Reviews with content warning for Rape - Elvis and Me

the relationship between priscilla beaulieu and elvis presley is truly astonishing—it’s truly a y/n fanfiction come to life, but with grooming and toxicity. it’s really interesting how you can love someone so much, even when they have done truly terrible things to you and stopped you from having a childhood that didn’t revolve around them. i’m proud of priscilla for making her own way in the world and making peace with the situation.

btw, this book scratched the psych part of my brain; throughout reading, i continuously wondered, “did elvis have a personality disorder?” much to think about.

this was also really awesome as an audiobook—read by priscilla, i loved hearing her stories in her own voice, and i’m obsessed with the fact that when she would giggle at the end of telling a funny story from her past with elvis, they kept it in the recording :) made it a million times better.

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julessssss's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

I would recommend the audiobook narrated by Presley herself, as I believe she conveys important emotions in her voice that probably are not in the text.

I randomly came upon this while looking for an audiobook to listen to while I played video games lol.

I cannot say that this is a good memoir (in terms of the genre), as Presley (as she even says) is painting a specific picture, and one that is complimentary to Elvis on purpose. With this in mind, I enjoyed it a lot. And at the very least, I feel like I have some insight into her thought processes after going through what she did, which is interesting on its own.

Overall, I would recommend - just keep in mind Presley's purpose in writing this, etc.

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hdhreads's review against another edition

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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.

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mari1532's review against another edition

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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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issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Dying to see the Coppola biopic! The story of her relationship with Elvis is that of a dark fairytale. I am now repulsed by him. Also Elvis high key stole music from black artists 4👧🏻

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05_haggler_prouder's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Pricilla's perspective is fundamentally flawed. She was groomed at 14 into a coercive controlling domestically violent relationship. She simultaneously details the various types of horrors she faced and witnessed, while expressing her continued love and admiration towards Elvis whom she describes as a friend, lover, father and god.

I feel like she's sincere about the praise, but she's also terrified of the retribution she might face from the fans.

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