Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

30 reviews

kkopacetic's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol

carriepolynkin's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Suicide

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Title: From Here to the Great Unknown
Author: Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date: October 8, 2024

T H R E E • W O R D S

Unprecedented • Remarkable • Transcendent

📖 S Y N O P S I S

In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir.

A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and grieved.

Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, laid in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran towards his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they shared in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.

To make her mother known.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I wouldn't consider myself an Elvis connoisseur and cannot say I knew much about Lisa Marie's life either, yet when I saw several glowing reviews for From Here to the Great Unknown, the memoir she started but that would end up being completed by her daughter and published posthumously, I knew I wanted to listen to it.

This is very special audiobook, one unlike any other I've listened to before. The combination of their voices - Julia Roberts reading Lisa's parts, Riley narrating her own additions, and sound clips of Lisa herself - was incredible. It's heartbreaking to think it took her dying for this book to come together in the manner it has.

Lisa's story is so deeply moving, a story marked by extreme fame and overwhelming grief. It adds valuable insight into many aspects of her personal life - her complicated relationship with Priscilla, the effect her father's death had at such a young age, her short-lived marriage to Michael Jackson, her journey in motherhood, her struggles with opioid addiction, and the death of her son.

From Here to the Great Unknown reads like a conversation between mother and daughter both attempting to heal all that has come before. It is deeply personal with a lot of unpacking, yet I am so grateful Riley was able to finish what her mother started. By doing so, she has paid homage to her mother's story and brought to light some of Lisa's biggest strengths. Listening to it was an emotional journey, worth every moment.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• celebrity memoirs
• themes of grief
• mother/daughter relationships

⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, child death, grief, suicide, mental illness, addiction, drug use, drug abuse, alcohol, alcoholism, toxic relationship, suicidal thoughts, child abuse, pedophilia, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, sexual assault, adult/minor relationship, pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, cursing, infidelity, medical content, pandemic/epidemic

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"This was a huge lesson for me—the only way out is through. You must allow pain in to free yourself from it."

"Grief settles. It's not something you overcome. It's something that you live with. You adapt to it. Nothing about you is who you were. Nothing about how or what I used to think is important. The truth is that I don't remember who I was." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Medical content, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cursing and Pandemic/Epidemic

lauraweiss105's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This is really more by Riley Keough than Lisa Marie. I’m not interested in the Presleys and knew nothing about Lisa going in. You have to listen to the audio version, because it’s narrated by Riley Keough and Julia Roberts with snippets from recordings with Lisa Marie Presley. I wanted to read it because I am grieving the death of my brother and knew from interviews I saw online that Riley Keough had lost her brother and mother just a few years apart. Despite neither Riley nor her mom graduating high school, Riley especially is a great writer. I found it really impactful and relatable in some places aside from some celebrity goofiness like “the holistic doctor who lived with us,” “Deepak Chopra spoke at my brother’s funeral” and references to Scientology without really getting into it. The parts that aren’t about grief though are really interesting in terms of thinking about people who are thrust into fame and how that affects them. It’s notable how much Lisa Marie still put her father on a pedestal while being very harsh on her mom, who was groomed by Elvis. I’d definitely recommend this quick read (the audiobook is only 6 hours.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction and Child abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Abortion

megpro7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol

nicoleparyz's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is a memoir, written by both Lisa Marie Presley and her daughter, Riley Keough, as it was completed after Lisa Marie's death. The book goes back and forth between Lisa Marie telling of her childhood and life and Riley, hers. The book covers: being raised at Graceland, Elvis's death, her relationships with Priscilla, abuse Lisa experienced, her relationships (including Michael Jackson), her son's suicide, her substance abuse and her death. Lisa Marie's parts are read by Julia Robert's, with some recordings of Lisa Maria interspersed. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

kgallagator's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

adrianakincaid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide

caroltaylorlovesbooks's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Death of parent

jodonn07's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

You never really know about someone until you've walked a while in their shoes. I'm glad that I read this book. I used to often think about how sad Elvis's young daughter must have been when he died, and it turns out I didn't know the half of it. The sheer number of content warnings I had to add should warn you of how much she went through. And yet, Lisa Marie did for her children what her father did for her, albeit for a limited amount of time. Elvis basically invented the idea of "living like a rock star" and while his daughter and grandchildren followed in his footsteps in that regard, they also describe wild and beautiful childhoods in the secure warmth of parents that loved them deeply. 

Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough's perspectives intertwine in an intimate story of the ups and downs of an extraordinary life. It is full of love and sadness, but the love wins in the end I think.  This was an excellent audiobook with Julia Roberts and Riley Keough telling the stories from Lisa Marie's and her daughter's perspectives. Highly recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol