“I have a vague memory of this one conversation we had in that room about a passage that Elvis had underlined. I started to call someone to help me remember it, but realized that there’s no one left to call”
Whatever you felt after reading the quote above, is basically the feeling you’ll have about this book. For me, it was sadness and the feeling of loss and that’s what I got from Lisa Marie while reading her memoir. For those who don’t know, Lisa Marie, only child of Elvis Presley, decided to write her memoir but got stuck and enlisted her oldest daughter, actress Riley Keough to help her complete it. Not long after this, Lisa Marie passed away and Riley is left to complete what her mother started.
“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.”
This was a very captivating memoir because it was everything a memoir should have, especially the most important – being honest. Lisa Marie was very open and honest about her life. She laid bare the good (which wasn’t very much), the bad and the ugly and you could feel her struggle and pain through her words. Even when she made decisions that seemed outrageous like deciding she wanted to be a mom and Danny Keough had to be the father and essentially trapping him, you just want to give her a pass because you just wanted to help ease her pain away. The honesty also rang even truer if you do the audio because you get to hear actual audio of Lisa Marie recounting her memories (which is what Riley used to finish up the book)
“He wasn’t an angry person, he didn’t live there. Some people full-on live in destruction. Others buy real estate and walk around in anger for a little while. My dad would just visit.”
Lisa’s first big loss was the loss of her father when she was 9 years old and I don’t think she ever recovered from it. She had a bond/connection with her dad that I can’t whole heartedly say was healthy. Not to say that they didn’t love each other, they did but her dad was an addict and as his addiction got worse and his moods became erratic it seemed like Lisa focused on just making sure she was on his good side. I say this to say that the book sounded like Lisa idolized him especially post-humously and it was almost like he could do no wrong. A stark contrast to her feelings towards her mom. She definitely wrote more about her dad than her mom.
“She mothers my daughter through me.”
As much as this was Lisa Marie’s memoir, the biggest impact it left on me was a desire to know more about her daughter, Riley. I mentioned earlier how it felt like Lisa Marie idolized her dad, I do think Riley did the same for her mom. She did a fantastic job of finishing the book for her mom and piecing together stories told to her by her mom. I felt that Lisa Marie didn’t stand a chance at happiness in life with everything that she went through and I wondered the same about Riley and how she was able to navigate the dysfunction and heartbreaks such as her brother’s suicide. She seems to be a parentified child and the person who kept the family together as the sensible one and it made me want to know more about her true feelings and how she navigated it all.
“I looked at my face as a child and thought, My God, if only anyone could have told you what you were going to go through in this life, what you were going to be up against. That cute little blond-haired child in the matching dress with her mommy. It overwhelmed me.”
Overall, I definitely recommend this book. It’s a quick 6 hour listen on audio. Julia Roberts narrates Lisa’s part and Riley narrates her part (I will admit I was not a fan of Riley’s voice). As mentioned earlier, we get to hear the actual raw tapes of Lisa Marie talking about her life and there is an honesty there that made me believe everything she said. She gave an aura of IDGAF and honestly, what was there to lose? I learned things I didn’t know about her previously like her romantic relationships, her music career and how fraught her relationship with her mom was. All this and more provided for one of my favorite memoir reads.
I’d like to give trigger warnings as there is mention of sexual assault, drug use and suicide.
Taynement
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