Customer Reviews

The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern & Elvis Presley

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It is not often that I come across a book so engrossing that I read it cover to cover in one sitting, but I did this one.

Diane Thomas offers us a glimpse into the South of the mid 1950s. The letters Achsa McEachern writes to the then rising music star, Elvis Presley, start out as fan letters, but quickly become heart-touching and often heart-wrenching descriptions of her 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 the prison of his own Superstardom.

I was a teen of the 70s but in Achsa, I could see myself. I wrote long, long letters to far away friends pouring out all the changes that were happening in my life; changes that I didn't always understand and that I felt helpless to control. I think many young women will find a piece of themselves in Achsa.

And for anyone whose mother came of age during the fifties, as mine did, this book would make a wonderful birthday or Mother's Day gift.

It is a fast, intensely satisfying read and I highly recommend it.

This is not the '50s of happy, nostalgia TV, but the real decade, mired with repression. It's an outwardly placid time of perky stay-at-home housewifes, crew-cut husbands marching off to 9 to 5's, and children expected to be "well adjusted." Conformity is the gold standard. Segregation is the law of the land. Free thinking is frowned upon and feared. Into this picture comes Achsa, a lonely teenager who is different and can't pretend otherwise. She's younger and far brighter than her classmates--Lord, she has been promoted three, count them THREE grades; she bears an ugly facial scar; and there's trouble at home. But the year is 1955. Currents of change as jagged as electricity are about to course through the air.

When Achsa writes her first fan letter, to a young Elvis, destined to shake up the country with rock 'n roll, she embarks on her own journey of change. In the ensuing correspondence between Achsa and Elvis, Achsa comes haltingly to terms with her world, while yearning for life on a larger stage. A sensitive reed, she grabs the spotlight in the book more than "the King." In one scene, for instance, she tells Elvis of an early memory of going to a movie matinee. Leaving her seat to go upstairs to the ladies' room, she hears a distant "rustling or murmuring, like birds settling down for the night." Pretending the mezzanine carpet is a river and its "fat, red roses" are stepping stones, she crosses to the far side of theatre, where the rustling comes from. Ignoring a sign that the area is closed, she slips around a velvet cord, climbs concrete stairs, and finds an entire other theatre where the aisles aren't carpeted, the seats aren't upholstered, and "all the people in the seats" are "Negroes." She stares until the return gaze of a girl about her age unnerves her, then retreats and runs all the way back to the "white people's theatre." She senses she has seen something she isn't supposed to see--a complete, parallel universe... Broader horizons for women are on the way, the nation will pass equal rights laws, and the culture, and the music, will grow more vibrant, but Achsa, as did all of us who came of age during the '50s, must grope toward the day. Thomas has done a masterful job of giving readers a book that conveys this and is sheer pleasure to read. At turns tender, tragic, fresh, and hopeful, "The Year the Music Changed" is a work of fiction that reads true. The correspondence between Achsa and Elvis coulda, shoulda happened that way.

In letters written in 1955 and early 1956 between a shy 14-year-old girl and Elvis Presley, Diane Thomas captures the essence of the 1950s. Elvis, very young and very innocent, is on the cusp of his success. We share his dreams of what he will become; those dreams touch us not only because of their purity, but also because we know how they really turned out. His story, however, is eclipsed by Achsa's, her fears, her tragedies and, ultimately, her triumphs. She pours out her torment over the tension between her religious father and her beautiful mother, her humiliation because of the disfiguring scar on her lip, her success as a budding playwright and actress. We celebrate her courage as she faces tragedy, learns from it and triumphs over it. I recommend this beautifully written novel to anyone who cares about the human condition.

I expected a frivolous read, particularly in light of the unusual premise and didn't expect to find this book as engrossing it was. It starts light and then draws you in; I read it nearly in one sitting. It's an interesting take on Elvis as an up-and-comer, but the true protagonist is the teenaged Achsa, and one could read and enjoy this book without really having any interest in Elvis the star.

Diane Thomas is a gifted writer, who has given us a gem of a coming-of-age novel. The voice of the 14 year old heroine rings clear and true as she deals with ostracism, her parents' foreboding relationship and past, and her yearnings for a better world. Uniquely written as letters between the precocious heorine and an emerging Elvis Presley, the book masterfully captures the 1950's, but also presages the social revolution to come and the power of rock idols to shape later generations. While those of us coming of age in the mid-50's can readily relate to the story, this work deals with feelings that transcend the decades. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a delightful, resonant, page-turning read, and I'd like to nominate it for Oprah's list--it deserves to be there, it's that good!

My 97-year-old mother (who was certainly not an Elvis fan) loved the book, said she couldn't put it down. My 15-year-old granddaughter (who is a Nirvana fan and thought Elvis was "old-fashioned") loved the book, my 64-year-old sister (who was a big Elvis fan in 1956) loved the book, and I (who was Elvis' contemporary and NOT a fan) loved the book. We loved it because of its truth. The heart of the story belongs not to Elvis but to a 14-year-old girl and her struggle to cope with her disfigured lip, a mother who is movie-star beautiful, a father whose religion borders on the fanatical. Ultimately she understands - and embraces - her own place in the world. Beautifully written, highly recommended.

Alone in her room, 14-year-old Achsa McEachern twists her radio dial. By chance she lands on a hillbilly station playing a new song called "That's All Right, Mama." She fires off her first-ever fan letter to an unknown Elvis Presley, telling him he's destined for stardom--but only if he gets off that hillbilly station.

Presley promptly replies. By the end of February 1955, they are corresponding regularly. While especially entranced with her knowledge of music, he's delighted that someone as smart as she is would dare have the time of day for him. Also convinced that he can make it to the top, Presley asks his new fan to help him with his grammar. And so begins the lessons that teach Elvis how to "talk good."

What follows is a vivid account of that momentous year, 1955, and two young lives in chaos. The Year the Music Changed is a stunning portrayal of a girl whose life is unraveling as fast as she can write--and a naive country bumpkin who yearns for bigger things. As Achsa's despondency over her harelip and the spiraling descent of her parents' marriage escalates, her letters become longer and longer, describing in great detail her feelings to her one and only friend.

But no matter the horror that has befallen her, Achsa never, ever forgets her promise: a grammar lesson in each return envelope. The first lesson involves double negatives and, as their correspondence nears its end in mid-1956, Achsa asks him to "Please promise that you will never forget to always remain on the lookout for double negatives. It is so very important."

We already know Elvis' voice, yet Thomas re-creates his style with such an acute accuracy that I could hear the insecurities, the passion, the search for grounding. Achsa's voice is so strong and powerful that by the end of the novel, I had thought she was real and went on an Internet search for her. Needless to say I came up empty handed.

Armchair Interviews says: As intimately as both personalities are portrayed, it is hard to remember this excellent book is fiction after all.

Who could imagine that a book of letters between a fifteen-year-old
hair-lipped girl and Elvis Presley on the brink of skyrocketing fame
could evolve into a literary novel filled with moments touching and even
profound? Diane Thomas has done this and more, as she captures not only
an era, but the very real possibility that such a friendship could have
occurred.

Like Achsa (what a name!), I was a Southern teen growing up in the
50s...only my obsession was with James Dean. But while reading the
heartbreaking and totally original letters of this courageous young girl
as she pours out her heart to her idol, I yearned to go back in time and
do the same thing.

What struck me most was the utter believability of Thomas' story. She
again demonstrates that beneath it all--whether teenage angst or the
insecurity which accompanies fame--we all share the basic human need to
be accepted and valued for who we are deep inside. I loved the gift of
good grammar Achsa offers Elvis and cherished the way he sensitively
validated his teen friend's experience and thoughts. I was moved to
tears and know that anyone who reads "The Year the Music Changed" will
be giving themselves a gift of the spirit.

Pat and Steve Kutay

Diane Thomas takes early facts of Elvis Presley before he becomes a national sensation and incorporates them into a coming of age story about a southern girl with a harelip. While it is in epistolary form using letters written between her and Elvis as she goes through high school and matures it definitely is a page turner with a very clever twist at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and feel that it would make a great book to discuss in a book club!!

As a native of Atlanta and a Southern girl who loved Elvis, Diane Thomas' novel is just about perfect. I wish -- and kind of hope -- this correspondence between Ascha and Elvis had really taken place. Having read several biographies of Presley, including Bobbie Ann Mason's (another wonderful Southern writer) Penguin Lives' look at the rock & roll icon, I think Diane Thomas has captured the very young singer perfectly -- the heart and soul -- before Col. Parker started him down the path to the singer's destruction. I buried myself in this wonderful book for a weekend, emerged in tears, and with much admiration for a fine writer.