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Heartbreak Hotel
Die mitreißende Beschwörung einer amerikanischen Legende: Childress schildert das Leben Elvis Presleys von seinem kometenhaften Aufstieg bis zu seinem einsamen Tod - und entwirft zugleich ein lebendiges Panorama der Geschichte Amerikas über drei Jahrzehnte hinweg.
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First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Mark Childress
33 books239 followersMark Childress was born in Monroeville, Alabama. He is the author of the novels A WORLD MADE OF FIRE, V FOR VICTOR, TENDER, CRAZY IN ALABAMA, GONE FOR GOOD, ONE MISSISSIPPI, and GEORGIA BOTTOMS. Childress has received the Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Author, Thomas Wolfe Award, the University of Alabama's Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Alabama Library Association's Writer of the Year. He is a staff member and a director of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. He has lived in Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, California, Costa Rica, and currently lives in Key West, Florida, where he is writing his eighth novel and a film script.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 22, 2013
It's Elvis. It's fiction, and the protagonist is named Leroy Kirby; but it's Elvis. Mark Childress writes Southern Fiction and I wanted to see how good he is. I remember a lot about Elvis because I lived in Memphis in the 1960's when he lived at Graceland. So, it was a test.
Mark Childress is a talented writer and this is a good story. If you want to feel what Elvis felt, buy this book.
At first I thought Childress hit the details in "Leroy's" early family life too hard; such as being a surviving twin and the problems his family, back three generations, had in Tupelo. But, that detail was the foundation for building the Elvis character. With that early detail Childress made me understand what Elvis felt at each stage of his life. The half dozen times I saw Elvis at Graceland I thought he looked trapped, and he was. He'd be behind that fence sitting on a horse or a motorcycle with a pretty girl talking to the fans. He couldn't leave there unless he had a police escort or it was the middle of the night.
The best part of Tender is the musical history. I love that old Rhythm and Blues music and Childress hits the high points in naming the artists and the songs that underlay Elvis's early music. He also makes up some; probably so he didn't have to get permission and pay a royalty to put lyrics in the book. That's OK.
If you're curious about Elvis, buy this book.
Now, I've got to go read another Mark Childress book to see if he really is as good as I think he is.
Mark Childress is a talented writer and this is a good story. If you want to feel what Elvis felt, buy this book.
At first I thought Childress hit the details in "Leroy's" early family life too hard; such as being a surviving twin and the problems his family, back three generations, had in Tupelo. But, that detail was the foundation for building the Elvis character. With that early detail Childress made me understand what Elvis felt at each stage of his life. The half dozen times I saw Elvis at Graceland I thought he looked trapped, and he was. He'd be behind that fence sitting on a horse or a motorcycle with a pretty girl talking to the fans. He couldn't leave there unless he had a police escort or it was the middle of the night.
The best part of Tender is the musical history. I love that old Rhythm and Blues music and Childress hits the high points in naming the artists and the songs that underlay Elvis's early music. He also makes up some; probably so he didn't have to get permission and pay a royalty to put lyrics in the book. That's OK.
If you're curious about Elvis, buy this book.
Now, I've got to go read another Mark Childress book to see if he really is as good as I think he is.
December 19, 2013
This is the story of the rise to fame of rockabilly super star Leroy Kirby. Leroy Kirby's life bears a remarkable resemblance to another famous musician from Tupelo who ended up in Memphis, TN. We all know that person as Elvis Presley. Yep…the king himself. Of course, this book is fiction but it reads like a biography only the names are changed and Mark Childress also has changed the name of a lot of the songs and some other key pieces of info but not so much that you don't get that it is Elvis.
I needed a lighter read and this fit the bill. I would recommend it to any fans of early Elvis. I read a kindle edition and it was not the best as it kept crashing at the end when I was almost through with the book. It was maddening. This is no fault of the author so I was hesitant to mention it in the review. So, I would not recommend the kindle version but would whole heartedly recommend the book. I plan to read more Childress.
I needed a lighter read and this fit the bill. I would recommend it to any fans of early Elvis. I read a kindle edition and it was not the best as it kept crashing at the end when I was almost through with the book. It was maddening. This is no fault of the author so I was hesitant to mention it in the review. So, I would not recommend the kindle version but would whole heartedly recommend the book. I plan to read more Childress.
August 11, 2012
TENDER is the story of Leroy Kirby, the greatest rock and roll star ever. This is similar to but not Elvis Presley's life. I've never really been fascinated with Elvis per say, but this is a good novel. It has a knack of staying with you a long time after you've finished reading it. Childress knows how to make you laugh while he's documenting social history.
December 26, 2017
Just a fabulous read! A fictionalized account of Elvis Presley's life. Read it in college after I read Albert Goldman's atrocious biography. I prefer Childress.
September 11, 2015
I am in my mid 50's and the Elvis Presley I remember was a fat sweaty guy on TV singing in Hawaii while handing out sweat soaked scarves to middle aged women in the audience. He seemed a parody of something else, like Bill Murray's piano bar singer.
Reading Marc Childress's "Tender" shows a different Elvis, an almost accidental star who was unprepared for his own fame and the trappings and entrapment that his fame and fortune produced.
Marc Childress is a gifted Southern writer whose books capture slices of humor and pathos unique to The South. In "Tender" he describes the poverty and loneliness of Elvis's youth, and the excitement of his rapid rise to stardom and what he meant to the Country. It shows a lonely boy desperate for fame who ultimately generates so much attention for himself that he becomes a lonely man imprisoned in his mansion surrounded by girls he is afraid to touch.
Reading Marc Childress's "Tender" shows a different Elvis, an almost accidental star who was unprepared for his own fame and the trappings and entrapment that his fame and fortune produced.
Marc Childress is a gifted Southern writer whose books capture slices of humor and pathos unique to The South. In "Tender" he describes the poverty and loneliness of Elvis's youth, and the excitement of his rapid rise to stardom and what he meant to the Country. It shows a lonely boy desperate for fame who ultimately generates so much attention for himself that he becomes a lonely man imprisoned in his mansion surrounded by girls he is afraid to touch.
January 3, 2012
The King!!!! Unfortunately it doesn't cover his whole life, I could've read on and on..
June 15, 2020
This was a surprise for me...a very pleasant one!....enjoyed this book!
February 3, 2023
Slow start but after first 90 pages I was into completely. The writing is beautiful and gives a sense of how heartbreaking and breathtaking the King’s early days were.
October 16, 2023
Not my favorite of his books.
June 15, 2020
Heavily based on Elvis. Mark Childress’ writing has improved a lot since this book was written.
February 22, 2016
Ostensibly a roman à clef based on Elvis Presley’s childhood and rise to stardom, Tender is in fact about the hero’s intense relationship with his mother and how it affects his life.
The Elvis character, Leroy Kirby, is born in a simple building in rural Mississippi, surviving a twin who is stillborn (this will have a subtle ripple effect through the ensuing years). His upbringing is inconsistent to say the least; with his father either in jail or unable to hold down a job most of the time, the Kirbys are always living with family or on the run from landlords.
Amid this uncertain life, Leroy’s undeniable singing talent begins to shine. He is first discovered by a teacher hunting for someone who can win a local talent show, but it is Leroy’s desperate need to justify his mother’s love and acceptance that drives him on towards success. As he grows older and less awkward, his singing ability combines with a devastating charismatic sexuality that taps into the frustrated female psyche of the 1950s. He is soon king of the music world.
But as his phenomenal success grows, so his personal life becomes more claustrophobic - until he is forced to create a compound in which he and his family can live unmolested by his ravening fans. The only person who still has Leroy’s best interests at heart is his mother, and when her health begins to fail, so too do Leroy’s fortunes.
This was the first Mark Childress novel I had read since the rather disappointing Georgia Bottoms, and it reminded me just how good he can be at running an entertaining story and a social subtext in tandem without detracting from either. He invokes the rural south and the 1950s era with precision and the reader is right there cheering Leroy along as he tries to make something of his life.
The loving dynamic between Leroy and his mother is perfectly believable, as are the supporting characters who mainly serve as foils to delineate the changes in Leroy. Even the low-grade hint of the supernatural permeating the narrative works to a greater literary purpose.
Tender is, at its core, an examination of the difference between real love and the ersatz kind that comes from fame, power, success, wealth.
Childress has an easy, almost relaxed style that invites the reader to gulp down his prose – which I did. The constant errors in tense began to grate after a while (perhaps Childress’ editors believe this is some sort of endearing stylistic quirk?), and the iBooks version I read was littered with typos, but otherwise Tender was a pleasurable reading experience, one I’d put right up there with my other Childress favourites, One Mississippi and Crazy in Alabama.
The Elvis character, Leroy Kirby, is born in a simple building in rural Mississippi, surviving a twin who is stillborn (this will have a subtle ripple effect through the ensuing years). His upbringing is inconsistent to say the least; with his father either in jail or unable to hold down a job most of the time, the Kirbys are always living with family or on the run from landlords.
Amid this uncertain life, Leroy’s undeniable singing talent begins to shine. He is first discovered by a teacher hunting for someone who can win a local talent show, but it is Leroy’s desperate need to justify his mother’s love and acceptance that drives him on towards success. As he grows older and less awkward, his singing ability combines with a devastating charismatic sexuality that taps into the frustrated female psyche of the 1950s. He is soon king of the music world.
But as his phenomenal success grows, so his personal life becomes more claustrophobic - until he is forced to create a compound in which he and his family can live unmolested by his ravening fans. The only person who still has Leroy’s best interests at heart is his mother, and when her health begins to fail, so too do Leroy’s fortunes.
This was the first Mark Childress novel I had read since the rather disappointing Georgia Bottoms, and it reminded me just how good he can be at running an entertaining story and a social subtext in tandem without detracting from either. He invokes the rural south and the 1950s era with precision and the reader is right there cheering Leroy along as he tries to make something of his life.
The loving dynamic between Leroy and his mother is perfectly believable, as are the supporting characters who mainly serve as foils to delineate the changes in Leroy. Even the low-grade hint of the supernatural permeating the narrative works to a greater literary purpose.
Tender is, at its core, an examination of the difference between real love and the ersatz kind that comes from fame, power, success, wealth.
Childress has an easy, almost relaxed style that invites the reader to gulp down his prose – which I did. The constant errors in tense began to grate after a while (perhaps Childress’ editors believe this is some sort of endearing stylistic quirk?), and the iBooks version I read was littered with typos, but otherwise Tender was a pleasurable reading experience, one I’d put right up there with my other Childress favourites, One Mississippi and Crazy in Alabama.
July 28, 2020
Als der kleine Elvis Aron Presley zur Welt kommt, ist er eine große Überraschung für seine Eltern - dass Gladys Presley Zwillinge erwartet, war nur vermutet, aber nicht bestätigt worden. Umso größer die Freude, als nach seinem totgeborenen Zwillingsbruder ein quicklebendiger kleiner Junge das Licht der Welt erblickt.
Sein Start ins Leben ist dennoch schwer genug, das Geld reicht hinten und vorne nicht, zumal sein Vater auch nicht allzu viel von Arbeit hält, hin und wieder ein krummes Ding dreht und die Familie ständig umziehen muss, auf der Flucht vor Strafverfolgung des Vaters oder aber vor den Vermietern, die ihr Geld eintreiben wollen.
Als Elvis in die Schule kommt, ist sein größter Wunsch ein Fahrrad. Das ist finanziell aber nicht drin, und schließlich bekommt er stattdessen eine Gitarre geschenkt, die ihm schließlich eine ganz neue Welt eröffnet: die Musik. Stundenlang klimpert er auf dem neuen Instrument, singt Lieder aus dem Radio nach und nimmt schließlich an einem Talentwettbewerb teil.
Dennoch bleibt Elvis der ewig uncoole, schüchterne Außenseiter, bis er eines Tages allen Mut und sein Geld zusammennimmt und in einem Plattenstudio eine Demoplatte aufnimmt ...
Mark Childress versteht es generell wunderbar, das Flair des amerikanischen Südens einzufangen. Hier gibt er sich etwas weniger flapsig als in seinen anderen Büchern und zeichnet ein authentisch wirkendes Bild von den jungen Jahren des "King", wobei er ihn weder niederschreibt noch künstlich überhöht. Der Junge, der es unter Gleichaltrigen nicht leicht hat, der mit zärtlicher Liebe an seiner Mutter hängt und eigentlich einfach nur anerkannt sein will, um seine Selbstzweifel loszuwerden, kommt dem Leser sehr nahe (wobei man ihn manchmal einfach nur warnen möchte, dies oder jenes nicht auszuprobieren, weil man das tragische Ende ja kennt).
Wie realitätsgetreu die Darstellung tatsächlich ist, kann ich nicht beurteilen, weil ich zuwenig über die wahren Hintergründe weiß, aber man kann sich gut vorstellen, dass es ganz genau so gewesen sein könnte, wie Childress es beschreibt, und bekommt Lust, sich den einen oder anderen Elvis-Song mit geschärftem Bewusstsein neu anzuhören.
Sein Start ins Leben ist dennoch schwer genug, das Geld reicht hinten und vorne nicht, zumal sein Vater auch nicht allzu viel von Arbeit hält, hin und wieder ein krummes Ding dreht und die Familie ständig umziehen muss, auf der Flucht vor Strafverfolgung des Vaters oder aber vor den Vermietern, die ihr Geld eintreiben wollen.
Als Elvis in die Schule kommt, ist sein größter Wunsch ein Fahrrad. Das ist finanziell aber nicht drin, und schließlich bekommt er stattdessen eine Gitarre geschenkt, die ihm schließlich eine ganz neue Welt eröffnet: die Musik. Stundenlang klimpert er auf dem neuen Instrument, singt Lieder aus dem Radio nach und nimmt schließlich an einem Talentwettbewerb teil.
Dennoch bleibt Elvis der ewig uncoole, schüchterne Außenseiter, bis er eines Tages allen Mut und sein Geld zusammennimmt und in einem Plattenstudio eine Demoplatte aufnimmt ...
Mark Childress versteht es generell wunderbar, das Flair des amerikanischen Südens einzufangen. Hier gibt er sich etwas weniger flapsig als in seinen anderen Büchern und zeichnet ein authentisch wirkendes Bild von den jungen Jahren des "King", wobei er ihn weder niederschreibt noch künstlich überhöht. Der Junge, der es unter Gleichaltrigen nicht leicht hat, der mit zärtlicher Liebe an seiner Mutter hängt und eigentlich einfach nur anerkannt sein will, um seine Selbstzweifel loszuwerden, kommt dem Leser sehr nahe (wobei man ihn manchmal einfach nur warnen möchte, dies oder jenes nicht auszuprobieren, weil man das tragische Ende ja kennt).
Wie realitätsgetreu die Darstellung tatsächlich ist, kann ich nicht beurteilen, weil ich zuwenig über die wahren Hintergründe weiß, aber man kann sich gut vorstellen, dass es ganz genau so gewesen sein könnte, wie Childress es beschreibt, und bekommt Lust, sich den einen oder anderen Elvis-Song mit geschärftem Bewusstsein neu anzuhören.
September 23, 2013
"Tender" is a tough novel to appreciate. A novel about the unlikely rise of the King, Elvis Presley, but it instead uses the name Leroy Kirby (Le Roy, "The King"). This is not a fictional retelling where things happen that are vaguely similar but some things are totally different. Joyce Carol Oates is an author who does "reality" like this in some of her novels. This is a novel where it seems every little thing known about Elvis is mined and used.
So what's with the name changing of Elvis, his relatives and cronies, and the people he meets in the music business? With the name changing of the songs - "Jailhouse Rock" becomes "Prisonhouse Blues" for instance? My guess is that it is the author's attempt to look at what we thought we know in a new way. In a way this works, as I was more engrossed than I thought I would be once I realized that this was straight Elvis I was getting. I did come out with a vastly greater sense of his talents and accomplishments - and where the things that killed him and/or took away his talents came from.
So what's with the name changing of Elvis, his relatives and cronies, and the people he meets in the music business? With the name changing of the songs - "Jailhouse Rock" becomes "Prisonhouse Blues" for instance? My guess is that it is the author's attempt to look at what we thought we know in a new way. In a way this works, as I was more engrossed than I thought I would be once I realized that this was straight Elvis I was getting. I did come out with a vastly greater sense of his talents and accomplishments - and where the things that killed him and/or took away his talents came from.
August 15, 2024
Childress conveys feelings - emotional and sensory - in surprising ways that made immediate intuitive sense. The guilting of a mother as a sucking and suffocation of a wave. The scream of thousands of fans as a wall of hair-raising vibration rather than a sound. The distance one experienced as a lost child being shortened and made unconcerning as an adult. While I wished for a little more at the end (more of what? I dunno!), I loved this book.
March 15, 2015
The story of a young musician named Leroy Kirby, from Tupelo Mississippi. Sound familiar? If you are an Elvis Presley fan, or if you are interested in a fictional account of his life, you will enjoy this novel. I am and I did.
January 13, 2009
Learned a lot about Elvis' life (novel loosely based on his life). It wasn't as entertaining as other books by this author
May 8, 2009
Terrific, engrossing, thinly disguised story of Elvis. Fun!
August 27, 2009
I had more sympathy for Elvis after reading this book.
June 7, 2011
Entertaining fictional account about Elvis Presley's life when he was young.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews