Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Elvis and Me by Sandra Harmon, Priscilla Presley

10 reviews

rosamaria's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Alcohol

chelseainthesky's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

siijayreads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

"I knew that I must take control of my life. I could not give up these new insights. There was a whole world out there and I had to find my own place in it."

Such a revealing, jarring, and insightful memoir. Before this, my knowledge about Elvis Presley was limited aside from knowing he is the singer of the most popular hits songs I often hear on the radio when I was young. Having read this book gave me so much perspective about what the world was like back then which became even more special in the lens of someone who is in close proximity with a famous person. I only knew of Priscilla because she's the grandmother of Riley Keough, whom I have known since she’s friends with my favorite actress. I also heard a lot of controversies regarding her and Elvis' relationship and I got intrigued but didn't bother to really delve deeper into it. It wasn't until the recent Priscilla movie, which was based on this book, that I finally learned that this book exists, and it finally convinced me to read it. I listened to the audiobook and the experience was magnified because it was narrated by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley herself! I honestly didn't expect anything diving into this book but it certainly left me with so many reflections in life and I'm surprised that I can relate to some of Priscilla's internal struggles.

Throughout the book, I felt a myriad of emotions. A sense of protectiveness for teenage Priscilla who was about to become enamored with an older man, anger and shock for the things she went through while being in that relationship, sadness when the moment she realizes she's slowly losing herself, contagious joy for little things that makes her happy, and pride for the woman she slowly became after years of abandoning her needs for a man and untangling herself from those toxic cycle. I love those moments where she stood up for herself. This book also is a perfect example of how love makes us blind and tolerant of the things we don't deserve and how it makes us act more impulsively. We let others treat us badly because we're more afraid of losing them.

Priscilla spent a significant number of years in her life being tied to Elvis while she slowly lost herself in the process. It was so heartbreaking. While she did find happiness in all those years, the moment she freed herself from him, which was narrated during the latter part of the book, was one of the most refreshing and inspiring reads I've had in a while. I love stories where women break out of their shells and blossom from the inside and out. It was such an engaging experience listening to Priscilla narrate her own story. Her little laughs while reading particular sections from the book make me think she went back in time reliving the scene. I recommend this to anyone who wants to delve into reading nonfiction books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

mari1532's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.5

I was interested in reading this book because of the new Sophia Coppola movie that just came out. So, I took advantage of the audiobook being included in my audible subscription.

Now before reading this book, I knew that Priscilla was significantly younger than Elvis, but I did not know that he had essentially groomed her from her early teens. I find the rating and review of this book to be incredibly hard. It was well written in terms of a memoir and I appreciated how open Priscilla was about her story. However, reading it I was a little concerned that she didn't have any understanding that some of the things she was describing were abusive. I am trying not to project my opinions about the events she describes onto her story, but this book feels like it was written to absolve Elvis of sins rather than a reflection of her lived experiences.  

For instance, she seems to take no issue with the fact that there was a massive age difference. Or that he sexualized her as a teenager while also making her guilty and threatening her should she be sexual with anyone else. There is also a moment in the book in a later chapter where it felt like she was describing marital rape. 

I did listen to the entirety of this book, but I honestly wish I hadn't. I kept waiting for some self-reflective moments where she mentioned therapy or any indication that Elvis might not have been that great, but it never came.  Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

holliesarah's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

roxfoxreads89's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

3.5

I knew very little about Elvis as he was considerably “before my time.” 

However, I’m continually shocked at how many famous men are child predators. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Physical abuse and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

skelleybean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, and Pregnancy

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

sarahreadsalotofbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

I knew Elvis was a mess but I didn’t realize he was an abusive groomer.

He began grooming Priscilla when she was 14 telling her how to behave, what to wear, how to wear her makeup.  By the time she was 16 they were sexually involved and he had convinced her to take sexual photos. He was emotionally and mentally abusive, as well as physically abusive at times.

Throughout all of this he was also grooming her parents, eventually getting them to consent to allow her to leave them to go live with him for the remainder of her high school years. 

Priscilla comes across as someone with Stockholm syndrome finding his behavior humorous as she narrated this at times. She describes the time he raped her as “forcefully made love to her”. 

As despicable a person as he was, this was a well-written, informative book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual content