Elvis, What Happened? [Mass Market Paperback]

Normally I would never give a book I find to be so sloppily organized and redundant 4 stars. However, I am making an exception with this book because the actual SUBSTANCE in the book is undeniable -- replete with firsthand accounts of many, many different (and often disturbing) scenarios. Full of the demons the kind of life these authors lived has. A fascinating read.

It is a portrait not only of Elvis but of the "yes men" who chose to let Elvis be the center of their universes -- even when they weren't being paid or paid very little. It also describes many, many incidents that show the irresponsibility of Elvis and of themselves in the name of "fun." When Elvis caused damage he just threw money at it, and there was always plenty of money to throw at it; when the "boys" felt any tinges of responsibility for making poor choices they chalked it up to loyalty to Elvis.

He didn't often pay them much, but they lived in the craziness and glamour of a lifestyle only sometime very rich and very famous could have, and -- as it is repeated so often in the book -- their loyalty to him was out of love (at least what they thought was love).

It is amazing that this book came out just before Elvis died of a drug overdose. Most people didn't realize about Elvis's drug habits -- and by the time they did, it was too late.

I can't help but feel that the title: ELVIS: WHAT HAPPENED? was as a direct question to Elvis. As if the guys who wrote it felt that maybe Elvis would read the book and be reminded of how much they loved him -- but also have to face his self-destructive lifestyle.

I find this book very honest not only because of what it says about Elvis -- and it IS about Elvis -- but what it confesses about the men who wrote it -- especially Red West and Sonny West. There is MUCH confession here, and things that would be hard to admit to oneself much less a mass of strangers in a book. If they did not spare Elvis in their truth-telling, I suspect it would be fair to say that they did not spare themselves either. And because of this, I can't help but believe the book is very honest.

The agitatingly redundant part of the book was perhaps more the fault of the ghost writer or editor. It's all right for a two-hour movie to flash back and forth through time, but for an entire book to go from '58 to '73 back to '58 then to '75 then back to '61 and progress to '62 ... well, you get the picture. This is why I don't give the book 5 stars.

If I find a book interesting -- and this one is -- I often like to read it cover to cover in a short amount of time. But this book drove me nuts anytime I gave it more than an hour of reading time due to the unnecessary sense of vertigo from constant drifting and shifting back and forth into different places in time, but also because of certain phrases -- only slightly reworded -- used again and again and again until I could hardly stand it. A good editor, in my opinion, would have cut and pasted that baby big-time -- put it in chronological order -- and then dropped all the repetitive phrases from the book except for perhaps the very beginning and very end of the book.

However it is also those repetitive phrases, along with the title of the book, that make me to feel that this book was written very much with Elvis reading it in mind -- and wanting to remind him over and over how they loved him and were loyal to him in so many ways. Or maybe it wasn't even that. Maybe -- in fact, surely -- they were fighting their own demons after coming out of so many years in their very dysfunctional relationships that they had with Elvis and with each other. Sometimes when you are trying to resolve something and make sense of it you just feel a need to talk about it, hoping that something will suddenly snap and all the pieces will finally fall in place.

Very much a "reality book."

I think the authors really hoped that the book would help bring Elvis to his senses so that he would dry out from all his pills and become the guy they once knew and loved most.

One other thing: I found it fascinating to read all the things people put up with around Elvis. I'm sorry, but just one day with some of his antics with guns for instance and I would be SO out of there. As I read this book I was not just dismayed by Elvis's self-destruction, but by the self-destruction that went on for just about everyone involved in Elvis's daily life (except for the possible exception of Col. Parker who seemed to lead a totally separate personal life, his role being limited more to being Elvis's respected, capable, somewhat heavy-handed and influential personal manager).

Biggest missed opportunity for Elvis: turning down a role in the movie THUNDER ROAD -- apparently under Col. Parker's insistence. Because, like many celebrity singers, Elvis wanted to be a movie star.

I would like to know what Elvis might have done if he had refused to make all the "musical travelogue" movies he hated so and had divorced himself from Col. Parker's ruling hand. Elvis, (and I agree with him), didn't like those movies much and hated making them, but it was "sure money," a thing Parker, like any "good" businessman, always liked to go for. It was Parker too who chose to stage Elvis's "comeback" after the Army in a Las Vegas setting. Well, I won't go on and on anymore. Needless to say, this book got me to thinking about a LOT of things. It's revealing, informative, often brutally honest, and best of all really stirring. It gave me a LOT to think about -- not only about Elvis but about "yes men," women and fans who went over the top in their own personal choices in response to the opportunity to be in the inner circle with this man or chose to storm the stage at one of his concerts, be it for a decade or an hour.

Riveting stuff. Just don't try to read it all at once. I'm tellin' ya, that'd drive you nuts! Perfect would be maybe 15-30 minutes a day. Worth the read.

I for one *do* believe the authors loved Elvis and wanted him to get help. On the other hand, as an expose of a friend, it's pretty coldblooded.

It's sad that Elvis died just prior to the release of this book. It might have been the "hit-bottom-moment" he needed to realize, once and for all, how the pills (and not just the Colonel's singleminded focus on the bottom line, not just "too much fame too soon") had changed him. (The Colonel and fame being aggravating factors, yes.)

Why didn't anyone force Elvis to get help? Because you can't force anyone to help themselves, and Elvis' being "The King" didn't help matters much.

The book really demonstrates anecdotally how incredibly indulged Elvis was by everyone around him, and how extreme fame and drugs combined to shelter Elvis and keep him in a fantasy world.

It's a sad end to a man of faith and generosity.

Why is this book out of print? Two reasons:

1) It's painful to read.

2) While author and bodyguard Red doubtless did have roles directing the musical side of Elvis' career, calling Red "the genius behind Elvis' music" is so patently absurd as to further distance the reader, casting doubt not only on the credibility -- but the sanity -- of the authorial voice.

Still, a fascinating portrait, best in combination with a book like Peter Guralnick's more erudite Elvis biography, "Careless Love".

Contrary to other reviews you've read, this book was extremely well written. No, it's not a chronology of events; however, if one is looking for insight into who Elvis was as a person, I've yet to come across anything as complete as this.
For the pollianna Elvis fan, some of the information may be hard to swallow, but the fact that it was written by those who were closest to him consistantly over a 20 year period provides all the credibility a reader should require.
The book is certainly not a condemnation of Elvis; rather, it is a complete -- seemingly truthful -- sketch of a total man: his talents as well as his faults, his accomplishments and his misfortunes.
The reader who is interested in more than just an iconoclastic version of "The King" will appreciate the candid glimpse of the emperor both in and out of his clothes.