Elvis, Lennon & JFK - Paperback

by David Chisnell (Author)

Elvis, Lennon & JFK is set on the evening of John Lennon's assassination in New York, 1980. Having been shot dead John finds himself in a strange room with only JFK and Elvis for company. Both try to convince him he is dead but John prefers to believe he's in the middle of some great Acid trip. Finally they succeed and John discovers that he has joined a very exclusive club. Membership requirements are that millions of people will forever remember where they were when they first heard of your death. There are only the three members. From there onwards the trio engage in a battle of one-upmanship, each trying to prove he was more important than the other two whilst alive and that, in death, he has left the greatest legacy. All three have valid claims and the reader is pretty much left to make up his or her own mind on the 'winner'. A monitor in the room allows the trio to watch events as they happen on Earth. This has allowed both Elvis and JFK to keep up to date with all that has happened since their respective deaths. Over the years JFK has become something of a Beatles fan but, unfortunately for John, seems to only like the songs written by Paul McCartney. He has also discovered who was responsible for his death and drops clues to the other two. Elvis has kept constant tabs on both Priscilla and Lisa Marie and provokes many tear-jerking moments as he reflects on how they've carried on without him. The book is never far away from moments of humour, anger, incrimination and accusation. JFK belittles John's peace protests and draws John's condemnation of the Vietnam War. John also attacks JFK for America's late entry into WW2 but JFK retaliates with the news that his brother, Joe Junior, died in the war fighting to help the British. Elvis recalls John's remarks after he was found dead and also surprises JFK by informing him that he wasn't the only one to dabble with Marilyn Monroe. Sinatra, McCartney, Yoko, Bobby Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon and many others figure prominently as the three pour out their memories. But it is when they reflect on their own lives that the book becomes most revealing. JFK finally realises that he was always his father's second choice to Joe Junior, Elvis admits that it was the hunger he endured when his father was in prison and he and his mother were virtually homeless that drove him to his eating disorder, and John discovers that it was the death of his mother that shaped his career and drew him so close to Yoko. All three are desperate to escape from the room but when they discover that they will be able to leave when people no longer remember them all three become desperate to stay. Being first out will mean you were the least important. There is enormous humour and heartache in the book. Many of the stories will already be known to the reader but, as with all autobiographies, they gain more clarity and confirmation when told through the words of the trio themselves. Elvis, Lennon & JFK will become the autobiography none of them got the chance to write before they died.