From Here to the Great Unknown - Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir.

A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and grieved.

Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, laid in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran towards his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they shared in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.

To make her mother known.

This extraordinary book is written in both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voices, a mother and daughter communicating—from this world to the one beyond—as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other—the last words of the only child of an American icon. (link)

Review: 5/5

From one memoir to another, I have been clearly stuck in a brutally honest and trauma dump-mood. As I have been prone to lately, I listened to this as an audiobook, and I can’t imagine any other way of absorbing Lisa’s and Riley’s deeply personal reflections and life-forming events. The detail I loved most about this book was how it switched from the ghost-writer narration by Julia Roberts, the live recordings of Lisa Marie’s interviews, and Riley Keough’s narration of her viewpoints. It was really eye opening to hear what Lisa Marie was going through and how she felt it affected her and her family, then to hear Riley’s viewpoint of the situation and how it differed from her mom’s feelings or views.

Although Lisa Marie Presley isn’t my favorite person in the world, I admire her tenacity and bravery in reliving and reflecting on her most traumatic events, and somewhat trying to remain a “normal” person through it all. As normal as you can be when you’re the heiress of the most world-famous musician. I really respect the stubbornness she held of trying to be normal, have a family, a career of her own, and to provide a happy life for her kids.

I’ve really loved and respected Riley Keough ever since I watched Daisy Jones and the Six, and it’s really interesting how her character so heavily reflects what she saw in her mother during the same period. Daisy (Riley Keough’s character) heavily struggles with fame, drug, alcohol addiction, and the feeling of never measuring up while still thinking highly of herself. I think both Daisy and Lisa Marie have victim complexes, and I wonder if it was therapeutic for Riley to put herself into the mindset of her mother, or if it caused more internal turmoil. I genuinely hope Riley decides to write her own memoir, because the way she wrote and reflected was deeply personable, relatable, and plain beautiful.

I didn’t know much about Lisa Marie’s life before reading, I only knew she was Evlis’ daughter, and was shortly married to Michael Jackson; before reading, I knew nothing of her trauma, loss, or addiction.

This memoir details Lisa Marie’s experience of grief of her father, her short-lived marriage to Micahel Jackson, MJ’s death, her son’s passing, and her struggle with addiction to opioids after her daughter’s birth. It’s extremely raw, and by hearing Lisa Marie speak about these traumatic events, you feel even more connected to her. It really pulled at my heartstrings as someone who has experienced grief so many times in her life for people she loved.

Lisa Marie and Riley Keough are relatable and empathetic narrators, and I especially appreciate their candor and honesty while facing the hardest times of their lives. I appreciate Riley’s understanding yet frustration of her mother’s addiction, it is extremely relatable and grating to hear. As someone who has lost people close to her from addiction, this memoir is a beautiful narration from the viewpoint of someone who outlives the addict.

I can’t imagine the loss of a mother and brother in the same span of time, and I appreciate Riley Keough’s integrity used to recount the events, feelings, and her dispelling of the conspiracies that so often surround someone so famous passing away.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the insight it gave of American society's most notable “royal” family. I do very highly recommend this book, no matter your opinion of Lisa Marie, Elvis, or pop-culture music icons.

Like Lisa Marie and Riley Keough, this playlist is full of iconic music that you just know.

Spotify: LINK