Rating: 
Summary: A scrupulous, unobtrusive masterpiece!
Review: Painstakingly researched and lovingly constructed, Guralnick's book presents an honest insight into the life of the Twentieth Century's greatest icon. This book succeeds because Guralnick does not seek explicitly to judge Elvis, the colonel nor any of the other main protagonists actions- he sticks to a simple, elegant yet prosaic narrative. In doing so, Guralnick avoids the major pitfall of the biographer by not writing himself into the book. When I read this book, I felt myself slipping into Elvis' environs- I wasn't aware of Guralnick's presence as author. Perhaps one of the greatest pop music biographies written.
Rating: 
Summary: Jury still out
Review: While searching for something to read in the Munich bahnhof in 1994 I picked up Guralnick's 'Last Train to Memphis'. Never having been particularly interested in Elvis in the past, the book seemed to center on the only period of his life that interested me: the inspirational time of his emergence. I found the book to be a well-told tale of a determined, decent young man with talent rising to the top of the entertainment world through a combination of willpower, talent and luck. I have been eagerly awaiting the last installment of Guralnick's yarn since then. But now I find myself in a quandry. Never have I seen such a polarization of intelligent opinion about a book. The reader reviews in Amazon go from the sublime to the damned with readers rarely falling in between those categories. The bulk of credible criticism seems to be centered around the Johnny Rivers controversy. If Guralnick is wrong, either by error or intentionally, why doesn't Mr. Rivers engage in litigation rather than simply writing a complaint in Amazon? That would lend far more credibility to his contention in my mind. And what makes blpitcher think that his unsupported "I know the Johnny Rivers/Memphis accusation is a falsehood" statement hold anymore weight than anything Guralnick has written? I am anxious an willing to consider blpitcher's statement, but not on the weight of his good word...he should be bound by the same rules of ethics to which he holds Guralnick. Indeed, the other critics who've attacked Guralnick's "Rivers/Memphis" story seem equally convinced. I'm open-minded: convince me
Rating: 
Summary: Made my mother hate Elvis
Review: I gave this book to my mother as a gift and she told me that it totally destroyed her love for Elvis. She gave it to my sister who had the same reaction. Thanks.
Rating: 
Summary: Presley's life masterfully portrayed as an object lesson.
Review: Taken together with Last Train to Memphis, Peter Guralnik's excellent first volume on the life of Elvis Presley, Careless Love provides -- cloaked in the form of a very entertaining read -- a graphic roadmap of the perils of fame and the destructive power of the baser side of each and every one of us. For as Guralnik shows, the "King of Rock 'N' Roll" started out no different from any of us -- which helps explain his meteoric rise and broad appeal. But Careless Love shows how Presley's penchant for isolation and his habit of surrounding himself with sycophants -- aided by a decades-long addiction to drugs that started because of his naivete -- allowed his selfish side to grow unchecked by the healthy opposition most of us encounter every day of our lives. As a result, the sweet, innocent, gentle boy we met in Volume One becomes, in Careless Love, transformed before our eyes into a self-centered, lost, miserable creature whose tragic death at an early age seems a predictable conclusion to the sad years that preceded it. Guralnik's research was prodigious, and at times he goes a bit overboard on minute details that seem peripheral to the story. Nevertheless, I found Careless Love to be not only entertaining, but actually profound, with implications far beyond the narrow confines of pop culture.
Rating:
Summary: Guralnick does justice to slow tragedy of Elvis' life
Review: For a devout fan who had no trouble writing a brilliant account of Elvis' rapid, historical, rise in "Last Train to Memphis", Peter Guralnick rises to the challenge of covering his childhood hero's long, awkward decline in "Careless Love".Admittedly, Larry Geller, the West brothers and Priscilla Presley herself aren't the most objective sources. But even Boswell wouldn't be able to escape Elvis' perverse and hermetic milieu in the '60s and '70s without a few grudges and emotional scars. Guralnick's triumph is that he's able to cover these manic, and ultimately tragic, years without ever deifying Elvis at his best or demeaning him at his worst. More than the soap operas in Memphis, Hollywood and Vegas that we are well familiar with, Guralnick is interested in the music that always defined Elvis and sometimes fired him up when nobody was expecting it. The conflicting energies and perspectives of "Last Train" and "Careless Love" add up to one of the most important biographies of at least the last 50 years. A figure as iconic, erratic and exasperating as Elvis deserves no less.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but it drags on and on and on...
Review: First of all, I should say that I find the Elvis and his life interesting, as much for what it says about the US as it does about the man, but I'm not a big fan. So I'll let everyone else argue about who swiped whose cut and whether Priscilla's book really gave you the inside story. As for "Careless Love," it's a letdown. "Last Train to Memphis" was a wonderful biography, and Guralnick brings the same dedication and care to this volume. But frankly, the King's life got pretty boring after the Army. By the chapter "Spiritual Awakenings" we already have a doped-out Elvis exploring karate and spiritualism whilst surrounded by women and flunky friends. I thought, "Hey, we're almost done here!" but good heavens, there's 400 more pages of the same thing left to go. Who slept with whom, who did drugs with whom, who recorded which lackluster tracks and how much money Elvis and the Colonel made for each lackluster concert. It does drag on. Guralnick has tried to write the authoritative biography of Elvis, and had clearly put a ton of work into this. Don't listen to the gripes about footnotes, etc. The man has done his homework. The problem is his subject - late Elvis lets him down. Maybe the King just refused to let people see his depths - or perhaps he just wasn't that deep to begin with. For example, maybe Elvis devoted himself to karate because it fulfilled a deep spiritual emptiness. Or maybe he was just addled with prescription drugs. It's hard to find psychological insights about a man who died with a dozen drugs in his system. In the end, "Careless Love" is a well-written catalog of excess and failure. It lacks the drive and spirit of "Last Train to Memphis," but you know what? So did the latter-day Elvis.
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Summary: Let The Good Times Roll
Review: I'm lost in the back and forward of time; was this something I remember or was it the feeling from the muisc: the first time I heard Mystery Train or even Don't Cry Daddy; is it the voice of a man that lived, famed, rocked, abused and died "straining at stool" or the sound of some dark human muck surfaced, rendered in contradiction, wraped in chintz; the closer you look the more confounded you become. It's the time to talk about the end of the world or the greatest toenail of the century, but it you dare turn back and look at the stories told during the last hundred years, you'll hear the story of Elvis Presley and feel the American Tragedy, devistating and alone. Kiss my ring Willy Loman.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary account of the life of Elvis Presley.
Review: I was able to read "Carless Love" right after I read "Last Train to Memphis", and I have never read a biography that picks up to the second where the first one stops. Peter Guralnick vindicated Elvis for all of us. He gives us an honest look at the man without a whitewash or a smear campaign. I recomend this book to every single Elvis fan or musical scholar. Mr. Guralick, thank you for giving us the two definitive biographies of the most misunderstood singer in the 20th century.
Rating:
Summary: This book was captivating, engrossing, and depressing
Review: The first volume was brilliant. I found it incredibly exciting to be "inside" Elvis's crazy life in the 1950's as he was making history. I anxiously awaited the followup volume. The second volume left me numb, depressed, and a little less star-struck. Despite my 35 year love of his music, I can honestly say this book changed my views about Elvis the person. However, I didn't walk a mile in his shoes so I'll keep these personal criticisms unsaid. I would like to line up all of his so-called Memphis Mafia, ask them if they had any last words, and blow them away. Parts of the book drove me crazy, but I am no literary scholar....Guralnick's book is credible, realistic, engrossing, and it left me shocked. The thing I WILL remember most about the Elvis I admired is that his music and his alone, was at my late mother's bedside when I went home following her death. That says volumes about him. Thank you Peter Guralnick.
Rating:
Summary: "Research" gone astray...
Review: Guralnick's Elvis effort is absolutely confounding and erratic. There can be little doubt that his editor(s) should be summarily fired. Certainly every ethical research element has been violated. Charge one: It is nearly impossible to tell who is being quoted throughout the book. And when a good quote is being registered it is usually cut short and leaves the reader frustrated. Charge two: The book cries for footnotes or better attribution. The "notes" in the back of the book do give some insight into how Guralnick did his "research" - unbelieveably he has relied on such "solid" sources as teen mags, fan newsletters and tabloid stories. It's unbelievable! I keep coming away with the thought that this book should have been a straight oral history. Too bad Studs Terkel couldn't have done the story of Elvis... Charge three: The dates. It is impossible to tell what month or year the events of Elvis' life occur. For instance, I was trying to figure when I might have seen him during the 70's in Vegas, but alas, Guralnick doesn't say years or months specifically, but merely says "in the spring they recorded in Nashville again"... Which spring? I mean, there are two years on the folio lines... Maddening... Charge four: (This is the best) Guralnick attempts to make Dr. Nick the hero and savior of Presley. Give me a break. Elvis Presley died on the can with a gut full of Dr. Nick's drugs. Face it. Guralnick acts like Dr. Nick devoted his life to Elvis' safekeeping when in fact he was nothing was a slimy sycophant who held his palm out for free cars, plane rides and stage passes just like all the rest of the "Memphis Mafia". Unbelievable. Charge five: At least 80% of the book talks about recording deals, movie deals, etc. - all of Parker's huckster offerings - very boring, but what I'm sure the author is most comfortable writing (never mind that he occasionally breaks into first person on us). Guralnick IS confounding - I think it best (if you want some insight into ELVIS) to read "Elvis: What Happened?" by the West boys (the book that made Elvis commit suicide) and Priscilla's book and leave it at that. This "Careless Love" is a footnote (and ain't that ironic?)
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