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Title: Elvis Presley (Penguin Lives) by Bobbie Ann Mason ISBN: 0-670-03174-7 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.25 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Mason On Elvis: An American Tragedy
Comment: Bobbie Ann Mason is the person who should have written this book on Elvis. Born in 1942, she grew up on a dairy farm in Mayfield, Kentucky; she and Elvis then are from the same time and part of the country. It is obvious from every page of this work that Ms. Mason likes Elvis's music and understands what his contribution to America and the world was. There is no substitute, as some of us remember, to being alive when Elvis literally burst on the music scene and shook us from the Eisenhower 50's. Of course Ms. Mason, one of our best living fiction writers, says it better than I: "For me, Elvis is personal--as a Southerner and something of a neighbor. I heard Elvis from the very beginning on the Memphis radio stations. Many parents found Elvis's music dangerously evocative, his movements lewd and suggestive--but when my family saw Elvis on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, singing 'Ready Teddy', my father cried, 'Boy, he's good!'"
My problem with this book is the same I have with the other books in this series-- their required brevity makes any in-depth study of the character impossible. This series works best, I think, in Douglas Brinkley's book on Rosa Parks since no bio of her except one for children had ever been written so he was covering new ground rather than rehashing previous material. Ms. Mason lists her sources, saying she relied heavily on Peter Guaralnick's two books on Pressley that I have not read. I did read, however, the awful book by Albert Goldman whom I believe Ms. Mason alludes to in her introduction: "In 1980, a scurrilous biography portrayed him as a redneck with savage appetites and perverted mentality, and of no musical significance to American culture." Ms. Mason provides the ultimate insult by not giving the name of the biographer.
Ms. Mason discusses briefly Elvis's movies and his interest in books. I didn't know he read books or that Priscilla got him to burn them. Ms. Mason also says that by the end of 2000 Graceland had become the most visited private home in the U. S. When I visited his grave a few years ago-- Graceland was closed that day-- I was saddened so see that out of hundreds of "floral arrangements" there was not one real flower. I suppose as the Lorettta Lynn character says in "Cold Miner's Daughter," that the plastic ones last longer.
Rating: 1
Summary: Bereft
Comment: When these publishing houses reach into the shallow end of the writing pool to assign authors the task of patching together a novella, this is the inevitable pitiful result. Superficiality overflows her perspectives, and the style of the book is forced, as she tries to spin a tome of the south as a tapestry into Elvis' life. I must've been absent from the planet during the minute that Elvis' career took this downward spiral she focuses on. Recently he has had the number 1 song and album in the world, which went gold or platinum in 60 countries. 15,000,000 people from around the world have stopped by his house over the last 20 years, making Graceland the most visited home in the world (next to the White House which is a public building); there are over 700 fan clubs; he has sold more records since 1977 than any 3 acts combined; his posthumous concert tour breaks attendance records around the world, and a whole new generation of children have discovered him in the Lilo & Stitch movie. There are still more books sold and written about Elvis than any other artist. He was voted the "Artist of the Century" the 57th "Most Influential Person of the Millennium," and his song, "That's All Right Mama" was chosen by CNN as the "Song That Changed The World." He revolutionized, Radio, Concerts, the Record Industry, the Music Charts, Television, Movies, Pop Culture, Male Sexuality and fan devotion. He first created the generation gap in the 50s and bridged it in the 70s. Without Elvis crossing over to open the portal for Black entertainers, Motown would've been a regional success only. After 9/11 when the world sought emotional comfort through songs of inspiration and patriotism, "America The Beautiful" sung by Elvis in 1972, went up the Top 10 charts worldwide. A man that accomplished all this in just 22 years---so much that his work and image still dominate the perlieu 26 years after his demise--- deserves better than to be written about by an author of the ilk of a Bobbie Ann Mason.
P.S He is releasing another album, that will be pushed to the top by another Number 1 single.
Rating: 4
Summary: A quick glimpse of the King...
Comment: This book fits well into the Penguin Lives series - none of them are meant to be definitive pictures of the person being written about, but most of them succeed in giving a good glimpse of a person's life and accomplishments, however, most are over far too quickly and with many details left to further reading. That's not necessarily a bad thing if it's what you're expecting.
This book on Elvis is a WHOOSH WHAT HAPPENED?!?! sort of a quick read. Before I knew it I was turning the final page. Elvis' forty-two years were exhausted in a few hours of reading. The prose is mostly very readable, but early on the author didn't seem to know what to write about Elvis' childhood, so she rhapsodizes on the taste of hamburgers or makes numerous Faulkner references. I almost didn't make it past the first few chapters. Admittedly, there is probably a lack of material on this part of Elvis' life, but that doesn't mean we need a short essay on the lucious taste of hamburgers and how Elvis surely loved them.
Happily, Faulker is never mentioned in subsequent chapters, and the dearth of material vanishes. What follows is a good but all too quick and somewhat one-sided view of the life of Elvis. There is a hint of a 'Poor Elvis' theme as the author continually mentions his "innocence." Even towards the end of his life, when Elvis was literally destroying himself and seemed somewhat nuts, the tone is mostly sympathetic. The author almost blames Elvis' fame more than Elvis himself. It is true that fame can destroy a person. It's happened to too many people (even many who were never famous), but typically there's something else about the person that causes this self-destruction rather than simply the fact that they're famous. Though to be fair, it's a short book so all sides of the story cannot be told.
If you're already versed in the life of Elvis Presley you'll likely find little new information here. I used the book as a starting point. I wanted to know more about Elvis' life, but I wasn't sure to what extent. This book was perfect as a glimpse into what happened to Elvis and the major events of his strange life. As a result of reading this book, I would really like to know more details about his "fall." This book whizzes through his final years by outlining some crazy stories such as Presley's visit with Nixon, his fascination with karate, his bizarre stage shows (to my generation, Elvis' 70's stage shows are strange and almost surreal to watch), the origin of his 70's persona (there's more to it than Captain Marvel), his divorce from Priscilla (good for her!), his becoming a narcotics officer, and his overall increasingly obsessive behavior. There's much more there I'm sure than this book tells, though it's probably not a happy tale, and this book strives to be a happy book.
The book does not mention accusations pointed at Elvis of racism. There are positive quotes from Little Richard, a Black Panthers Leader, and Elvis himself. Right or wrong, many people my age see Elvis as a thief of "black music" and as a symbol of white cultural appropriation and domination. I'm not supporting or denying this view, but the book implicitly takes the stance that this is not an issue or that "everything's okay" on this count. Elvis, along with Sam Phillips, is celebrated as a joiner of the races. This is at best controversial. Nonetheless, the overly positive view the book takes makes me want to learn more about this topic.
The book also goes a little light on Elvis' movies. They are far worse than the book leads on (I've seen all but a couple of them). It's easy to see how his legendary status declined since most people born after Elvis' death experience him first through his movies. It's really very hard to take Elvis seriously when your first exposure to him is "Paradise Hawwaiian Style", "It Happened at The World's Fair", or "Harum Scarum." In the end, his films did far more damage to his name than Elvis could ever imagine. Historically, it's telling that while the Beatles were working on Seargent Pepper, Elvis was working on "Clambake."
The book also doesn't mention what is usually considered Elvis' most critically acclaimed album: "From Elvis in Memphis." Elvis could make some darn good music when he was focused. His music is generally not album-oriented, however, so many of his albums sound merely like collections of songs strung together. "From Elvis in Memphis" is an exception to this, and is enjoyable from beginning to end. It deserves a mention even in a survey.
Overall, the book piqued my interest in Elvis as a cultural icon who took a huge fall for complicated reasons. He is right up there with Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain, and Micheal Jackson in terms of the negative impact fame can have on a life. Concerning the topic of Elvis in general, there's more and less of what you'd think involved. He is a tragic figure and a symbol and a warning of the potential destructive powers of fame and wealth.
But if you want to know more details, you'll have to read another book.
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