Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

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

11 reviews

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

campbellemily's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

I liked this book way more than I really expected to. Riley’s voice filling in the blanks of Lisa’s otherwise not-quite-finished memoir makes the mostly sad story more hopeful. Riley is probably the first of many generations of Elvis’s family who is going to break a long cycle of substance abuse and raise emotionally healthy children. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, 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

lavishrebellion's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

_rileyroo_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rach_anna's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

Something about the Presley family fascinates me but this was heart-breaking. I didn't pay much attention to the description and the cover made me expect more about Elvis. It more showed the generational trauma this family has endured and their flaws. I listened to the audiobook and Riley reading parts of it added an additional emotional component.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Abortion

rroseking's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I would highly suggest listening to this book. The audio book includes the tapes of Lisa Marie while she started brainstorming this book. This was a book written by her daughter using the tapes and Riley filling in where she felt she should. Lisa Marie Presley was a force of nature from the way she and her daughter describe her. There is some real discussion of generational trauma that I don't know if Lisa Marie ever figured out but she acknowledged. Yes there's tons about Elvis and her famous relationships but what I found the most interesting was hearing about Lisa Marie and how Riley saw her mother. I think she was someone who felt everything all at once and it eventually ate her up. I won't call her tragic because I think that's too simple. I think she was a highly complicated and empathetic person that no matter who her parents were would have found the world hard to handle. Or maybe we couldn't handle her. Either way I loved hearing her stories and Rileys memories of her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma

janeccman's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit

theidlereader's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Abortion

Minor: Child abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

laheath's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

As explained at the beginning of the book, this is written in 2 voices, each in its own font. Some is from recordings done by Lisa Marie Presley, in preparation for writing her memoir. These vignettes alternate with further details provided by her daughter, Riley Keough, whether giving additional background information, supplying her own perspective, or simply detailing a special memory of her own. As a whole, this is a beautiful memoir honoring her mother, told with brutal honesty and poignancy. For anyone with even a basic knowledge of Elvis or Lisa Marie, this is a very emotional read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical content and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity and Suicide