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Loading... Elvis Presley (Penguin Lives) (edition 2002)by Bobbie Ann Mason
Work InformationElvis Presley by Bobbie Ann Mason
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A nice little bio and a quick read. Elvis always reminds me of my mother. She was a teenager when he exploded into fame in the Fifties. She was such a huge fan that, growing up in our house, any Elvis movie, special or biopic on TV was mandatory viewing. She indoctrinated me into Elvis fandom, and I still love listening to his music today. no reviews | add a review
A vibrant, sympathetic portrait of the once and future king of rock 'n' roll by the award-winning author of Shiloh and In Country To this clear-eyed portrait of the first rock 'n' roll superstar, Bobbie Ann Mason brings a novelist's insight and the empathy of a fellow Southerner who, from the first time she heard his voice on the family radio, knew that Elvis was "one of us." Elvis Presley deftly braids the mythic and human aspects of his story, capturing both the charismatic, boundary-breaking singer who reveled in his celebrity and the soft-spoken, working-class Southern boy who was fatally unprepared for his success. The result is a riveting, tragic book that goes to the heart of the American dream. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)782.42166The arts Music Vocal music Secular Forms of vocal music Secular songs General principles and musical forms Song genres Rock songsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Mason's book is less than 200 pages, but she is quite thorough, and manages to make Elvis's story both objective and intimate at the same time, from his dirt poor Mississippi childhood and awkward years as an outsider at a Memphis high school to his first recordings with Sun Records, and sudden stardom, with the unprincipled Colonel Parker controlling every aspect of his career.
Sadly, Elvis never quite recovered from the "too much too soon" rocket ship of success, and, despite his gifts as a singer and performer, remained uncultured and ignorant, and always under the greedy thumb of Colonel Parker. Always closely attached to his mother he never quite recovered from her early death while he was in the Army. And his last years, drug-addled and overworked, were just sad, I thought, as was his death, at 42.
My hat is off to Mason for making this such a compelling, personal read. I'm so glad I found it. Very highly recommended. Especially, of course, for Elvis fans.
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )