Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

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

13 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." 

---

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

actuallythemillennialdiaries's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I don’t think I’ve ever read a sadder, more inspiring book. Equal parts funny and utterly heartbreaking, I highly recommend it if you’re at all interested in Elvis and his legacy, Lisa’s own legacy, music, addiction, mental health, or, surprisingly (to me, I had no idea she was a member) Scientology. Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s eldest child, is the co-author, as it was published after Lisa Marie Presley passed in 2023. Lisa's writing is brutally honest, funny, poignant, and at times, absolutely devastating. Riley's writing is so full of love for her mother that even when she's talking about heart wrenching moments of deep pain in her own life, you would never doubt for a second that Riley and her mother shared a deep and profound bond. The way Riley writes about her mother, you can tell that they love they shared as mother and daughter was, and is, absolutely unconditional. I give From Here to the Great Unknown 5 stars.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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.

---

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

mollymcmuffin's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Abortion

Minor: Animal death, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

marcidarling's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

what_the_bec's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

jamie_rich's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

voodoolobster's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion

issyd23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Unofficial sequel to Pricilla’s Elvis and Me (though I preferred this). Parts written by Riley were heartbreaking. An incredible read, wish LM were still alive and the book was longer 4🎵

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

kierstratton's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

Memoirs are typically 5 star reads for me, but I loved how this was done. The audiobook featured clips from Lisa Marie's tapes, which was really cool. The whole thing just confirms the horrors that come with fame for some people. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol