Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Elvis and Me

I thought that this book was extremely emotional. Priscilla writes in a way that makes you feel as if you are experiencing it all with her. She tells these important events in her and Elvis's relationship that changed the way I had viewed the couple all my life. While I have previously known that fame isn't as glamorous as it seems, I never thought all of this could come along with it.
I also thought this book had an adventurous undertone. While it is informative and even a bit depressing Priscilla did a phenomenal job at always trailing bad moments with great life events. While they had numerous issues and were nowhere near perfect, they had a lot of good moments as well. I personally liked how Priscilla really focused on the fact that Elvis should be portrayed as a man. Yes, he was the king of rock and roll and a famous rockstar, but at the end of the day, he was a man. A man who gets angry and fights with his wife, a man who drinks too much and commits adultery, but still just a man. Priscilla had always said that no matter if it made the outlook better or worse, people always say Elvis as the idea of him, never just Elvis.

Content Warnings

chelseainthesky's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

underwaterlauren's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

Content Warnings

boomingranny's review against another edition

Go to review page

informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

Content Warnings

ritaconstantino's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative fast-paced

3.0

This was a difficult read. Priscilla was groomed and abused since she was 14 years old and the sad part is that, at least until the time she wrote the book, she hadn't yet accepted the gravity of what had happened to her.

Content Warnings

hdhreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective medium-paced

3.75

This was an intimate and honest insight into Priscilla’s life with ‘the King’. Having met Elvis at just 14, Priscilla spent her formative years with him and he shaped her into his ‘ideal woman’. Right from the start, she experienced the highs and lows of living with Elvis, from his generousness and fun, to his temper tantrums and drug taking.

I found Priscilla’s memoir deeply troubling, but like a train wreck, I couldn’t look away. There’s the obvious age gap and the fact that their relationship started when she was still a child. Then there’s his controlling nature - wanting her to be his vision of an ideal woman, restricting her choices and even preventing her from getting a job so that she is always available when he wants her to come to him. His frequent affairs, the drugs he gives her to take without saying what they are etc etc, the list goes on. In this day and age, he would be disgraced for a fraction of this.

Despite all of this, Priscilla still holds so much affection for the man. The benefit of listening on audio is that you really hear that - her gentle chuckles on recounting something he said, and the love in her voice when telling a tale no matter how outrageous it is. That is what makes it so particularly shocking. It’s like listening to someone with Stockholm syndrome.

So all in all, I found the book fascinating, but perhaps not for the author’s intended reason.

Content Warnings

More...