Michael Jackson Book Club Review: “A Real-Life Fairy Tale: Michael Jackson and Me”

March 20, 2021

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A Real-Life Fairy Tale: Michael Jackson and Me
Rating: 4/5

A Real-Life Fairy Tale: Michael Jackson and Me. By Talitha Linehan

A Real-Life Fairy Tale: Michael Jackson and Me (hereafter called just Michael Jackson and Me and with page numbers in brackets) is a delightful first-person account of the ultimate Michael Jackson fan experience. Written by Talitha Linehan, it provides a much-needed antidote to the depressing drama of HBO and Channel 4’s Leaving Neverland, which is very much still in the public consciousness. Linehan covers the book with a photograph of her and Jackson (circa. 2009) and embosses the cover so that it reads like a book of Grimm fairy tales.

Linehan’s book spans a period of time where Jackson was arguably more known for his notoriety than his music and she does not shy away from this. In addition to many other sources of contention, she covers 2003’s Living with Michael Jackson, ‘Bashir’s sinister overtone’ (43)the baby-dangling incident (59); and the 2005 trial (62). None of the bad press seems to phase Linehan, who starts by establishing a ‘game of cat and mouse’ (38) which resulted in Jackson ‘egging us on and rewarding us whenever we navigated around all the obstacles to place ourselves within his reach’ (38).

Linehan’s detailed accounts include waking up after the Madison Square Garden’s performances on the 7th and 10th of September 2001, and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It is strangely refreshing to read something as effusively saccharine as Linehan’s account. She writes in ‘Chapter Four: Inside Neverland’: ‘Neverland was at the heart of Michael’s world, but Michael was the heart of the heart, and not even an invitation to his kingdom could draw us away from him’ (42).

Linehan’s story has its irresponsible elements, which she acknowledges and discusses clearly, for example taking a lift by a guy named Mick for most of the HIStory tour dates and ignoring a flight home to Germany because Jackson had invited her to Neverland. ‘My mind reeled as I tried to reconcile the dualities, both in him and in me’ (57). Numerous times during the book Linehan debates upon the existential, in that which connects her existence to Jackson’s: ‘if you happened to be at the gates of Neverland on the afternoon of 6 September 2003, then you got to spend a day with Michael Jackson’ (61).

Michael Jackson and Me offers a very solid account of the years 1997 to 2009. Notable is Linehan’s account of the Arvizo clan, ‘we could all attest that Gavin and his siblings had clearly had the run of the place [Neverland]’ (63). There are also little-known facts in the book, like Jackson’s receptance of the Humanitarian Award by the African Ambassadors’ Spouses Association in 2004 (66).

Although Linehan attended the courthouse in Santa Maria during Jackson’s trial there is no inherited cynicism in her book; I felt myself pulled into her world, one where Michael Jackson was the sun she orbited. One question that bodes itself is how Linehan afforded her very literal following of Jackson. The reader is encouraged to live vicariously through Linehan’s experiences, any momentary doubts or disbelief relieved by a well-placed and emotive photograph.

Linehan discusses the fan politics that fill the community. As a fan myself, I must admit that Linehan’s frank, heartfelt and open tone throughout the book was a joy for me to read. After all that bad press it was refreshing to read something that is filled with adoration.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Amisu, MA, PGCE, editor of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies and author of The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic Afterlife

Michael Jackson Book Club Member