The Devil, Me, and Jerry Lee

Kirkus Reviews

The seemingly unedited, colloquial catalogue of Jerry Lee Lewisns sister Linda Gailns snapshot memories. Her brotherns fast rise to fame from 1950s-era Louisiana sharecropper poverty, his family background (marriage between cousins was not forbidden), and his roller coaster career as rock 'nn roll was kicking its way into the culture and recording artists began riding high on the wave of famenall justify this haplessly informal reminiscence. Lewis touches on all of those potential themes yet ultimately abandons each of them for other moments which she, like a would-be debutante, uses to launch her own coming out. Alluding to the raw energy that informed Jerry Leens early talent, she offers vignettes of his childhood escapades in which she figured. Yet while Lewis claims to share his rollicking bravado, particularly when it comes to their shared sexual insatiability, little of her story manages to evoke a portrait of the author beyond her sidekick role with Jerry. Had she chosen to write more fully about almost anything herenher relationship with Jerry Lee, their parallels, or even their differencesnthen maybe we wouldnnt feel quite so compelled to believe that his life was the one she really wanted. Eventually she does realize her own talents, though wenre given few glimpses of the start of her singing career. By contrast, wenre told how, one day, Jerry just walked up to the piano and started playing, nno lessons, no reason for him to be able to do it.n