Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley | Peter Guralnick

Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley | Peter Guralnick | An American Tragedy

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Careless Love: The...

	Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley Peter Guralnick Back Bay Books, 2000 - 768 pages average customer review:based on 85 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Until Peter Guralnick came out with Last Train to Memphis in 1994, most biographies of Elvis Presley--especially those written by people with varying degrees of access to his "inner circle"--were filled with starstruck adulation, and those that weren't in awe of their subject invariably went out of their way to take potshots at the rock & roll pioneer (with Albert Goldman's 1981 Elvis reaching now-legendary levels of bile and condescension). Guralnick's exploration of Elvis's childhood and rise to fame was notable for its factual rigorousness and its intimate appreciation of Presley's musical agenda.Picking up where the first volume left off, Guralnick sees Elvis through his tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Germany, where he first met--and was captivated by--a 14-year-old girl named Priscilla Beaulieu. We may think we know the story from this point: the return to America, the near-decade of B-movies, eventual marriage to Priscilla, a brief flash of glory with the '68 comeback, and the surrealism of "fat Elvis" decked out in bejeweled white jumpsuits, culminating in a bathroom death scene. And while that summary isn't exactly false, Guralnick's account shows how little perspective we've had on Elvis's life until now, how a gross caricature of the final years has come to stand for the life itself. He treats every aspect of Presley's life--including forays into spiritual mysticism and the growing dependency on prescription drugs--with dignity and critical distance. More importantly, Careless Love continues to show that Guralnick "gets" what Presley was trying to do as an artist: "I see him in the same way that I think he saw himself from the start," the introduction states, "as someone whose ambition it was to encompass every strand of the American musical tradition." From rock to blues to country to gospel, Guralnick discusses how, at his finest moments, Elvis was able to fulfill that dream. --Ron Hogan

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Couldn't put book down!

From cover to cover, this book was absorbing. The quotes were intertwined with the fast-paced narrative. I felt as if I were living life alongside Elvis as a "fly on the wall" so to speak. This is a book every Elvis fan must own. His human flaws only make you love him more and wish we still had him with us. What a dear person he was: An original.

An American Tragedy

This book is a detailed account of the second half of Elvis Presley's life. Peter Guralnick has painted a vivid portrait of the man whose life should have been magnificent, but instead was so terribly sad.

After reading Guralnick's first volume (Last Train To Memphis), I ran out immediately to buy this one. While I did devour it, it's a bitter pill to swallow. Many nights, I closed the book and then lay awake, thinking, or trying to stop thinking about Elvis. Why did a life with such promise turn out this way? Why did a man who should have been on top of the world, end up so low? Enormous fame and the death of his mother were major contributing factors. Drugs, prescription and otherwise, killed his spirit, his talent, his health and his relationships. And he was exploited by many, especially Col. Tom Parker who trotted him out on tour, when he should have been hospitalized and certainly long-retired.

When I finished the book, I thought, "Did I really want to know all this about him?" Do you? It's your call. I do now understand many things I never did before. And I will not be so quick to idolize, judge or envy anyone unless I've walked a mile in their shoes.

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Exceptional

This second volume, along with the first -- Last Train to Memphis -- are riviting. One of the absolute best biographies I have ever read. A journey through the life, from beginning to end, of one of the world's great entertainers and personalities. Highly recommend.

Magnificent

Extremely revealing portrait that makes clear that Elvis became a drug addict even before he went into the Army in 1958. This bio leaves out nothing, including all the dreary and the tawdry as well as the musical genius. While Jerry Lee Lewis lost his career for dallying with his 13-year-old cousin, Elvis got clean away with dating a 14-year-old Priscilla. All the bizarre details are here. Guralnick does it again. A must read for anyone who wants to know the story of Elvis.

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Great Brittanica for Elvis

I first read the Guralnick books on Elvis about four years ago (2004) when I was just ready to explore the Elvis World. I'm second-generation (about Lisa Marie's age) but missed all the hoopla, and my parents didn't say much. So when I decided to "research" Elvis for myself, I searched the Amazon.com reviews for guidance.

I have to agree with the heavy, authoritative (but not authoritarian) reviews of other Elvis fans who felt Guralnick's work was "comprehensive and accurate." Once I read the Guralnick books, I felt -- not disillusioned -- but bludgeoned with information. Reading Guralnick's book, the reader almost has no choice but to come out not liking Elvis, not only personally but musically or artistically. It was a bitter pill; I had really liked Elvis before reading Guralnick's work.

Four years later, while I'm still "researching" Elvis, what I have found is most of Guralnick's work is actually a compendium, a "Reader's Digest" if you will (a Brittanica), of nearly all major Elvis publications up to that time. In short, Guralnick's work wasn't so much the decisive definitor of Elvis' composite work, but rather the encyclopedia of combined published information. I hasten to point out that Guralnick was not deceptive in any way, but fans and interested persons may have made the mistake of thinking because Guralnick had the "most" to say about Elvis (in two large books) he may have been the most accurate or comprehensive, and that simply isn't true.

As a fan, and someone who has since come to truly appreciate Elvis in all his humanity, my advice for those who want to know Elvis is to BEGIN with Guralnick, as a map, then read the books Guralnick quoted from (and attributed) and then read the little offbeat books written by people claiming to know Elvis. (Use your discernment to know which may have merit and which are entirely fictitious.) Elvis wouldn't want one author to be the judge of his life.

Guralnick did a great service by collecting and basically annotating the collected written works regarding Elvis up to that point, but I think if you really read between the lines, Guralnick himself does not claim to be an expert, nor does he really draw a conclusion. Guralnick's great service is he opened a door, but he does not claim to define the beginning or end of Elvis Presley. That choice -- like the music -- is up to the individual to decide for him or herself. In short, start with Guralnick, but do not end with him. I think he himself would agree.

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