Wild ‘Wildflower’ a fun read

Countless celebrities have penned autobiographies. Not a lot are like Drew Barrymore’s.

“Wildflower” bounces chronologically and thematically, and generally refuses to bend to the rules of conventional memoir writing.

“If it feels personal for you, then I am so happy, because it was personal for me,” the actress writes in the not-a-memoir’s preface. “I didn’t write it in any particular format.”

The lack of a traditional structure works, because the end result is an illuminating, entertaining look at the famously free-spirited actress’ 40 years on earth.

The book is as down-to-earth as the author herself appears. It also is self-deprecating, with references to Barrymore’s “klutziness” and her “valley girl” cadence.

Barrymore touches on moments that are well-known to the masses, including her role in the film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” exhibitionist appearance on David Letterman’s former late-night talk show and three big-screen collaborations with comedian Adam Sandler.

Barrymore — granddaughter of famed stage and film actor John Barrymore and the grandniece of renowned thespians Lionel and Ethel Barrymore — has been a working actor for much of her life, a life that has had more than a few ups and downs.

“I just grew up too fast,” she writes.

Written a quarter-century after the release of Barrymore’s “Little Girl Lost,” which chronicled her turbulent early years, “Wildflower” is the work of a mother of two girls who has a much different perspective on the world.

“Wildflower” is at its most engrossing when she delves into relationships with those who have impacted her life, including her barely there parents, and supportive in-laws and friends, including “E.T.” director Steven Spielberg, who Barrymore writes “took me in, a girl who needed a father, and it meant the world to me.”

From wild-child headline-generator to entrepreneur, filmmaker and philanthropist, Barrymore’s roller-coaster existence is slowing these days just long enough, anyway, for her to pen an engaging examination of her past. The little girl who once was lost clearly has been found.