The Colonel

出版者:Simon & Schuster

作者:NASH

页数:394

出版时间:2003-7

价格:$ 28.25

装帧:HRD

isbn号码:9780743213011

具体描述

In "The Colonel," Alanna Nash, the author of "Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch," explores in depth the amazing story of Colonel Tom Parker, the man behind the legend and the myth of Elvis Presley. The result is a book that reads like the most riveting of real-life detective stories -- one that will completely change your view of Presley's life, success, and death. While scores of books have been written about Elvis Presley, this is the first meticulously researched biography of Tom Parker written by someone who knew him personally. And for anyone truly interested in the performer many consider the greatest and most influential of the twentieth century, it is impossible to understand how Elvis came to be such a phenomenon without examining the life and mind of Parker, the man who virtually controlled Elvis's every move. Alanna Nash has been covering the story of Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker since the day of Presley's funeral in Memphis, Tennessee. She was the first journalist allowed to view Presley's body, a compelling and surprising sight. But the profile of Parker attending the funeral in a Hawaiian shirt and a baseball cap was even stranger, and led her to investigate the man behind the myth. It has been known for twenty years that Thomas Andrew Parker was, in fact, born in Holland as Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk. But Nash has dug much deeper and, in a masterpiece of reporting, unearthed never-before-seen documents, including Parker's army records and psychiatric evaluations, and the original police report of an unsolved murder case in Holland that lies at the heart of the Parker mystery. In the process of weighing the evidence, she answers the biggest riddle in the history of the music industry, as it becomes clear that every move Parker made in the handling of Elvis Presley -- from why he never allowed Elvis to perform in Europe, to why he didn't halt Elvis's drug use, to why he put him in so many mediocre movies, and even the Colonel's direction of Presley's army career -- was designed to protect Parker's own secrets. Filled with startling new material, her book challenges even the most familiar precepts of the Presley saga -- everything we presumed about Parker's handling of the world's most famous entertainer must now be reevaluated in the light of information Nash reveals about Parker, who cared little for Presley beyond what the singer could do to bolster the Colonel's precarious position as an illegal alien. Elvis Presley, as one of Parker's unwitting victims, paid a major price for the Colonel's past and his overwhelming need to be more important than his client. As a result, Presley was never allowed to reach his potential and died in drug-induced frustration over his stunted and mismanaged career. In this astonishing, impeccably written, and vastly entertaining book, Nash proves that the only figure in American popular culture as fascinating as Elvis Presley is Colonel Tom Parker, the man who shaped Elvis, who in turn helped shape us.

用户评价

这本书的格局和野心是毋庸置疑的，它似乎在尝试解构某种宏大的社会结构或复杂的历史遗留问题。然而，它最成功的地方在于，它没有被宏大叙事所拖垮，而是始终将焦点牢牢锁定在个体命运的微观层面。那些身处时代洪流中的小人物，他们的恐惧、他们的希望，被描绘得无比鲜活和立体。你很少会看到一个角色是扁平的“好人”或“坏人”，他们都是由无数个相互矛盾的驱动力塑造而成的复杂生命体。作者在处理信息密度上拿捏得非常到位，既有足够的信息量支撑起复杂的情节线索，又不会让读者感到信息过载。每一次阅读体验都像是在一个巨大的迷宫中探索，每当你以为找到出口时，却发现那是通往另一个更深层秘密的入口。这本书无疑是近些年来文学界一次重量级的发声，它挑战了读者的耐心，但也给予了那些愿意投入精力的读者，以丰厚到近乎奢侈的回报。

这本书的叙事节奏简直像一场精心编排的交响乐，每一个音符、每一个停顿都恰到好处地烘托着整体的氛围。作者似乎对人物内心的微妙波动有着异乎寻常的洞察力，即便是最微小的犹豫或最隐秘的渴望，都能被他捕捉并用极其精准的笔触描绘出来。我特别欣赏它在环境描写上的细腻，那种光影的流转、气味的弥漫，都仿佛拥有生命力，将读者毫不费力地拽入故事的核心场景。情节的推进并非一蹴而就的爆发，而是通过层层递进的悬念和不断揭示的线索，让人欲罢不能。读到某些转折点时，那种醍醐灌顶的震撼感，是近年来阅读中少有的体验。它强迫你重新审视之前所相信的一切，并且在最后的解答中，又让人感到一种近乎哲学层面的释然。这本书的格局很大，它不仅仅是一个单纯的故事，更像是一面棱镜，折射出人性中复杂、矛盾且真实的光辉与阴影。读完之后，很多场景和对话依然在我脑海中回响，需要时间去细细品味。

这本书的文学性体现在一种近乎诗意的忧郁气质上。它不像某些畅销书那样追求纯粹的刺激和快速的满足感，而是更像一首慢板的挽歌，带着淡淡的哀愁和对逝去时光的缅怀。作者的文字富有韵律感，句子结构多变，时而长句如河流般连绵不绝，时而短句如骤雨般敲击心房。这种语言上的张力，使得即便是描写日常场景，也充满了戏剧性的张力。我特别留意到书中反复出现的一些意象——比如特定的天气、重复的梦境——这些符号性的元素，构建起了一个强大的潜意识层面，使得故事的多重解读成为可能。它不是那种“看完就忘”的消遣读物，它更像是一件需要被珍藏和反复摩挲的艺术品，每次重读都会发现新的纹理和隐藏的含义。它要求读者慢下来，去体会文字背后的呼吸与心跳。

坦白讲，起初我对这本书抱持着一种审慎的态度，因为近些年同类型题材的作品似乎都陷入了某种套路化的泥淖。然而，这本书成功地避开了所有我预设的陷阱。它的叙事结构像一个精密的钟表，每一个齿轮的咬合都异常顺滑，同时又暗藏着出乎意料的机关。我欣赏作者对时间线处理的娴熟技巧，过去、现在与潜在的未来交织在一起，不是为了制造混乱，而是为了增强故事的厚重感和宿命感。书中关于“选择的代价”这一主题的探讨，尤为深刻。它没有给出简单的对错判断，而是将人物置于道德的灰色地带，让他们在两难的境地中做出选择，并承受随之而来的重量。这本书的魅力在于其无可辩驳的真实感，即使背景设定脱离现实，人物的挣扎与选择却能直击人心最柔软的部分。阅读过程仿佛经历了一场漫长的内心洗礼，既感到疲惫，又充满了被启迪的喜悦。

我必须得说，这本书的对话部分是它的灵魂所在。那些角色之间的交流，绝非只是信息传递的工具，它们是角色性格、权力关系以及未言明的张力最直接的展现。有的对话短促有力，像刀剑相击，充满了试探与防范；有的则冗长而富有哲理，如同老酒般回味无穷。我尤其喜欢作者如何利用语言的“留白”——那些没有说出口的话语，往往比实际说出的话语更有力量。读者需要自己去解读这些沉默背后的潜台词，这种主动参与感极大地增强了阅读的沉浸性。此外，这本书在构建世界观上的考究程度也令人叹服，它没有采用那种大刀阔斧的宏大叙事，而是通过碎片化的信息，让读者自己去拼凑出一个完整而又充满细节的背景。这种“请君入瓮”式的写作手法，无疑是对读者智力的一种尊重。它讲述的故事也许是虚构的，但其中蕴含的情感内核却是普世且永恒的，让人读后久久不能平静。