Reviews with content warning for Drug use - 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.

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underwaterlauren's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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ritaconstantino's review against another edition

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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.

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danajoy's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

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julessssss's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

I would recommend the audiobook narrated by Presley herself, as I believe she conveys important emotions in her voice that probably are not in the text.

I randomly came upon this while looking for an audiobook to listen to while I played video games lol.

I cannot say that this is a good memoir (in terms of the genre), as Presley (as she even says) is painting a specific picture, and one that is complimentary to Elvis on purpose. With this in mind, I enjoyed it a lot. And at the very least, I feel like I have some insight into her thought processes after going through what she did, which is interesting on its own.

Overall, I would recommend - just keep in mind Presley's purpose in writing this, etc.

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siijayreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

"I knew that I must take control of my life. I could not give up these new insights. There was a whole world out there and I had to find my own place in it."

Such a revealing, jarring, and insightful memoir. Before this, my knowledge about Elvis Presley was limited aside from knowing he is the singer of the most popular hits songs I often hear on the radio when I was young. Having read this book gave me so much perspective about what the world was like back then which became even more special in the lens of someone who is in close proximity with a famous person. I only knew of Priscilla because she's the grandmother of Riley Keough, whom I have known since she’s friends with my favorite actress. I also heard a lot of controversies regarding her and Elvis' relationship and I got intrigued but didn't bother to really delve deeper into it. It wasn't until the recent Priscilla movie, which was based on this book, that I finally learned that this book exists, and it finally convinced me to read it. I listened to the audiobook and the experience was magnified because it was narrated by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley herself! I honestly didn't expect anything diving into this book but it certainly left me with so many reflections in life and I'm surprised that I can relate to some of Priscilla's internal struggles.

Throughout the book, I felt a myriad of emotions. A sense of protectiveness for teenage Priscilla who was about to become enamored with an older man, anger and shock for the things she went through while being in that relationship, sadness when the moment she realizes she's slowly losing herself, contagious joy for little things that makes her happy, and pride for the woman she slowly became after years of abandoning her needs for a man and untangling herself from those toxic cycle. I love those moments where she stood up for herself. This book also is a perfect example of how love makes us blind and tolerant of the things we don't deserve and how it makes us act more impulsively. We let others treat us badly because we're more afraid of losing them.

Priscilla spent a significant number of years in her life being tied to Elvis while she slowly lost herself in the process. It was so heartbreaking. While she did find happiness in all those years, the moment she freed herself from him, which was narrated during the latter part of the book, was one of the most refreshing and inspiring reads I've had in a while. I love stories where women break out of their shells and blossom from the inside and out. It was such an engaging experience listening to Priscilla narrate her own story. Her little laughs while reading particular sections from the book make me think she went back in time reliving the scene. I recommend this to anyone who wants to delve into reading nonfiction books!

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