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kelseyr713's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I read this after watching the excellent Priscilla because I wanted to read the source material. I was surprised that there were many scenes in the movie that were adapted exactly, down to the conversation. This is a poignant memoir that showcases the deep and complicated love that Priscilla had for Elvis. It is difficult to read at points because she is only fourteen when their story starts while he is a grown man, so please keep that in mind before you read.
Something that's included here but was removed from the film adaptation is the period of time when Priscilla, Elvis, and everyone in their circle gets really obsessed with horses, which I found very funny.
Something that's included here but was removed from the film adaptation is the period of time when Priscilla, Elvis, and everyone in their circle gets really obsessed with horses, which I found very funny.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Alcohol
Moderate: Physical abuse and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
skelleybean's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, and Alcohol
Minor: Grief, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Death, Physical abuse, and Body shaming
emmablue's review against another edition
emotional
4.25
poor priscilla
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, and Rape
Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Body shaming
theextensivereader's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Priscilla was very stuck in the narrative of being a hero in a romantic love story. It reads very differently 40 years on. I can understand what drew Sofia Copolla to make this story into a film. Looking forward to it 🎬
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Adult/minor relationship
honeybeewitched87's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Infidelity, Addiction, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content
Minor: Child death and Body shaming
randimcphee's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
3.75
The writing itself isn’t anything mind blowing, but the story is absolutely fascinating. Reading a first hand experience of Elvis’ life, troubles, addictions, and attitude had me questioning a lot about what I thought I knew about him. This story is their love story, but also how he transformed from a sweet, generous, Southern boy with too much money, to a controlling, manipulative, borderline monster.
I think the lowest point of this book is that the author, his only wife, Priscilla, never seems to understand just how deeply terrible Elvis’ actions were. It was just so heartbreaking and scary, and I found throughout the book that I wasn’t rooting for the love story.
Even after their divorce, she said they were friendly, held hands, kissed, and acted like a family when they were together. It seems like she was never truly able to get out of his grip, even after everything and divorcing him. It was an interesting story, but also felt like whiplash. A good story, but disappointing to know the truth and see Priscilla be taken advantage of way too much.
I think the lowest point of this book is that the author, his only wife, Priscilla, never seems to understand just how deeply terrible Elvis’ actions were. It was just so heartbreaking and scary, and I found throughout the book that I wasn’t rooting for the love story.
Even after their divorce, she said they were friendly, held hands, kissed, and acted like a family when they were together. It seems like she was never truly able to get out of his grip, even after everything and divorcing him. It was an interesting story, but also felt like whiplash. A good story, but disappointing to know the truth and see Priscilla be taken advantage of way too much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexism, Pedophilia, Drug use, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Infidelity, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Sexual assault
theveronicareview's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Maybe I'm alone in this, but I believe we all come into this world aware of Elvis. His work and persona are so deeply embedded in our collective consciousness that, whether a fan or not, some aspect of our lives is bound to be touched by his impact on our culture and society.
Likewise, so many of us have our own perception of who Elvis was: cool, suave, annoying, proud - whatever it is, the majority of us are likely wrong. So few people knew the real Elvis and, arguably, one of the people who knew him best was his only wife, Priscilla.
I am not the type of person to rate/judge a memoir, but Elvis and Me was one of the most fascinating books I've read.
Constantly toeing the line between condemning & condoning the actions of Elvis, her parents, & herself, Priscilla recounts how she was courted by the singer at just 14 years of age. She spent late nights at Elvis' house in Germany, she was allowed to travel to another country to be with him, & she finished school in another country from her parents just so she could remain near the singer. Elvis taught Priscilla how to dress & how to act. She was given drugs so she could keep up with his demanding lifestyle. Priscilla went from being her parents' child to Elvis' child bride (though they actually married when she was 21), & it would be years before she'd realize she could be her own person, separate from Elvis.
Reading this memoir with modern eyes, it's baffling how their relationship was accepted. In her memoir, Priscilla does note that her parents were hesitant & insinuated that Elvis knew it was inappropriate, but that didn't make this read easier to digest. Obviously, it's now difficult for me to think of Elvis, the person, & not be repulsed. Reading other reviews of Priscilla's memoir, it's clear her words injured some who love/loved Elvis & who want his legacy to remain intact. Others are baffled by Priscilla's romanticization of their time together - some to the point of nausea and others with the desire to know more.
What appalled me more is that I went the majority of my life thinking they were the same age and that their relationship was respectable. It may be impossible to know or perceive how all the world's idols behave behind closed doors (although Elvis left that door opened just a crack, I'd say), but I think Priscilla's memoir is just another example of why we should always admire celebrities and their work with an objective eye. We don't truly know any one of them.
Likewise, so many of us have our own perception of who Elvis was: cool, suave, annoying, proud - whatever it is, the majority of us are likely wrong. So few people knew the real Elvis and, arguably, one of the people who knew him best was his only wife, Priscilla.
I am not the type of person to rate/judge a memoir, but Elvis and Me was one of the most fascinating books I've read.
Constantly toeing the line between condemning & condoning the actions of Elvis, her parents, & herself, Priscilla recounts how she was courted by the singer at just 14 years of age. She spent late nights at Elvis' house in Germany, she was allowed to travel to another country to be with him, & she finished school in another country from her parents just so she could remain near the singer. Elvis taught Priscilla how to dress & how to act. She was given drugs so she could keep up with his demanding lifestyle. Priscilla went from being her parents' child to Elvis' child bride (though they actually married when she was 21), & it would be years before she'd realize she could be her own person, separate from Elvis.
Reading this memoir with modern eyes, it's baffling how their relationship was accepted. In her memoir, Priscilla does note that her parents were hesitant & insinuated that Elvis knew it was inappropriate, but that didn't make this read easier to digest. Obviously, it's now difficult for me to think of Elvis, the person, & not be repulsed. Reading other reviews of Priscilla's memoir, it's clear her words injured some who love/loved Elvis & who want his legacy to remain intact. Others are baffled by Priscilla's romanticization of their time together - some to the point of nausea and others with the desire to know more.
What appalled me more is that I went the majority of my life thinking they were the same age and that their relationship was respectable. It may be impossible to know or perceive how all the world's idols behave behind closed doors (although Elvis left that door opened just a crack, I'd say), but I think Priscilla's memoir is just another example of why we should always admire celebrities and their work with an objective eye. We don't truly know any one of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Infidelity, Drug abuse, and Misogyny
nerdinthelibrary's review against another edition
i genuinely don't think i can rate this. it's pretty well written, fast-moving and compelling. the entire story is fascinating, particularly because there's basically no point at which priscilla seems to ever realise that what's happening is bad. she was groomed and abused from age fourteen and there's never any point, even with the hindsight of her writing this in her forties, where she criticises elvis. there are a few times when she offhandedly says that something was bad but she always follows that with a justification. makes me so curious about the framing of the sofia coppola movie considering the fact that priscilla was involved and seems happy with it. not to make priscilla sound stupid because i don't think she is, but i really do wonder if the coppola movie does frame the film as being about an abused woman and priscilla didn't realise, because this book literally describes elvis throwing things at her and flying into rages and taking pictures of her naked as a teenager and convincing her to take pills and not allowing her to get a job and isolating her from any sort of support system she could have had, and she never seems to find any problem with it. anyway, fascinating book, would recommend, incredibly disturbing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Drug use, Addiction, and Physical abuse
kamrynkoble's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Wow. Even though it was obvious that Priscilla danced around a lot that would make Elvis look bad, he comes across as a basket case and I think Priscilla might have the patience of a saint. If I were her, I would have had several mental breakdowns dealing with all of this.
This was written in the 1980s and I would be very curious what she thought of it now. I’m a little horrified by all Priscilla was put through, and it seemed a bit like she hadn’t even acknowledged the magnitude of what grown adults did when she was a literal child.
This paints in pretty broad strokes. There’s some honesty, but everything is so big picture that it never dives too deeply into anything. I did love the glimpses at the end about her finally discovering more of herself beyond who Elvis wanted her to be, but this whole book is definitely more focused on him.
It’s honestly very sad how loving/concerned about each other they were during and after their divorce. It just did not have to be this way. I frequently wished I could’ve hugged Priscilla—someone should have. It seemed like she was terribly alone even in rooms full of other people.
I’m very excited for the upcoming A24 movie based on this. It was my final push to read this.
This was written in the 1980s and I would be very curious what she thought of it now. I’m a little horrified by all Priscilla was put through, and it seemed a bit like she hadn’t even acknowledged the magnitude of what grown adults did when she was a literal child.
This paints in pretty broad strokes. There’s some honesty, but everything is so big picture that it never dives too deeply into anything. I did love the glimpses at the end about her finally discovering more of herself beyond who Elvis wanted her to be, but this whole book is definitely more focused on him.
It’s honestly very sad how loving/concerned about each other they were during and after their divorce. It just did not have to be this way. I frequently wished I could’ve hugged Priscilla—someone should have. It seemed like she was terribly alone even in rooms full of other people.
I’m very excited for the upcoming A24 movie based on this. It was my final push to read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug abuse
cinderellasbookshelf's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual harassment, and Infidelity