Is Lucy De Barbin's book about her "affair" with Elvis good?

[ElvisChick]

I am skeptical about reading this book and i was wondering what you as Elvis fans would think.

[Diane]

It's the most ridiculous book I've ever read - complete fantasy! Diane

[RS277]

It's a good read......if your into FICTION

[elvislady]

I read it and enjoyed it. i would say buy it and read it for your self. you can get it from amazon.
elvislady

[Burning_Love]

It's a good book for the imagination. Something you would like to believe happened because it gives you the 'Mysterious' Elvis and some insights. But it is a fantasy and i don't personally believe it. But a good read.

[presley]

Good read..I think lucy made all that stuff to be honest.

[maria1073]

i dont think that she made it all up it is a good book read it for your self and then you can say whether you like it are not

[desiree]

I read it and liked it. Maybe it?s fiction and maybe not. I don?t know, but the story was good just like any other novel. You read it and make your own decision whether it?s good or not.

[ruggishboo]

I've read the book two times, it is a readable story, if you can allow yourself to suspend reality. Personally, I don't think she ever knew Elvis, much less had a 24 year affair with him. The book doesn't seem to be consistent in spots. First of all, there are no big hills in Memphis. Memphis is fairly flatland sitting on a bluff over the Mississippi River. She claimed that her and Elvis rode horses up to this hill (if memory serves me right). She also claimed she met Elvis in 1953 in Monroe, LA and that he was a young singer in town. Now, wasn't Elvis driving a truck in 53 fresh out of Humes High? His only known musical performances at the time were in high school and the first acetate he made at Sun (My Happiness, That's Where Your Heartaches Begin). Why would he be in Monroe, LA of all places at that time?

Everywhere in the book when she claimed to have had correspondance with a member of Elvis's family, by the time of the book's release in 1987, that member was dead. This included Vernon and Vester. So therefore they were and are not around to verify some things. We have also heard all the stuff about Elvis not being attracted to woman whom he knew to have had children. Supposedly he knew all about her children, and it didn't matter one bit.

The backstory on her childhood and early years is quite sad, and if all of that happened to her, I do feel empathy for her. But I just can't wrap my mind around Elvis having a secret affair for a quarter of a century and not one person finding out about it. Not that it's impossible, just unlikely.

[presley]

I've read the book two times, it is a readable story, if you can allow yourself to suspend reality. Personally, I don't think she ever knew Elvis, much less had a 24 year affair with him. The book doesn't seem to be consistent in spots. First of all, there are no big hills in Memphis. Memphis is fairly flatland sitting on a bluff over the Mississippi River. She claimed that her and Elvis rode horses up to this hill (if memory serves me right). She also claimed she met Elvis in 1953 in Monroe, LA and that he was a young singer in town. Now, wasn't Elvis driving a truck in 53 fresh out of Humes High? His only known musical performances at the time were in high school and the first acetate he made at Sun (My Happiness, That's Where Your Heartaches Begin). Why would he be in Monroe, LA of all places at that time?

Everywhere in the book when she claimed to have had correspondance with a member of Elvis's family, by the time of the book's release in 1987, that member was dead. This included Vernon and Vester. So therefore they were and are not around to verify some things. We have also heard all the stuff about Elvis not being attracted to woman whom he knew to have had children. Supposedly he knew all about her children, and it didn't matter one bit.

The backstory on her childhood and early years is quite sad, and if all of that happened to her, I do feel empathy for her. But I just can't wrap my mind around Elvis having a secret affair for a quarter of a century and not one person finding out about it. Not that it's impossible, just unlikely.

I agree with you 100%

[adelle]

I have read Lucy's book three times. I was very skeptical at first, but I totally believe her now. I have read other books by people who were very close to Elvis, written long after her book came out. And everything Lucy said in her book holds up in light of all this new information. If you want proof that Lucy's story is true, just listen to Elvis' music, study the lyrics and the timing of the release of the songs, compared to what Lucy says was going on in their relationship at that time. Everything syncs up perfectly. Elvis didn't get a chance to write a book, but his songs ARE his book. Elvis backs up everything that Lucy said in her book. Their story is beautiful and tragic and amazing - the best true love story that I've ever read. If you choose not to believe Lucy's book, then you are missing out on a very important part of Elvis' life. You are dissing someone who the King truly loved for almost his whole life. Lucy is the inspiration for so many of the beautiful love songs that Elvis chose to sing. I am so thankful to Lucy for her selfless love for Elvis and her wise decision to keep their love private and keep Elvis safe.

[LuckyJackson]

Think its a great read - but it is one big Fairytale

[Turbo]

Hello,

This is the late Bill Burke's review on, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"


Are You Lonesome Tonight?
First, De Barbin. The first outright lie is when the Louisiana honey writes that she first met Elvis in the spring of 1953 when Elvis, with his band, played a gig in her hometown. She writes they instantly fell in love, but she was married at the time and Elvis did not want to do anything to harm that marriage. It is a known fact that did not graduate from Humes High School until June 1953 and did not have a band until he joined up with Scotty Moore and Bill Black in the Sun Studio in the summer of 1954.

Next, in De Barbin's fictional account of their romance, she came to Memphis in the fall of 1953 to do a modeling show at the Memphis Zoo. By now, she wrote, Elvis was making his way to becoming a star and she, a married woman, didn't want to chance ruining his future.

Thus, she never told Elvis she would be in Memphis. She wrote that after the modeling gig, she was nervous, so she went and rented a horse and was riding up this mountain in Memphis when she heard another horse rapidly overtaking her. She looked over her shoulder and, lo and behold, there was Lancelot, her pet name for Elvis, riding alongside her.They rode to the top of the mountain and lay in the flowers, spending the night there making love and looking down on the twinkling lights of the city. When I read that passage, I almost fell out of my chair laughing! First, the only place you could rent horses in 1953 in Memphis was at the Fairgrounds (now Libertyland), and even then, those horses were not allowed off the Fairgrounds.

Second, a mountain in Memphis?! Maybe her ghost writer looked at a map of Memphis and saw the major street, Mount Moriah, and figured it was a mountain. Or maybe he saw the Orange Mound area just south of the Fairgrounds and figured that was a mountain? Regardless, Memphis is, has been, and forever will be (until the next Ice Age, perhaps), as flat as a pancake. The nearest mountains to Memphis would be the Ozarks in Arkansas, some three hours to the northwest. And flowers blooming on the mountain top in the fall? Must have been Arctic roses?

Nine months later, daughter Desiree is born. That would put her birth somewhere about June 1954 -- still a month before "That's All Right Mama" was recorded and anyone knew there was anyone named Elvis Presley. She kept it a secret from him, she says, again so it wouldn't ruin his career -- in June 1954. Her last meeting was when she heard he was opening in Las Vegas in 1969. She went to his hotel and bumped into him in the lobby, and he generously reached into his pocket and gave her a $1000 bill for spending money.

Anyone who ever knew Elvis, or was close to him, know Elvis never carried cash in his pockets. Even when he needed a nickel (in those days) to get a Coke out of a machine, one of the guys had to dip into his own pocket to buy the boss a Coke. The part I liked most was when the two De Barbins appeared on a national TV talk show and someone called in to ask Lucy the color of her eyes and the color of Desiree's eyes. "Mine are brown; Desiree's are green," she answered. "Well," the caller replied, "I am a registered nurse who knows something about genetics. You say you have brown eyes. Elvis' eyes were blue. It is impossible for brown and blue to have a green-eyed daughter." "Errr," Lucy stuttered. "I said they were green, but if you look closely you can see they are blue." A change of colors right there on live TV.

Her book was released and they were making a book signing tour of certain USA cities. Memphis, naturally, had to be one. After all, Memphis is the hometown of Desiree's "daddy." I went to the book store and was kneeling in front of them photographing them up close when a fan whispered to Desiree that I knew Elvis. "I understand you knew my father," Desiree asked me. "I don't know," I replied. "Who was he?"


http://www.elvisinfonet.com/bebelvisbookresearch.html

[RS277]

"I understand you knew my father," Desiree asked me. "I don't know," I replied. "Who was he?"...............Now thats a classic response !!