I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny

Told with class. After reading this book I am more in touch with the real truth and not some fabricated Hollywood tale of romance (between June and Johnny). This may be only my opinion but bottom line is Vivian was a first class lady that was above the nonsense and illicit behavior she was subjected to during her marriage. Some people party like rock stars ( or country stars) their entire life. I would think a life lived in a such a way would be nearly a complete blur and much regret would follow once they realize all that time had been lost on boozing and drugging...

I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny

Been a Johnny Cash fan forever, yet never realized he was married to another woman prior to June. This book gave me a whole new insight into a major country music icon, and a whole new opinion of June.

Most of it consists of sappy and rather boring love notes from Johnny to Vivian when he was away in the service, and had only known her a few months, clearly infatuation, not proof (as she seemed to think) that she was in fact the great love of his life. Also many many religious references, which I personally was uncomfortable with. No shocking revelations, nothing we all could not have guessed, a very long way to say that Johnny would have had a very different life if he had not had a drug problem. Vivian was clearly a sweet, simple Christian woman. She had no idea how to continue a marriage with a man dealing with astronomical fame, addiction, and daily temptation. But she just did not have enough to say to make for an interesting book.

We have always wanted to hear Vivian's story, the true story. Johnny said himself Vivian knew him better than anyone. Marriages don't work when there is a third party involved (June Carter). I have a whole different opinion on the movie now (Walk The Line)(not a positive one). My heart goes out to Vivian and her girls and what they had to go through. Thank you.

We have always wanted to hear Vivian's story, the true story. Johnny said himself Vivian knew him better than anyone. Marriages don't work when there is a third party involved (June Carter). I have a whole different opinion on the movie now (Walk The Line)(not a positive one). My heart goes out to Vivian and her girls and what they had to go through. Thank you.

Based on everything I thought I knew about Johnny and June, I am not sure that I believe most of what Vivian wrote. There are certainly 2 completely different stories out there.
Most of this book were the letters that Johnny sent to Vivian while he was in the service, before they were married. It got a little old, reading the letters, and it was from a time when Johnny was still so young. The letters are very "high school" in nature, and frankly made him look pretty selfish, and very indecisive. I may have the wrong impression of Johnny and June's relationship, but I would rather live in that cocoon, and remember them as one of the greatest love stories of all time.

I loved the book!! I've always had questions about dear little June Carter and this book answered them all. Poor Vivian and all she went through!! Bless her heart. Drugs and Booze be damned. I hate a man who cheats on his woman.

Johnny may have agreed with Vivian that she should write a book about them, but I don't think this is what he meant. The letters are interesting, and worthwhile, but the ghost writer has a very underhanded epilogue that Vivian probably wouldn't have even wanted published. If you buy it, read the letters and then stop!!!!

This book contradicts all other books, biographies, and interviews. Vivian contradicts herself numerous times in this book. And the timeline of events are inaccurate. Some of it, I believe, is slander. Slander on June Carter Cash especially. This is basically a book written out of bitterness. She waits until all other parties, whom she talks extremely poorly of, are deceased before she comes out with all this non-sense.

I welcome the insight of this book. Vivian's account of her life with Johnny is necessary to get the whole picture of who he was. There are a chosen few to whom scandal does not touch their public image, and I would say Mr. Cash is one of them. For some reason, it's always been glossed over that he left his first wife and daughters on his way to becoming a legend. Like it or not, June Carter Cash was part of the reason for Johnny's superstardom. I don't doubt that June had her own kind of crazy. But she was country music royalty as a member of the Carter family and carried her own special feminine mystique. Add to that her musical talent and connections growing up in the country music scene, and Vivian was not going to be able to compete. I don't think Vivian should have ever beat herself up for not trying hard enough; it seems Johnny was on a crash collision with fate when he met June.

Vivian comes across as a woman of quality and class. Printing all the letters Johnny wrote to her while he was in the service was not necessary. I'm surprised an editor didn't prune them down to a selection of the best ones. The letters could have been printed in their entirety in a small booklet by themselves and I think there would have been a market for them. The rest of the story was intriguing.

I loved the photographs. The best, and most telling one is of an aged Johnny sitting with Vivian and their adult daughters surrounding him. The look in his eyes and the expression on his face say it all. He is content, he knows he's been forgiven, he knows he is loved by those in the photo. It reminds me of the lyrics to "Butterfly Kisses" which say, "After all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right....." Very glad I read the book. Despite the heartaches, trials and tribulations, my gosh, what a journey and adventure to have had the experience of life with Johnny Cash and country music during this time.

Two-thirds of this book is letters from Johnny to Vivian while stationed in Germany. I don't understand the purpose of this except to prove he loved her? Ten letters would have sufficed. I bought the book "Cash" at the same time to read both sides. There were a few difference of opinions like Johnny saying his mother sewed his band clothes while Viv said she did but like he said 'it's all about a person's perception'. I would never have admitted that once the divorce was final Johnny gave up the booze and pills while Viv's new husband took up those habits.

I truly hope Vivian received the much needed closure telling her story. Looking at the pictures, she and her girls were absolutely gorgeous and you can tell they all loved each other. It was an interesting read and hope they make another movie from this book. I believe the fans would watch.

Purchased this book and was awhile reading it. I'm glad that I finally read it. It was great to hear Vivian's side of the story. John was her one and only love. This lady was a devoted wife and mother. Johnny Cash stardom was bigger than life. Things changed not sure if Vivian realized Johnny was the same man she married. She was not of the music world a woman married to a artist that was influenced by all that went with it. This book tell of her struggles and maintain her digitity.

This is an essential book for any serious student of Johnny Cash's life, as well as his cultural impact. It gives most, (I'm sure not ALL) of
the intense love letters to Cash's first wife, Vivian, from his posting in Germany, thru his first hit dedicated to her, "I Walk the Line," with great images of Cash's life as a soldier in such places as Germany and Italy, then his return, their marriage, and life in Memphis, where he worked as a door to door salesman, while singing the songs he had written in small venues, and eventually getting the hit via Sun Records. From then his life was a roller coaster of touring, more songs, and finally performing, then sleeping with, then marrying June Carter Cash, all of which is painfully recounted, at least in part by the editor, a professional writer, who also adds a very interesting analysis of "who really wrote, 'Ring of Fire,' " as well as thoughts on the post Cash marriage and management of the Cash estate by Vivian Cash's husband, after Johnny passed on his life to June Carter Cash. As college students flood the gates of putative musical Heaven via the Voice, college courses, and do it yourself singing venues, this should be an essential PRIMARY SOURCE for insights into last century's music life, or at least country music life. Howard M. Romaine..PS it will be of interest to me to see if this book is sold at the new Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville, recently opened.

Like so many I was disappointed in how many pages of letters there were. ONLY because there wasn't correspondence. They were Johnny's letters to Vivian. If there were letters that she wrote intertwined I would have been happier with that. But it was her story and her take and that's how she wrote it. I REALLY enjoyed the chapters written around the letters though, and the pictures. Overall I really enjoyed it and I feel like anyone interested in Johnny Cash's life should pick this up at some point and simply enjoy the other side of part of his story.

Enjoyed reading the same story from the other persons point of view. After reading some of Johnny Cash's books It was good to hear Vivian's side of the story. There are always two sides to every story.

This is a wonderful book and shows a different side of Johnny Cash that was not seen by his many fans. The marriage between Johnny and Vivian had a lot more to it and lasted a lot longer than many realize. First of all there were three years ,while Johnny was in Europe in the Air Force that they were deeply in love ,communicated almost daily,developing and expanding their love before they were married.This was before Johnny's career in music even started or had they any idea of what a famous life was ahead for them. Through the letters we see the deep convictions Johnny had about life in general,his extremely deep faith,and deep love for Vivian.We also see the deep love that Vivian had for Johnny.Then came marriage and the unbelieveably rapid rise to music fame,the endless days away on the road,the lifestyle that came with it ,including the drinking and drugs,the raising of four children during thirteen years of marriage.
Although Vivian continued to love Johnny through these years,and remained faithful to him,she was unable to keep him from falling in love with June . She continued to love him all through the years and ,unbelievably never really seemed to allow hatred to consume her or even develop a hatred for June. It is hard to believe that Johnny would walk away from her,and there seems to be little reason that he ever had any hate for her ,even till the last years of his life.
What this book really shows, is that these people who make their living in entertainment world,lead such a complicated and driven lifestyle that few of us fans can even imagine.They give all,body and soul for the things that fame brings and in many,many cases lives are wrecked along the way.The price of fame comes very high and there is often heartache for themselves and family. Yes,there is also a lot of happiness as well.But in many ways their lives get taken over by the "legend".
It is easy to criticize others,but until one walks in their shoes,we shouldn't.The people who bring us so much happiness with their art deserve all the wealth and happiness they are able to get out of their fame;and instead of criticizing anyone or anything they do;we should just stop and think what a price they pay,and what a dull world it would be without them.
When I finished this book a couple of thoughts came to mind.Kris Kristofferson once said something to the effect about Johnny Cash that went something like this"He was a walking contradiction-partly truth and partly fiction".Then there's George Jones's song "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes"?.
A special thanks to Ann Sharpsteen for helping Vivian getting her story out to us ;and it just goes to prove that Superstars and Legends are real people too;and like the rest of us go through life's trials and tribulations,but even on a much greater scale.

Innocent viewers of James Mangold's film "Walk the Line" (2005) could leave it thinking that, somehow, Johnny Cash's first wife Vivian--the mother of Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara--was "the other woman" to the man's only real love, June Carter. This book, written with Cash's encouragement before he died, tells another side to the story (and in real life, such stories have many, many sides). The heart of the book--some 247 pages--are Cash's love-letters to his girl friend and fiancée (1951-54), many written while he was serving in the military. A number are reproductions of telegrams, typescripts, and letters in Cash's own hand. The contents are so personal--Cash was infatuated with his lady, head over heels--that to read them feels an intrusion. Vivian brackets these letters with family photographs, her own remembrance of good times and bad, her candid feelings toward June, and her and her former husband's coming to terms with life near its end for them both. This is a book that nearly wasn't written--friend and coauthor Ann Sharpsteen practically had to coax it out of a very private person--but we can be glad that it was. And just in time: Sharpsteen tells us that Vivian died two weeks after completing the manuscript in 2005.

The majority of this book is letters that Johnny wrote to Vivian while overseas; shortly after they met. They dated for three weeks, he went away for three years, returned and they married a month later and had their first child 10 months later. Johnny Cash at the age of 19-22 is not the Johnny Cash that Vivian spent most of her marriage with or that the public wants to read about: the drug-addicted, womanizing, rebel Johnny Cash. I would have liked to have seen a much more in-depth look at their marriage and his addiction, womanizing, violent tendencies, and pursuit by/of June Carter, and instead we get glimpses. I had the book "Man In Black" so I guess it is time to read his book "Cash." I will give Vivian this credit though: what she went through was very painful and what many women who lived through it then and now can gain insight from. It had to have been very hard for her to silently accept what happened and I don't believe she ever tried to profit because she could have told her story to the tabloids in 1968, or even 1988 when her kids were grown and could hear it. I love all things Johnny and any fan should read the book but don't expect anything more than a ton of love letters from a very young man and a compressed rendering of the man we all saw.

I just finished reading this book and am compelled to give a review on it. Something I've never done before.

I went into reading this book with a healthy dose of skeptism and attitude. Like many others I saw the film and thought well he wanted a divorce so she should have given him one. That movie DOES NOT do her justice at all, nor does it portray her in a positive light at all.

After reading it, she is a courageous, loyal woman, who got a raw deal and made the best of it.

When reading the book, I was enthralled, romanced, laughed, angry as hell and sobbed my heart out for Vivian and her daughters.

I checked this book out at my local library, but you better believe that I will buying a copy and adding it to my library.

A beautiful book, written by a beautiful person.

I really enjoyed this book. You learn alot about Vivian Cash and her life with Johnny before June. Although I thought there were alot of letters (I only read up until 1953, until I got frustrated. I wanted to learn about there time together and not just all the letters Johnny wrote.) The letters were very insighting and you could really tell how much Johnny loved Vivian. I also thought it was pretty incredible how Vivian kept all those letters for so long.

This is an indispensible perspective on Johnny. She is not out for vengeance toward Johnny or June, but she does want, and deserves, more acknowledgment than Johnny gave her. I love Johnny, and I love Viv's book. May she RIP.

I found parts of this book very interesting. However, the many letters from Johnny Cash to his first wife soon became boring. Some of the letters were very revealing -- they showed a deeply religious man, with strict moral standards, desperately in love, but one who could not maintain the strict standards he had set for himself. They also reveal an intolerance of other people's weaknesses as well as his own. But the letters were so repetitious and so many, I soon became bored and barely skimmed over half of them. I would have liked to see fewer letters and more facts. I also wondered why the author didn't include any of her letters to him?

This was a touching book with hundreds of touching love letters from Johnny Cash to Vivian Cash, his first wife. It broke my heart to see what fame, money and addiction did to Johnny. He truly wanted to do what was right. He wanted a good wife, a big family and a simple life. It was sad to see the pain that Vivian endured with his addictions and to finally lose him to June Carter who was basically a home-wrecker! I felt sad at the end of the book to see such a beautiful relationship end and to know that Vivian was still in love with with Johnny her whole life through. It's too bad that Vivian and Johnny couldn't have had a deep talk after June died and before Johnny died. That should tell us all that life is precious and too short and that we should embrace the ones we love as if it were their last day on earth...you never know when your time is up!

I hated the movie. Seriously it felt one sided. This romance of Johnny and June Cash was disgusting to me. June who was a Home Wrecker down to her boots when it was clear that she was but they tried to sugar coat it . She looks ugly in my book and Viv looks like a exotic beauty. I am glad this woman told her side.

I enjoyed reading this book. Although the book really is 99% letters between Vivian and Johnny and in that sense can become pretty exhausting, I feel like Vivian had a purpose in including every one of those letters. She wants the reader, and more specifically, the public, to fully understand the extent of her disappointment. The letters develop a cumulative effect and the reader ultimately experiences the build-up of promises that made it so hard for Vivian to understand Johnny's change. One thing I did not appreciate as much is Vivian's complete dismissal of June's importance in Johnny's life. Although June arguably contributed to Johnny's alienation int he eyes of Vivian, it annoyed me greatly when she says that everything after her marriage to Johnny should never have happened- was never meant to happen- and that Johnny should have gone from her arms straight into the arms of God. She was one of Johnny's wives, and although I sympathize with her pain, loss and enormous disappointment, the story was at times negatively egocentric, making vivian less credible as a source. Overall, this is a very interesting and informative book.