Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presleyby Suzanne Finstad
Synopsis: With as many darkly intriguing details as the chambers of Graceland, Finstad - journalist, lawyer, and author of two true-crime books - defends her own theories on the complexity and grit of the former Mrs. Presley. Why did she conspire with her mother to keep her paternity a secret? How old was she when she took up with the King? Suzanne Finstad treats us to her own exhaustively researched version of the facts.
Last year when I read Pricilla's "Elvis and Me" I couldn't help but get the feeling that she'd sugar-coated the whole thing quite a bit and slanted it incredibly in her favor, since Elvis wasn't around to defend or deny anything in the book. In this book, the author goes in-depth exposing a whole lot of that book, plus gives a lot of great information about the lives of Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa Marie. She gets interviews from people all the way back through Priscilla's grade school and up to a lot of Memphis Mafia members and her lovers. It's all very interesting, especially for an Elvis fan like me.
Personally I thought maybe at times it was sort of a witch hunt or a hatchet job, like the author had something against Priscilla, but with the amazing amount of research that went into this it's hard to deny the flat out facts, and I think any notions of Priscilla are earned. No stone seems to have been left unturned. She definitely doesn't come out smelling like roses here as in her own book, but this certainly comes across as more accurate.
Finstad is presenting a story that contradicts an image, one created by Priscilla herself. Finstad simply uncovered the truth that was there all along, as evident by the way she goes back and points out many inconsistencies to Priscilla's stories and how the consistency of her behavior has been there all along.
I've read some comments from people saying take this all with a grain of salt, but the way the facts are presented I'm not sure why you would. This is a must read for fans of The King, and for anyone who has read "Elvis and Me" and was left feeling like they only knew part of the story. If you're fine with the whole myth of Elvis and Priscilla's love story, you might want to skip this and hold on to that image, because this will change that.
8/10
