Interesting blend of memoir and Dolly Parton history and analysis. I love that there's been a recent trend in scholarship and pop analysis of Parton and her impact on the culture. I didn't think this always worked perfectly, so the parallels drawn between the author's personal life and events and the messages in Dolly's music didn't always seem so evident to a reader, although I understand that they held significance for her. This will definitely speak to those who have lived through trauma and found refuge in music and art.

I am a relative newcomer to Dolly Parton fandom, in large part due to her recent canonization as a pop culture icon and beloved generally good human being. I've really been enjoying this resurgence of Dolly love in media criticism, including the NPR podcast Dolly Parton's America and Sarah Smarsh's essay collection She Come by it Natural. I've Had to Think Up a Way to Survive fits comfortably alongside this corpus.

This essay collection weaves personal essay, pop culture criticism, and music history (chiefly, Dolly Parton's expansive career), structured by the author's Dolly Parton playlist. Each track in the playlist serves as an entry point to each essay. Melnick tracks her history of trauma with her long-time love of Dolly Parton's music, describing how certain songs helped her through these flashpoint moments, and examining how her relationship to these songs have shifted over the course of her life, while also tracking the ways in which her experiences briefly overlap with those of Parton's. These essays are deeply personal and vulnerable, emotionally honest, and thoughtfully moving. Much like Dolly's life and work, these essays are vibrant and defiantly joyful. What a gift to be able to identify so strongly with one's hero.

A book of essays that ties Dolly Parton songs into various themes on life, especially related to trauma and perseverance. Each chapter is a different Dolly song, allowing the reader to create their own playlist of sorts. Overall, I enjoyed this book. I do think there were chapters that were better than others. A few felt thrown in because the author really loved that song and not so much for its theme. However, it is still worth a read, especially for fans of Dolly.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fresh, interesting take on the memoir concept.

A haunting look into the trials and trauma that our FMC went through. Thank you Net Galley for ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

I’ve never read anything like it. Part author autobiography, part Dolly biography, part study of Dolly’s back catalogue. I didn’t expect quite so much Dolly and will admit I am probably the wrong audience as whilst I admire Ms Parton, I’m not a diehard fan. That said, the author writes beautifully and I can relate to the power of music to save our lives.

“ But here’s where the complexity of Dolly comes into play. For all the grand showiness of the eagle, it’s the sparrow with whom she has most often identified over the years—that tiny, fragile bird with no bright plumage or particularly spectacular song, which nonetheless, and unlike the singer of “Little Sparrow,” isn’t mired in broken dreams. I think that’s what the Little Sparrow album did: it unmired me, it returned me to myself. And I think that’s what those two notes at 2:58 and 2:59 did for me: they gave me courage to return to myself, and to soar, despite my fragility.”

In her memoir, I’ve Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton, Lynn Melnick frames her own painful experiences with in-depth study of the ebb and flow of Dolly Parton’s music and Parton’s public and political persona. The book also examines rape culture and the objectification of women in the United States. By weaving the personal and the political, Melnick shows how she healed from repeated traumas, despite living in a world that regularly objectifies and exploits women’s bodies.

Melnick’s story structure is unique. Each chapter is titled with a Dolly Parton song, the year and the album in which it was released. The length of each song is listed (minutes and seconds). Melnick explains how each of the songs and years were significant in Melnick’s own life. We learn on the first page that she went through physical and emotional trauma, and she is seeking to understand what happened and how it was allowed to happen. She uses Dolly Parton’s life and music as an objective correlative, of sorts, to tell us what happened to Melnick and what it all means. The first time Melnick heard a Dolly Parton song from beginning to end, she was fourteen and in the process of being admitted to a drug rehab program. Melnick abused substances and acted out as a result of having been violated as a nine-year-old girl. The heartbreaking detail that she was raped while wearing her Strawberry Shortcake shirt and hand-me-down pants is viscerally painful.

Melnick explains in her book that she could only write about her story after she had reached a place of safety in her adult life. She shares intimate information about several abusive situations, then zooms out to question how women are able to find and maintain self-worth in a world where rape culture is so pervasive that it seems more women have a #MeToo story than those who do not have one. How can this be the reality of our world? Dolly Parton’s own confidence and self-awareness guide Melnick’s quest to understand and recover. She digs into the strange polarity of issues surrounding bodily autonomy for women, and studies Parton’s words in interviews, books and lyrics to try to better understand her own sense of self.

Melnick’s research and writing skills are evident as she toggles from her personal story of trauma, to examination of Dolly Parton’s catalog of work, then to the wider question of what it means to be a female in today’s society. She describes the extremely painful process of navigating misogyny, being repeatedly abused, and finding ways to recover and thrive. Ultimately, this is a true story of resilience.

Thank you #NetGalley and #Spiegel & Grau for an ARC.

Not an easy subject to read about but an important one. Five stars for Melnick's account of her trauma-filled life and the way she presents it in this book. It flowed and was well structured. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

What an interesting and inspiring read! The obstacles she overcomes and how she ties that into Dolly Parton was really interesting and makes for a great read! I'm always looking for new and inspiring real life storiea to share with our readers and I know this will be a very popular title.