells us some stories of her childhood, with obvious love and adoration for her parents and her twin brother. 听These stories were my favorite because I could tell that the love and support of her family made her bold and confident in her abilities as an entertainer.
Posey never discusses how exactly she broke into show business or offers much insight into the industry itself; we go in with the understanding that she had a passion for acting that she followed doggedly. 听She shares brief stories of some of her most notable films and the actors/directors she's worked with. 听A favorite of mine was her reaction to meeting Matthew McConaughey on the set of Dazed and Confused: 听she called her agent to say he was going to be a huge star and they should represent him immediately, which the agent ignored (and Posey still pointedly reminds them about to this day).
She goes in to some detail on working with Woody Allen, whom she considers to be "the greatest living director", and the anxiety over preparing for her role in his film. 听
She seemed most open about her role on the Louis CK show Louie, discussing her obvious admiration of him and his work.
I love that she didn't use her memoir as a way to drop bombshell information or gossip. 听She doesn't speak negatively of anyone or give personal details about relationships as so many celebrities choose to do.
There are some curious tales of pet psychics and visits to a New Age type therapist that had me wondering if they were jokes thrown in to amp up her eccentricities.
Posey includes two incredibly detailed descriptions (each several pages long) of yoga poses and creating pottery. 听She obviously enjoys both yoga and pottery but I couldn't help but skip these sections because I wanted to read about her life, not get an in-depth lesson on her hobbies.
By the end of this odd memoir, I realized Posey has crafted a pretty interesting monologue (showcasing once again what a great actress she is), choosing to share some of her life with readers while making fun of and playing up the impression the public has of her based on her film roles. 听
I don't believe this book will work for everyone because the humor can be so subtle or just plain weird. 听I would've appreciated more about her life, especially her teen years which she seemed to skip over entirely, and more insight into her personal thoughts on the roles she's chosen.
I think this would've been even more enjoyable if I'd listened to the audiobook (which is narrated by Posey herself) because I felt by the end of the book that she'd created this as an actor's monologue.
Flaky celebrity memoir or the personal monologue of an intelligent comedic actress? 听Readers seem divided. 听
I feel slightly disappointed that there wasn't more insight into her early years, but I still had fun on this flight with the eccentric Ms. Posey.
For more full reviews, visit
Turns out I was right.
You're on an Airplane听is Posey's memoir, written as if she finds herself bored on a long flight and decides to spend her time telling stories about her life to the person seated next to her on the airplane.
The stories she chooses to share are told in no particular order, spanning childhood and near present day throughout the book. 听(I mention this first because it may be a bookish peeve for some readers who need chronological order or at least a theme.)
She tells us some stories of her childhood, with obvious love and adoration for her parents and her twin brother. 听These stories were my favorite because I could tell that the love and support of her family made her bold and confident in her abilities as an entertainer.
Posey never discusses how exactly she broke into show business or offers much insight into the industry itself; we go in with the understanding that she had a passion for acting that she followed doggedly. 听She shares brief stories of some of her most notable films and the actors/directors she's worked with. 听A favorite of mine was her reaction to meeting Matthew McConaughey on the set of Dazed and Confused: 听she called her agent to say he was going to be a huge star and they should represent him immediately, which the agent ignored (and Posey still pointedly reminds them about to this day).
She goes in to some detail on working with Woody Allen, whom she considers to be "the greatest living director", and the anxiety over preparing for her role in his film. 听
She seemed most open about her role on the Louis CK show Louie, discussing her obvious admiration of him and his work.
I love that she didn't use her memoir as a way to drop bombshell information or gossip. 听She doesn't speak negatively of anyone or give personal details about relationships as so many celebrities choose to do.
There are some curious tales of pet psychics and visits to a New Age type therapist that had me wondering if they were jokes thrown in to amp up her eccentricities.
Posey includes two incredibly detailed descriptions (each several pages long) of yoga poses and creating pottery. 听She obviously enjoys both yoga and pottery but I couldn't help but skip these sections because I wanted to read about her life, not get an in-depth lesson on her hobbies.
By the end of this odd memoir, I realized Posey has crafted a pretty interesting monologue (showcasing once again what a great actress she is), choosing to share some of her life with readers while making fun of and playing up the impression the public has of her based on her film roles. 听
I don't believe this book will work for everyone because the humor can be so subtle or just plain weird. 听I would've appreciated more about her life, especially her teen years which she seemed to skip over entirely, and more insight into her personal thoughts on the roles she's chosen.
I think this would've been even more enjoyable if I'd listened to the audiobook (which is narrated by Posey herself) because I felt by the end of the book that she'd created this as an actor's monologue.
Flaky celebrity memoir or the personal monologue of an intelligent comedic actress? 听Readers seem divided. 听
I feel slightly disappointed that there wasn't more insight into her early years, but I still had fun on this flight with the eccentric Ms. Posey.
For more full reviews, visit
August 8, 2018
A memoir doesn't need to be entirely accurate to be truthful.
I can't decide if this memoir rings true or not, it's titled "self-mythologizing" which leads me to believe that it's probably not as truthful as it could be, but I can't believe anyone would pretend to be this person if given the opportunity to let the world believe that they were anyone else.
Parker Posey comes across as pretentious, condescending, and kind of boring in this memoir. If that is the type of person she has to be to provide us with the work she has in her acting career, I think it is worth it, but I wouldn't recommend reading this if you want to stay an unreserved fan of hers.
I can't decide if this memoir rings true or not, it's titled "self-mythologizing" which leads me to believe that it's probably not as truthful as it could be, but I can't believe anyone would pretend to be this person if given the opportunity to let the world believe that they were anyone else.
Parker Posey comes across as pretentious, condescending, and kind of boring in this memoir. If that is the type of person she has to be to provide us with the work she has in her acting career, I think it is worth it, but I wouldn't recommend reading this if you want to stay an unreserved fan of hers.
December 31, 2018
I love Parker Posey but just couldn't get into this book, despite my initial enthusiasm when it was released. I appreciate that she tried a novel approach: the entire book is written as if she's your seatmate on a flight. It feels like something that might work as an improv sketch, but as a book I found it clumsy. Guess I'll have to wait for a biography of her rather than her me-moir. As it stands, I abandoned this one after a mere two chapters.
August 1, 2018
There are few actors where I would watch a tv show or film just because they鈥檙e in it. Parker Posey is one of those actors. She鈥檚 not the most famous people out there, though she had a streak of indie films in the 90s. But Parker has been in some really great films (鈥淏est in Show,鈥� 鈥淛osie & The Pussycats.鈥�) Recently, she played Dr. Smith in 鈥淟ost in Space,鈥� an interesting take on a classic tv character. Her part in 鈥淐olumbus鈥� with John Cho was subtle and nuanced in a quiet film about relationships in the middle of Indiana. This isn鈥檛 a typical memoir. The premise is that you鈥檙e on a plane with Parker Posey listening to her talk. I recommend the audiobook for the full experience, complete with the sound effects of the plane engine, seat belt sign 鈥渄ing,鈥� and the serving of drinks. This memoir also has recipes, which I love. This book contains stories told topically, not chronologically, but touches on her big moments and explores her life outside of film. I think anyone could enjoy this book, but it鈥檚 a must read for fans. Follow her on Instagram for many photos and videos of her adorable dog, Gracie. 鈥� Audiobook 鈥� Nonfiction - Memoir 鈥� 猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍 鈥� Purchased on Audible.鈻笍
March 26, 2019
This quirky take on a memoir is precisely what one should expect from the 鈥淨ueen of the Indies.鈥� It鈥檚 written as a one-sided, stream-of-consciousness-esque conversation with the airplane passenger seated next to her. It鈥檚 not Posey鈥檚 life story, but rather, random stories from her life. It鈥檚 an off-beat, entertaining essay collection, so those looking for a typical memoir might be disappointed. I liked it!
I alternated between print and audio, liking the audio a bit better. The sporadic airplane noises added to the unusual atmosphere, plus Posey鈥檚 emphasis and timing was right on.
I alternated between print and audio, liking the audio a bit better. The sporadic airplane noises added to the unusual atmosphere, plus Posey鈥檚 emphasis and timing was right on.
July 27, 2018
I think her quirkiness shines through even more by listening to the audiobook. Don't think I would have enjoyed it as much without her personality coming through the speakers.
October 19, 2018
This book was pretty much exactly how I always imagined Parker would be. A lot of fun, extremely quirky and completely open and unapologetic. Very light, easy reading though not for everyone.
December 5, 2018
I had no idea this book was a thing until I was at my local library for the first time in forever, the weekend after Thanksgiving. There it was, in the new non-fiction area ready and waiting. Oh! I exclaimed. (I really did, too.)
So yes, I was/am a fan of Parker Posey going WAY back. Like, so far back you didn't even know who she was yet. Parker and I both attended SUNY Purchase for college and our time there overlapped by a year or two. I can tell you that she was always a character and that I always had positive encounters with her in school 鈥� no ego or pretension. I don't pretend that we were good friends, but we were acquainted enough that when we ran into each other at the campus mailroom we'd hug and compliment each other's hairdo or shoes or dress or whatever. I worked at the school library and remember her stopping by and telling me about home being Mississippi and having a twin brother. She was dynamic and cute and pretty much what you'd expect, I think. I have no pretensions that she would remember me even though we had a double date once 鈥� dinner at her boyfriend Tony's campus apartment (also the apartment of my date, John, whom I had a HUGE crush on but was gay) and then a trip down to the city to see a movie (it was black and white and vintage and I always want to say it was Carnival of Souls but I don't think that is right).
All this aside, how is the book? I'm glad you asked. It was a fast read and I kind of gobbled it up. My first impression was that it was a bunch of one-liners with a ba-dum-bump kind of feel, but cumulatively it ends up gelling into something that makes sense in a strange trip kind of way that I think works pretty well and feels like her. Think about it... a long conversation with someone about your life? It'd be a bunch of of disparate stories interspersed with non-sequiturs and random stuff like yoga and throwing pottery and recipes. Such is the airplane conversation.
I also really like the cut and paste collage illustrations throughout, which feels like the 90s (I was a full-on zinester and all about that style).
That is not to say it's a perfect book. I know people have issues with the Louis CK and Woody Allen chapters. I was a little surprised to see those written without any mention of the controversies associated with those men (well, touched on a bit with Allen).
I was also surprised that practically nothing was mentioned about her college years! Purchase was a very small school and a special place where the weird and eccentric and arty people were the norm. I'm not all like, "Oh those were my best years!" but I do appreciate that it was a place where I started really becoming who I am and had lots of interesting experiences with lots of interesting people. I would only assume Parker could say the same, but maybe not? She touches briefly on not actually graduating and hating circus arts class. Who knows? I have to admit, I was looking forward to reading about her perspective on that time and place and it just wasn't there, sadly. (I'm going to have to give a full account of the double date in my own memoir, I guess! LOL).
If you're a fan, you will probably enjoy it if you read with an open, goofy state of mind. Parker, if you happen to be reading this review, HELLO! You're still fabulous.
So yes, I was/am a fan of Parker Posey going WAY back. Like, so far back you didn't even know who she was yet. Parker and I both attended SUNY Purchase for college and our time there overlapped by a year or two. I can tell you that she was always a character and that I always had positive encounters with her in school 鈥� no ego or pretension. I don't pretend that we were good friends, but we were acquainted enough that when we ran into each other at the campus mailroom we'd hug and compliment each other's hairdo or shoes or dress or whatever. I worked at the school library and remember her stopping by and telling me about home being Mississippi and having a twin brother. She was dynamic and cute and pretty much what you'd expect, I think. I have no pretensions that she would remember me even though we had a double date once 鈥� dinner at her boyfriend Tony's campus apartment (also the apartment of my date, John, whom I had a HUGE crush on but was gay) and then a trip down to the city to see a movie (it was black and white and vintage and I always want to say it was Carnival of Souls but I don't think that is right).
All this aside, how is the book? I'm glad you asked. It was a fast read and I kind of gobbled it up. My first impression was that it was a bunch of one-liners with a ba-dum-bump kind of feel, but cumulatively it ends up gelling into something that makes sense in a strange trip kind of way that I think works pretty well and feels like her. Think about it... a long conversation with someone about your life? It'd be a bunch of of disparate stories interspersed with non-sequiturs and random stuff like yoga and throwing pottery and recipes. Such is the airplane conversation.
I also really like the cut and paste collage illustrations throughout, which feels like the 90s (I was a full-on zinester and all about that style).
That is not to say it's a perfect book. I know people have issues with the Louis CK and Woody Allen chapters. I was a little surprised to see those written without any mention of the controversies associated with those men (well, touched on a bit with Allen).
I was also surprised that practically nothing was mentioned about her college years! Purchase was a very small school and a special place where the weird and eccentric and arty people were the norm. I'm not all like, "Oh those were my best years!" but I do appreciate that it was a place where I started really becoming who I am and had lots of interesting experiences with lots of interesting people. I would only assume Parker could say the same, but maybe not? She touches briefly on not actually graduating and hating circus arts class. Who knows? I have to admit, I was looking forward to reading about her perspective on that time and place and it just wasn't there, sadly. (I'm going to have to give a full account of the double date in my own memoir, I guess! LOL).
If you're a fan, you will probably enjoy it if you read with an open, goofy state of mind. Parker, if you happen to be reading this review, HELLO! You're still fabulous.
October 12, 2018
I've always admired Parker Posey as a woman who managed to free herself from many of society's expectations and live by her own rules. The parts of this book I enjoyed were her stories that illustrated the difficulty of that life and how lonely, but also fun, it is to be an outsider.
Unfortunately, she dedicates 2 entire chapters to her experiences working with Louis CK and Woody Allen. She barely mentions their highly publicized accusations. Instead, she admires Allen's love for Soon Yi and even sympathetically cites his childhood as his reasons for his troubled choices as an adult! I found this deeply disappointing and inexcusable. It's disturbing to see someone who seems to march to the beat of her own drum blindly following and idolizing these sexual predators.
Unfortunately, she dedicates 2 entire chapters to her experiences working with Louis CK and Woody Allen. She barely mentions their highly publicized accusations. Instead, she admires Allen's love for Soon Yi and even sympathetically cites his childhood as his reasons for his troubled choices as an adult! I found this deeply disappointing and inexcusable. It's disturbing to see someone who seems to march to the beat of her own drum blindly following and idolizing these sexual predators.
August 13, 2018
She is a gem. Original style, fantastic storytelling, and just plain heartwarming. I loved it.
August 27, 2018
Oh, Parker Posey, you gem of an actress you. This is far from your usual celebrity memoir, Parker isn鈥檛 the kind to get bogged down in all the misery of life and complain about how hard it is to be a famous actress that鈥檚 loved the world over. No, Parker is far more lighthearted and funny in her approach to telling her life story.
Some of this book is completely ridiculous, the chapter which goes into extremely deep detail about the life of her dog is kind of pointless, as is the chapter about pottery, but at the same time I鈥檇 expect nothing less from a person like Parker. She even acknowledges how silly the pottery chapter is in the acknowledgements, it鈥檚 this kind of self-awareness that makes me love Parker so much.
There are nuggets of shade thrown at a few Hollywood types but it鈥檚 done in classic Parker Posey way, it鈥檚 not mean-spirited or in any way reputation destroying the way you see in so many other celeb bios, Parker is classy about it.
Parker will always be Party Girl to me. LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Some of this book is completely ridiculous, the chapter which goes into extremely deep detail about the life of her dog is kind of pointless, as is the chapter about pottery, but at the same time I鈥檇 expect nothing less from a person like Parker. She even acknowledges how silly the pottery chapter is in the acknowledgements, it鈥檚 this kind of self-awareness that makes me love Parker so much.
There are nuggets of shade thrown at a few Hollywood types but it鈥檚 done in classic Parker Posey way, it鈥檚 not mean-spirited or in any way reputation destroying the way you see in so many other celeb bios, Parker is classy about it.
Parker will always be Party Girl to me. LOVE LOVE LOVE!
April 4, 2021
This book is a lesson in reading the reviews before starting a book... the writing style is cute for the first few pages, then becomes like your drunk aunt at a family gathering. You keep hearing some vaguely interesting family gossip, then she goes off on a tangent. You stick around because you're really hoping she'll back around to it, but she never does. You only go home when the host starts doing those casual things to signal the party is over (turning off the lights, falling asleep on the couch). You leave feeling vaguely disappointed... you got some hints of gossip, but it never went anywhere.
If I am ever seated next to Parker Posey on a flight, I will put on headphones and pretend to sleep the entire time to avoid having to hear anything she has to say.
If I am ever seated next to Parker Posey on a flight, I will put on headphones and pretend to sleep the entire time to avoid having to hear anything she has to say.
August 15, 2018
I was so tempted to not finish listening to this but I thought at least it makes good background noise for driving and maybe there will be some interesting parts. It didn't and there weren't.
April 17, 2025
incredible! obviously her recent performance on White Lotus was amazing, but also been a big fan of hers for years, especially the indie work.
&, hell to the yes with the great jokes & puns, & us sharing the southern city responsible for raising me too & that鈥檚 always in my heart.
raw honest funny & lovely. & yoga pottery & all the butter needed for proper party mix / trash / chex mix.
#nolababesforever.
&, hell to the yes with the great jokes & puns, & us sharing the southern city responsible for raising me too & that鈥檚 always in my heart.
raw honest funny & lovely. & yoga pottery & all the butter needed for proper party mix / trash / chex mix.
#nolababesforever.
July 24, 2018
I listened to this book on audio and it was read by the author and that's why I love reading a memoir in audio form. The added bonus to listening to this one on audio was that Parker Posey has written this as if she is chatting to the reader on an aeroplane and so we have added audio features such as the sound of the trolley, the sound of her dog and her speaking to us as if we are her seat mate-it was great fun!
One of the other things I love about reading memoirs of actors is the love they have for the film industry and other actors in their field. Parker has some great stories about spending time with actors and directors and also has some great stories about her love of films and actresses from the past. It is great to find out the kind of films that she enjoyed both making and watching.
While she does go into the different films she has made and the TV shows she has starred in, she also talks a lot about her personal life, her childhood and her decision to adopt a dog and become vegan. She also includes things like breathing exercises she does, yoga poses and recipes and talks you through them so you could realistically make the recipe or follow the breathing, I thought this was a real added gem!
Some of the ideas and beliefs she shares are fairly 'unconventional' and that's also what makes this book stand out from other memoirs I have read recently and I liked how open and honest she was about her opinions and ideas on how things should be and what's wrong with the way they are. She also explains why she chose the cover image which really was appreciated. I think even if you haven't seen this actress in a lot of things, this memoir stands up on its own as something to read and enjoy and I really recommend the audiobook!
One of the other things I love about reading memoirs of actors is the love they have for the film industry and other actors in their field. Parker has some great stories about spending time with actors and directors and also has some great stories about her love of films and actresses from the past. It is great to find out the kind of films that she enjoyed both making and watching.
While she does go into the different films she has made and the TV shows she has starred in, she also talks a lot about her personal life, her childhood and her decision to adopt a dog and become vegan. She also includes things like breathing exercises she does, yoga poses and recipes and talks you through them so you could realistically make the recipe or follow the breathing, I thought this was a real added gem!
Some of the ideas and beliefs she shares are fairly 'unconventional' and that's also what makes this book stand out from other memoirs I have read recently and I liked how open and honest she was about her opinions and ideas on how things should be and what's wrong with the way they are. She also explains why she chose the cover image which really was appreciated. I think even if you haven't seen this actress in a lot of things, this memoir stands up on its own as something to read and enjoy and I really recommend the audiobook!
July 28, 2018
Have you ever been to a family reunion where you spend extended time with the aunt who has a reputation as being eccentric or a bit of a "free spirit"? While she comes off as a bit dotty, you realize that underneath she's lot a smarter than she lets on. Well, Parker Posey is that aunt. "You're on an Airplane" begins with the conceit that Parker Posey has just sat next to you on an airplane and begins unspooling a circumloctory account of her family, her childhood, her acting career, yoga, pottery, and "live pie," among other things. I found her stories about her family and her childhood delightful. I would have preferred more stories about her acting career in lieu of chapters on yoga poses and making pottery.
Some have criticized this book as not being sufficiently biographical; we don't learn enough about what makes Parker Posey tick. Well, look at the book title. If you are looking for a conventional biographical memoir, you will be disappointed. If you enjoyed Illena Douglas's "I Blame Dennis Hopper," then you will likely enjoy "You're on an Airplane".
Some have criticized this book as not being sufficiently biographical; we don't learn enough about what makes Parker Posey tick. Well, look at the book title. If you are looking for a conventional biographical memoir, you will be disappointed. If you enjoyed Illena Douglas's "I Blame Dennis Hopper," then you will likely enjoy "You're on an Airplane".
March 15, 2021
Yikes. It's like her editor hated her as much as I did after reading only a few chapters. Cannot believe this was published like this, everything Parker Posey writes about makes her look like the world's biggest asshole- she has zero self awareness of her terrible behavior. A normal person would never admit to treating people so badly. At least now I know that she's only being herself in most of her roles instead of acting...
October 23, 2018
Tiresome and irritating even before it became a love letter to Louis CK and Woody Allen. This book makes me question the entire genre of celebrity memoir, and to doubt my past selves who have enjoyed such books in the past.
December 7, 2019
It started off horribly and got better but it never got good.
She either has little self-knowledge or she鈥檚 hiding it very well. She does tell a few good stories, but they鈥檙e mostly lost in this self-indulgent, disorganized, fragmentary mess.
She either has little self-knowledge or she鈥檚 hiding it very well. She does tell a few good stories, but they鈥檙e mostly lost in this self-indulgent, disorganized, fragmentary mess.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 797 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.