Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis by Priscilla Presley
Pub date - 9/23/25
Please allow me to preface my review by saying this - as a reader, I’ve often vacillated between wanting to read memoirs, and feeling like many parts of a life aren’t for public consumption, nor should they be. As a reader, it makes me feel a bit icky But I read memoirs, not tabloids, and after reading Elvis and Me after it came out in 1985 (I had just turned 12), when I saw the title on NetGalley forty years later, I knew that I wanted to read Priscilla’s new memoir in 2025 at the age of 52; Grand Central Publishing and then Hachette Audio were both kind enough to oblige me and I, at turns, read and listened to this which was narrated by the author.
Priscilla repeats herself, she contradicts herself, because who wouldn’t when describing a life lived, decades past, or parts where memory is pieced together by intrusive media photos and the words of friends. Her story is an interesting one and I have a lot of respect and sympathy for Priscilla; like all women, and many mothers, she did the best she knew how to while trying to remain true to herself which can be a next to impossible line to toe at times. The journey hasn’t been an easy one, but she shares the triumphs along with the unfortunate and offers her story authentically and plainly.
It can’t have been easy to go through this again for the sake of a new memoir, but I hope it was cathartic for Ms Presley and I imagine that fans will enjoy this, as I did, while also feeling for the author for her misfortunes and cheering her for choosing her own happiness. Recommended.
**As in the more recent past, I no longer rate memoirs because it feels wrong to me.
Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the ALC; thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC
