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A review by hdhreads
Elvis and Me by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley
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.
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
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape