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The Year the Music Changed
It is 1955. Isolated at school by her intelligence and disfigurement, troubled at home by the undercurrents in her parents’ relationship, 14-year-old Achsa McEachern seeks solace in the tunes and rhythms on her radio. After hearing a record by an unknown 20-year-old country singer named Elvis Presley, she fires off a fan letter, telling him she knows he’s going to be a star. Insecure in the world he is entering, passionate about music and burning with a desire to succeed, Elvis answers her and enlists her help in teaching him how to “talk good.”
The intimate, touching correspondence that follows chronicles their coming of age as artists and individuals. Able to confide in nobody else, they share with each other their most private dreams and fears. Elvis becomes Achsa’s sounding board as she watches her beautiful, distant mother and her sternly religious father lurch toward tragedy, confronts her own scarred mouth, and faces a shattering loss. The young singer’s responses reveal his fierce, aching innocence in the year before his star burst forth and offers a fascinating glimpse into the grassroots history of rock and roll.
The intimate, touching correspondence that follows chronicles their coming of age as artists and individuals. Able to confide in nobody else, they share with each other their most private dreams and fears. Elvis becomes Achsa’s sounding board as she watches her beautiful, distant mother and her sternly religious father lurch toward tragedy, confronts her own scarred mouth, and faces a shattering loss. The young singer’s responses reveal his fierce, aching innocence in the year before his star burst forth and offers a fascinating glimpse into the grassroots history of rock and roll.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2005
34 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
About the author
Diane Thomas
27 books84 followersMy second novel, In Wilderness, a literary thriller inspired in part by the haunting southern Appalachian folk ballads of violence and erotic obsession, was also my first. I wrote it in 1981 to distract myself from fears of dying, during an extended period of extreme ill health. I titled this early version The Clearing, gave my symptoms to its protagonist, and sent her into a Georgia mountain wilderness to either die or heal.
Before moving to New Mexico in 2009, I'd lived in Atlanta and north Georgia since age four, except for two years in New York earning an MFA in Theater and Film History and Criticism at Columbia University. I hold a BA in English from Georgia State University and have worked as a reporter for The Atlanta Constitution, now the AJC. In 1966, at 24, I became the nation’s youngest major-newspaper entertainment editor, reviewing local plays, interviewing national film and theatre celebrities (including directors Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, and Elia Kazan, and actors Susan Hayward, Carol Channing, and Michael Caine), and reviewing such iconic films as “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and “Blow Up.” I later joined Atlanta, then a controversial, pioneering city magazine. By the time I fell ill, I had become successful as a freelance writer.
Though nominated for the Pushcart Editors Prize, The Clearing was never published. My illness abated, I resumed my freelance career fulltime, studied in Georgia State’s Creative Writing program, and in 2002 completed The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and Elvis Presley (The Toby Press, 2005). This coming-of-age novel enjoyed critical success and, for a small-press book, respectable sales.
In 2009, my husband and I moved to New Mexico. Homesick for the Georgia mountains, where we’d spent much of the previous seven years, I completely rewrote The Clearing, retitled it In Wilderness, and never dreamed anyone would publish it, since no one had before. A Santa Fe friend talked me into looking for an agent anyway and, miracle of miracles, I found one and she found a publisher for my book.
In Wilderness came out in March 2015 from Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, seven weeks before my 73rd birthday. It was names an "Amazon Best Book" for March 2015, was recommended by Library Journal for "readers who also like the raw, honest writing of Amy Bloom and Amanda Coplin," and endorsed by Lee Child as "Altogether spectacular."
Before moving to New Mexico in 2009, I'd lived in Atlanta and north Georgia since age four, except for two years in New York earning an MFA in Theater and Film History and Criticism at Columbia University. I hold a BA in English from Georgia State University and have worked as a reporter for The Atlanta Constitution, now the AJC. In 1966, at 24, I became the nation’s youngest major-newspaper entertainment editor, reviewing local plays, interviewing national film and theatre celebrities (including directors Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, and Elia Kazan, and actors Susan Hayward, Carol Channing, and Michael Caine), and reviewing such iconic films as “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and “Blow Up.” I later joined Atlanta, then a controversial, pioneering city magazine. By the time I fell ill, I had become successful as a freelance writer.
Though nominated for the Pushcart Editors Prize, The Clearing was never published. My illness abated, I resumed my freelance career fulltime, studied in Georgia State’s Creative Writing program, and in 2002 completed The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and Elvis Presley (The Toby Press, 2005). This coming-of-age novel enjoyed critical success and, for a small-press book, respectable sales.
In 2009, my husband and I moved to New Mexico. Homesick for the Georgia mountains, where we’d spent much of the previous seven years, I completely rewrote The Clearing, retitled it In Wilderness, and never dreamed anyone would publish it, since no one had before. A Santa Fe friend talked me into looking for an agent anyway and, miracle of miracles, I found one and she found a publisher for my book.
In Wilderness came out in March 2015 from Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, seven weeks before my 73rd birthday. It was names an "Amazon Best Book" for March 2015, was recommended by Library Journal for "readers who also like the raw, honest writing of Amy Bloom and Amanda Coplin," and endorsed by Lee Child as "Altogether spectacular."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
February 1, 2019
Well I'll be damned........what a GREAT story!
I've always been a huge Elvis fan probably bc my two older brothers (one by 12 years) were; so here I was thinking THE YEAR THE MUSIC CHANGED would be just a silly little fun read, but truth be told, what I found buried amidst the fictional letters between Elvis and a young 14 year old fan....his first true fan was an intriguing story about the life of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and notable moments in the early life of the King of Rock and Roll.
The entire novel is indeed told with correspondence beginning February, 1955 and ending May, 1956 between Achsa and Elvis; and I must admit, at one point I thought the letters just might become a bit monotonous until secrets began to surface about a haunted mother, scary father....and oh so much more....that I cannot divulge.
So....refresh your grammar along with a 20 year old Elvis just starting out, follow his true itinerary within the time frame of the fictional letters and enjoy a fine story while you discover the truth about a bright, precocious young music lover who searches for friendship and acceptance.
Wonderfully creative debut and work of historical fiction!
May 4, 2014
Although I am not an Elvis fan, this book touched my heart. The novel is told solely through letters between a 14 year old girl named Achsa and an up-and-coming 20 year old man named Elvis Presley. It begins as an innocent letter from Achsa to Elvis commenting on a song she has heard of his before he is well known. Although they've never met, what ensues is a beautiful story as each writes there innermost feelings to one another. As Elvis becomes famous, Achsa has dreams of her own. This novel is a real page turner as these letters reveal pivitol and profound moments in each of their lives. I loved it. Thanks to a certain someone who "forced" me to read it, Ha!
August 26, 2012
Diane Thomas took on a difficult task of writing an entire novel as correspondence between two persons: one famous (a 20-21 year old Elvis Presley) and one unknown (Achsa, a 14-15 year old precocious teenage girl drawn from the author’s imagination and experience). As a contemporary of the young protagonist (but not as precocious) and an Elvis fan “back in the day,” I read her novel appreciatively. Apart from the challenging narrative form, Thomas faced the constraint of building a believable story through employing a well-known and heavily investigated figure a co-narrator. She successfully confronted this in an accurate, uncompromising manner both as to the career of the young Elvis and fine details of the mid-fifties in which he rose to fame.
The results are also largely successful emotionally, but more so with the development of the child of her own creation than with the rock star. This is the story of Achsa, her growing maturation into a bright young woman, her relationship to her parents and the secrets she slowly uncovers. It is well written and moving. The portrayal of the young Elvis is less compelling, as is one of the main pillars of the fictional correspondence – correcting Elvis’ bad grammar. The author’s dedication to historical accuracy may have been a constraining factor here. His part of the correspondence is terse and his motivations left somewhat ambiguous.
At the time the story begins, 1955, Elvis is a 20-year old high school graduate two years out of school. Despite holding jobs and being obsessed with music, he had been a C student, “getting by” following a better start as a freshman. Although the high school once gave him a low IQ assessment of 70, the general opinion was that he was far smarter than that, attested to by his later military service and career development. In any case, at age twenty, Elvis had certainly been taught that “ain’t “ was improper, along with the other elementary grammar tips the young girl conveyed with each letter. If he used bad grammar it was because he didn’t care to correct it. Still, one could easily read the correspondence as implying that Elvis was mentally challenged. A better interpretation is that he was amused by the presumptuous young girl seeking to educate a man six years her senior, but quickly became fond of her, interested in her problems and politely “put up with it.”
The Elvis in the letters is kind, unprejudiced and open-minded and struggling to adapt to his emerging fame. The novel’s portrayal comports with his biographies, but doesn’t add much to the drama of the tale. In the story, Elvis is basically a sounding board or, at times, just a rationale for Achsa pouring out her feelings on paper, whether he reads the letters or not. Elvis role as a protagonist is empathetic, but passive. One wonders whether Thomas might have told the story just as well with only his music providing atmosphere. After all, the tale is about Achsa and her parents, and the context of racial prejudice and sexism surrounding them, not really so much about how the music changed or how that music, Elvis Presley’s music, contributed to changing attitudes. Achsa makes her voyage of discovery fundamentally on her own, with Elvis serving as a safe, sympathetic person to whom she can share her feelings. Achsa’s mother’s feelings and her fateful decision to resolve them had nothing obvious to do with the new music. The novel reveals few new insights into Elvis’ own evolution on racial and other social issues or his impact on those issues.
The author is talented and I look forward to her next. Readers who get into the young girl’s story through her half on the correspondence have given this novel top ratings. It is a quite a good read from that perspective. Readers looking for more vivid interaction between both parties to the correspondence, or a broader message of whether Elvis was a catalyst for cultural change or a product of it might not be fully satisfied. Value this novel for the “small story” well told and be properly rewarded.
The results are also largely successful emotionally, but more so with the development of the child of her own creation than with the rock star. This is the story of Achsa, her growing maturation into a bright young woman, her relationship to her parents and the secrets she slowly uncovers. It is well written and moving. The portrayal of the young Elvis is less compelling, as is one of the main pillars of the fictional correspondence – correcting Elvis’ bad grammar. The author’s dedication to historical accuracy may have been a constraining factor here. His part of the correspondence is terse and his motivations left somewhat ambiguous.
At the time the story begins, 1955, Elvis is a 20-year old high school graduate two years out of school. Despite holding jobs and being obsessed with music, he had been a C student, “getting by” following a better start as a freshman. Although the high school once gave him a low IQ assessment of 70, the general opinion was that he was far smarter than that, attested to by his later military service and career development. In any case, at age twenty, Elvis had certainly been taught that “ain’t “ was improper, along with the other elementary grammar tips the young girl conveyed with each letter. If he used bad grammar it was because he didn’t care to correct it. Still, one could easily read the correspondence as implying that Elvis was mentally challenged. A better interpretation is that he was amused by the presumptuous young girl seeking to educate a man six years her senior, but quickly became fond of her, interested in her problems and politely “put up with it.”
The Elvis in the letters is kind, unprejudiced and open-minded and struggling to adapt to his emerging fame. The novel’s portrayal comports with his biographies, but doesn’t add much to the drama of the tale. In the story, Elvis is basically a sounding board or, at times, just a rationale for Achsa pouring out her feelings on paper, whether he reads the letters or not. Elvis role as a protagonist is empathetic, but passive. One wonders whether Thomas might have told the story just as well with only his music providing atmosphere. After all, the tale is about Achsa and her parents, and the context of racial prejudice and sexism surrounding them, not really so much about how the music changed or how that music, Elvis Presley’s music, contributed to changing attitudes. Achsa makes her voyage of discovery fundamentally on her own, with Elvis serving as a safe, sympathetic person to whom she can share her feelings. Achsa’s mother’s feelings and her fateful decision to resolve them had nothing obvious to do with the new music. The novel reveals few new insights into Elvis’ own evolution on racial and other social issues or his impact on those issues.
The author is talented and I look forward to her next. Readers who get into the young girl’s story through her half on the correspondence have given this novel top ratings. It is a quite a good read from that perspective. Readers looking for more vivid interaction between both parties to the correspondence, or a broader message of whether Elvis was a catalyst for cultural change or a product of it might not be fully satisfied. Value this novel for the “small story” well told and be properly rewarded.
August 13, 2012
Imagine you're a young girl in the South, late 1950's, and you hear a song on the radio. It so impresses you that you write a letter to the singer. A flurry of letters follow for the next couple of years, as you find your place in the world and the singer, Elvis Presley, becomes "the next big thing". Imagine finally meeting him backstage at the Ed Sullivan Show when you have traveled to New York to find the man you think may be your REAL father...
Yeah, all pretty histrionic, but fun nevertheless, and Elvis fans in particular will love this book and the glimpse into his "real" (imagined "real") persona in the very early years. I'm not even that big of an Elvis fan, but still enjoyed it! We're not talking great literature here -- the whole story is told through the letters back and forth. He gives her emotional support as her family falls apart; she gives him grammar lessons! But more than that, of course...
Younger people who didn't have Elvis as a part of their lives growing up probably will find little to "connect" with in this book. For the rest of us -- enjoy!
Yeah, all pretty histrionic, but fun nevertheless, and Elvis fans in particular will love this book and the glimpse into his "real" (imagined "real") persona in the very early years. I'm not even that big of an Elvis fan, but still enjoyed it! We're not talking great literature here -- the whole story is told through the letters back and forth. He gives her emotional support as her family falls apart; she gives him grammar lessons! But more than that, of course...
Younger people who didn't have Elvis as a part of their lives growing up probably will find little to "connect" with in this book. For the rest of us -- enjoy!
June 12, 2012
I read this book over my trip and loved it!! It is fiction, but you would think it is a memoir.This is the type of book you can read from cover to cover in two days. It takes place in the south in the 1950's. It is about a young, shy 14 year old girl who writes a letter to Elvis Presley. Elvis is a rising star and Ascha is a fan of his. She has just heard his first song on a "hillbilly" radio station. The letters start out as fan letters, but quickly become heart-touching and often heart-wrenching descriptions of Ascha's private inner life and that of her family's. The letters Elvis writes back to Achsa help to anchor the book in place and time, while providing us with an interesting new perspective on what it might have been like to be that rising star in the days before he became trapped in his own superstardom. I loved the writers ease, the style using the letters, just a fun, as well as enjoyable read!
June 11, 2012
Maybe I was influenced by my age (nearly the same as hers) and my long time love of Elvis!
February 24, 2012
The Year The Music Changed is Diane Thomas’s nostalgic and heartwarming debut novel, published by Amazon Encore.
The book begins with a letter from a 14 year old girl, Achsa McEachern in March, 1955 to 20 year old Elvis Presley after she hears his record “That’s All Right Mama” on the radio. Each are lonesome for a friend to bare their biggest dreams and deepest fears to and through the letters they fulfill that need. They continue to write each other and, at Elvis’s request, each letter contains one grammar lesson from Achsa to help the King improve his speech. For one year their correspondence records the lows and highs, thrills and fears of the lives of the fictional, Achsa McEachern, and the historical King of Rock, Elvis Presley. Deep secrets and moments of self discovery, joy and despair are revealed in the letters, documenting the journey of these young talented people coming into their own.
The author does a great job of bringing the reader into the place and time of Southern USA in 1955 and in recreating the voice and experiences of Elvis Presley at the beginning of his career. I couldn’t help falling in love with these characters. Diane Thomas’s portrayal of Elvis is very believable and to my knowledge accurate. Achsa is a character readers can easily identify with, she’s brilliant, kind, and has a remarkable spirit, able to soar above all odds. I felt very close to Ashsa and I will remember her for years to come. Parts of the novel went a little slow for me but I found most of it to be a page turner. It’s suitable for a wide age range from readers age 14 on up. I recommend The Year The Music Changed.
The book begins with a letter from a 14 year old girl, Achsa McEachern in March, 1955 to 20 year old Elvis Presley after she hears his record “That’s All Right Mama” on the radio. Each are lonesome for a friend to bare their biggest dreams and deepest fears to and through the letters they fulfill that need. They continue to write each other and, at Elvis’s request, each letter contains one grammar lesson from Achsa to help the King improve his speech. For one year their correspondence records the lows and highs, thrills and fears of the lives of the fictional, Achsa McEachern, and the historical King of Rock, Elvis Presley. Deep secrets and moments of self discovery, joy and despair are revealed in the letters, documenting the journey of these young talented people coming into their own.
The author does a great job of bringing the reader into the place and time of Southern USA in 1955 and in recreating the voice and experiences of Elvis Presley at the beginning of his career. I couldn’t help falling in love with these characters. Diane Thomas’s portrayal of Elvis is very believable and to my knowledge accurate. Achsa is a character readers can easily identify with, she’s brilliant, kind, and has a remarkable spirit, able to soar above all odds. I felt very close to Ashsa and I will remember her for years to come. Parts of the novel went a little slow for me but I found most of it to be a page turner. It’s suitable for a wide age range from readers age 14 on up. I recommend The Year The Music Changed.
February 20, 2016
I absolutely LOVED this book. 14-year-old Achsa McEachern, a future playwright, writes a fan letter to a 20-year-old Elvis Presley in 1955 (he has yet to hit it big...but Achsa has heard one of his songs on the radio and predicts that he'll be a big star), and a friendship is born.
It sounds improbable, but the author makes it work. Achsa has a tough row to hoe with everything that is happening in her life, but Elvis is a stalwart friend who encourages her and asks her to help him write and talk better. There were times when I thought, "Okay...even a child prodigy isn't going to write like this," but I didn't care. Achsa's story is touching and heartbreaking, and her growth as a person and her journey to find out more about her mother was wonderful and touching.
This Elvis fan can only hope that he was as kind a person as he was portrayed in this book.
The book is almost entirely in the form of letters between Achsa and Elvis, and I'm a big fan of the epistolary form. I think it provides a personal glimpse into the characters, and in this case, we get to see a naive 14-year-old and an equally naive country boy blossom in their friendship.
An absolutely charming book.
It sounds improbable, but the author makes it work. Achsa has a tough row to hoe with everything that is happening in her life, but Elvis is a stalwart friend who encourages her and asks her to help him write and talk better. There were times when I thought, "Okay...even a child prodigy isn't going to write like this," but I didn't care. Achsa's story is touching and heartbreaking, and her growth as a person and her journey to find out more about her mother was wonderful and touching.
This Elvis fan can only hope that he was as kind a person as he was portrayed in this book.
The book is almost entirely in the form of letters between Achsa and Elvis, and I'm a big fan of the epistolary form. I think it provides a personal glimpse into the characters, and in this case, we get to see a naive 14-year-old and an equally naive country boy blossom in their friendship.
An absolutely charming book.
March 14, 2016
I am thoroughly enjoying this. It is supposed to be letters (real ones) written by Elvis Presley at the beginning of his career, and the recipient was an actress I am unfamiliar with, who was 14 when they began corresponding. I am 25 % done, according to Kindle, but it is surprisingly absorbing. Real life, simple, but beautiful in it's way. It could be fictional characters the way it goes on, but made bittersweet by the fact that almost everyone knows something about Elvis. 4 **** so far. Highly recommend !
Finished The Year the Music Changed. I think it sucked me in, as it is fiction, I was sucked in by the intro....very well done, by the way ! The book was really good, and I highly recommend it. It can be read in a day (at the beach, pool, whatever). I did find it very touching and sweet. The story within a story of Achsa's mom is excellent, and I am not sure any of that is based in fact. The interesting part is that all Elvis' travel, historical appearances, etc. are very true to fact, and I think the author caught a very sweet realism in his voice in the letters. Excellent. It is a story that will stay with me.
Finished The Year the Music Changed. I think it sucked me in, as it is fiction, I was sucked in by the intro....very well done, by the way ! The book was really good, and I highly recommend it. It can be read in a day (at the beach, pool, whatever). I did find it very touching and sweet. The story within a story of Achsa's mom is excellent, and I am not sure any of that is based in fact. The interesting part is that all Elvis' travel, historical appearances, etc. are very true to fact, and I think the author caught a very sweet realism in his voice in the letters. Excellent. It is a story that will stay with me.
June 4, 2012
This book was an Amazon "deal" for my Kindle, so I decided to give it a try. Told by correspondence, it is a story of a young girl with a difficult life who goes through an even more difficult time. She finds solace by writing a fan letter to Elvis! Elvis writes her back and becomes her support. I could not put this book down and I highly recommend it.
September 1, 2012
Really well done and unusual. Letters exchanged between a fictional teen age girl (who is wonderful) and Elvis Presley - well researched and, I felt, captured the real, young Elvis. Great story!
January 30, 2018
I love this book so much. It made me cry several times. What an outstanding author!
May 8, 2012
There are few words to express my fondness and appreciation for this novel. Written completely with letters back and forth, it tells the story of an advanced fourteen year old who writes a simple fan letter to a twenty year old Elvis Presley. The thing about this story is it's an entire work of fiction. It was written so creatively and it's even more inspiring seeing as it is the author's first novel. She obviously did her research and as a Elvis groupie, I applaud her for that and providing information that only true EP fans would know. I felt compelled to put myself in Acsha's shoes and my heart sank during the tender moments and butterflies arose as she ran through the snow in New York to the television studios where she would meet him for the first and only time. I haven't written a review on Goodreads in a very long time, but there was just something about this book (which I accidentally stumbled upon as one of Amazon's 100 Kindle books under $3.99) Loved, loved, LOVED it and only inspired me just a little bit more.
July 3, 2012
Based on fictional letters between a 14 year girl and Elvis Presley at the very start of his career. This is a sweet, sad and very poignant story. Achsa is a disfured high school girl who is a "gimp" at her school. She's very bright but has few friends. With an emotionally distant mother and zealot father she is lonely. Achsa writes to Elvis because she has heard one of his records on the radio. He answers her letter and they start a year of correspondence. Achsa corrects his grammar so he won't sound like a "hick" (at his request) and he listens to her pour her heart out as her family is slowly disintergrating. I thought the letter form would be kind of boring and dry - not so. Author has based the story using the actual events in Elvis Presley's showing his excitement as his career takes off and his close relationship with his mother. Very moving ---
January 22, 2015
The title is a little misleading. While this is a book about Elvis' music debut, it truly is about the friendship between he and a teen girl who is arguably his first true fan, all taking place in a year long pen-pal relationship. It should've have been titled Dear Elvis..., but that's just my opinion.
I'm not one for historical fiction usually and this book can be overly saccharine at times but it touched me nonetheless, because I understood Achsa to my very core. I have known that fire, that passion for music and its musician, I have known her uncertainty and lack of confidence and self-esteem. I have been on her journey to find one's own identity. It's not about being a groupie…it's about about finding yourself in someone else, till you are strong enough to stand on your own.
I'm not one for historical fiction usually and this book can be overly saccharine at times but it touched me nonetheless, because I understood Achsa to my very core. I have known that fire, that passion for music and its musician, I have known her uncertainty and lack of confidence and self-esteem. I have been on her journey to find one's own identity. It's not about being a groupie…it's about about finding yourself in someone else, till you are strong enough to stand on your own.
May 23, 2012
I have mixed feelings about this book. I had a hard time in the beginning because the letters from Elvis just did not sound like him at all and I didn't appreciate how the author almost made him sound illiterate. But once I put it out of my mind that it was ELVIS, and thought of the male person in the book as just an up and coming star, I enjoyed it. The girl's story (Achsa) kept my interest and I would have enjoyed learning even more about her. But the ending was a bit disappointing as it felt very rushed to end it. I felt ripped off that I never got to learn what Elvis thought about Achsa upon finally meeting her.
December 14, 2013
It was a page turner until I got to the end and realized that this was fiction when I read the author's note about how much fun she had writing it. It's not even fiction, it's fan fiction, and that can certainly be fun but fanfic never tries to pass themselves off as actual fiction. I gave this book a lot of passes because I thought it was real. Had I known it was fiction I wouldn't have read past the first chapter. I was willing to give the book a very long leash because I thought this was something historical that just escaped my notice. The author could have tried harder to make it clear in the front matter that this was, indeed, fiction.
July 20, 2014
I remember the day Elvis died. My mother was sad that day. Maybe I liked this book so much because both of my parents shared their love of Elvis' music with me, or maybe I liked it because I've always been one to search for the truth about people through words and so when Elvis died I read about him. But it's equally likely that I enjoyed it because it was unique, was written with skill and heart, and was anything but predictable. If you enjoy experiencing a time in history through the well-researched work of an author who serves it to you as a topping on an enjoyable and original work of fiction I recommend this book!
June 23, 2009
I picked this book up off a "featured" shelf at the public library. The cover is what caught my eye, mostly because of the bright colors. I was never much of an Elvis fan, but my mom and mother-in-law are. Of course this book is fictional (but based on Elvis's life and career), but I thought it was so fun to read "letters" between him and a fan. I feel like I learned a little about Elvis from reading this. Haha!
May 24, 2009
Here's a rare chance for me to use the term I learned in grad school: this Epistolary Novel (a novel written entirely in letter form) was really excellent. It tells the story of a young girl who writes to Elvis Presley very early in his career, and takes them through the next year or so as he gets his "big breaks" and makes some mistakes too. Highly recommended. A+.
December 18, 2010
A year in the life of Elvis Presley and a fan from Atlanta told in the form a letters written very early in Elvis' career. This covers a lot of ground about the up-coming changing in American movies, morals, race relations, and other aspects of life. Parts of this are amusing, parts are rather heartbreaking.
Task 30.5 B
Task 30.5 B
August 15, 2011
With a gentle hand, Thomas casts light on life in the sixties. A young author struggles out of the grasp of a dysfunctional family and disfigurement. The imagined correspondence with the still-unknown Elvis Presley alludes to race, sexual politics, and coming of age in a time about to turn very turbulent. The writing is elegant and concise, subtle and evocative. A very rewarding read.
May 14, 2013
Charming- what a fun book of a correspondence between Elvis and a fictional fan. This story captures the essence of the mid-fifties when Elvis was in transition between his innocent farm boy days to the super star he would become. Diane Thomas has done her research and the letters are based on the essence of the truth. This book tells a beautiful coming of age story.
November 9, 2015
Very good read
When I first started reading I thought , "I probably will not finish this one". I expected the letters to stop and the book to begin. As I continued reading, I found myself eagerly wanting to see what the next letter would disclose. It is a unique way to tell an interesting story..
When I first started reading I thought , "I probably will not finish this one". I expected the letters to stop and the book to begin. As I continued reading, I found myself eagerly wanting to see what the next letter would disclose. It is a unique way to tell an interesting story..
January 25, 2016
This is a wonderful book, I highly recommend you read it. The character development achieved by the author using the letters written by a young girl to Elvis and his letters back to her is amazing. I really came to care about the main character, Achsa, and her family. I bought this book because my library system doesn't have it and I am very glad I did!
April 28, 2016
Wish it was not fiction!
I thought how cool it would be if this wasn't fiction. But the author tells a great story with very believable characters. If you're an Elvis fan, you'll enjoy the parts that the author made true to real events and you'll enjoy this book very much. It COULD have happened....I enjoyed the book very much.
I thought how cool it would be if this wasn't fiction. But the author tells a great story with very believable characters. If you're an Elvis fan, you'll enjoy the parts that the author made true to real events and you'll enjoy this book very much. It COULD have happened....I enjoyed the book very much.
April 23, 2016
Fascinating storytelling.
This book gets better the more that you lose yourself in it. At first, the unusual style of telling the story through letters was awkward but I adapted to the style because the story became so compelling. The ending left me wanting to know more details of Achsa's life in New York. The prologue alluded that she found success but I want to know more.
This book gets better the more that you lose yourself in it. At first, the unusual style of telling the story through letters was awkward but I adapted to the style because the story became so compelling. The ending left me wanting to know more details of Achsa's life in New York. The prologue alluded that she found success but I want to know more.
April 1, 2015
I'm a sucker for epistolary novels, and this one was good. I love the fact that the author chose to include cross-outs. That's a stylistic choice I always enjoy. The development of the relationship between Elvis and Achsa felt natural and not at all forced. A fun read.
November 10, 2015
A nice surprise.
Don't know what compelled me to buy this book, but I'm glad it did. So unlike what I usually read but I'm glad I did. Like opening a time capsule and getting lost in it for awhile. This was a really nice surprise.
Don't know what compelled me to buy this book, but I'm glad it did. So unlike what I usually read but I'm glad I did. Like opening a time capsule and getting lost in it for awhile. This was a really nice surprise.
November 16, 2015
Starts very slow....
I was drab into the character, and the picture painted of Elvis was very believable. I almost stopped reading, because it is a slow start and hard to stay interested...sick with it.
I was drab into the character, and the picture painted of Elvis was very believable. I almost stopped reading, because it is a slow start and hard to stay interested...sick with it.
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