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BOOKS I READ: I’ve Had to Think Up a Way to Survive by Lynn Melnick (2022). Subtitled, On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton, this memoir threads welting around the songwriting career of Dolly Parton, which Melnick uses to describe the sexual trauma she experienced as a child and young adult, and her subsequent downward spiral. It is also about her recovery, about slowly finding her footing, carefully toeing around until she can look back with the appropriate and necessary detachment, anchored by loved ones.
A visit to Dollywood with her family, a theme park near Parton’s hometown in Tennessee, looms large in Melnick’s recovery. That park is one of many examples of Parton’s wide world, which includes movies, television shows, and philanthropic programs. My favorite was her Imagination Library initiative, which provides millions of books to children. (The latest count is just under 200 million books gifted.)
Melnick, whose previous books are poetry collections, provides insightful anecdotes about the pandemic, parenting, and poetry. She also documents and analyzes Dolly’s music and music production, using numerous sources. The accompanying playlist is a must for any non-Dolly fans. For example, someone like me who didn’t know that “I Will Always Love You” from the Bodyguard movie soundtrack, famously sung by Whitney Houston, is a Dolly Parton original. That cover is just one of many offered in the playlist.
See my complete reading log; or open the previous entry in the log:
