Customer Reviews

Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I moved here to Pigeon Forge, TN about five years ago. I live five minutes from DollyWood, and Dolly is everywhere here. Her book gave me a chance to find out just why this woman is so beloved in this area. She grew up with no money, in a cash poor rural area,and has never lost sight of her roots. She talks about being a teenager, never being able to get her hair big enough or "yaller" enough, and about dreaming of stardom. I've had the pleasure of attending a live concert, held in her suprisingly intimate Celebrity Theatre at Dollywood, and the woman speaking so candidly in her book, is the same girl giggling and having fun onstage. When I finished it, I just wanted to hug her and tell her that she's done good. She's done amazing things in her hometown,and they appreciate her.

Interesting sidenote, there's a statue of Dolly in the yard outside the courthouse here in Sevier County. Not glamourous,or fancy, it portrays a pretty country girl, in her jeans and man's shirt, playing a guitar and singing. Best picture of Miss Dolly I ever saw:)

Five minutes of fame has now become enough to justify penning one's self-serving autobiography. Fortunately, Dolly Parton's 30+year career is suitable for book-length, and she avoids the standard celebrity tell-all fare in favor of interesting vignettes.

Her life is a Cinderella-story that would put any fairy-godmother to shame. Her interesting existence commenced with a delivery paid via a pig since her farming parents were short on cash. From such humble beginnings she went to become one of the richest women in the world. Tantalizing tidbits about her fellow country singers and some Hollywood hotshots pepper the pages, as do tales that illumine life amidst a large Appalachian family. She has often described her brood as "only financially poor" and that positive attitude not only permeates the book, she portrays such a blessed childhood that the allegation rings completely true.

Thankfully avoiding the gory details of typical star bios (think Cybil Shepherd Whoopi Goldberg, etc.), Dolly realizes there are some facts that fans need not know. Her boasted Christianity is practiced with a few question marks, and some facets of her life do appear curious. Still she succeeds in presenting just enough (but never too much) of the private side of her ultra-public persona.

Readers see how she has lived out many of the lyrics of her enumerable self-penned country songs. Upon completion of this autobiography many will return it to their bookshelves softly singing "In My Tennessee Mountain Home."

Ms. Parton writes a story as well as a song. You'd think it was your best friend sitting right next to you telling you her life; with plenty of kindness and humor thrown in.

Even if you're not a country music fan, this book is a wonderfully entertaining and funny account of a womans rise from a cabin with "2 rooms and a path" to wealth, while maintaining the values and beliefs she was raised with.

Her storytelling kept me laughing out loud!

Put simply, I LOVE this book! I've just finished reading it for the second time and it's even better than it was the first time.

I read it when it first came out in 1994 and was so jazzed to find it a few weeks ago in a used bookstore. I had a few other things to read before I picked up Dolly, but now that I have, I don't want it to end!

I can't say enough good and great and amazing things about this biography. She wrote it herself and it's honest, down to earth and funny as all get out. Because of it, I even added some more Dolly Parton CD's to my music collection and it was a very much needed trip down memory lane.

Thanks, Dolly, for such an amazing, revealing look at what makes you tick. Now, what I want to know is: when is your next book coming out. :)

This book is really wonderful, I love all the parts about Dolly's childhood.This book is like a friend to you. Once you begin to read it, you can't put it down until you've finished at least three chapters.Dolly puts plenty of love, emotion and humor into this, and i have found it a terrific read.

Dolly Parton has graced us with more tlalent than any other performer to walk the planet! Dolly has always showed that down home attitude while fighting Hollywood sharks and much of that is diplsyed in this book. Dolly's husband is revealed more openly than ever before as is her emotional side. You learn about many people that have been inspirational to her. NO GOSSIP though. That has good and bad points.

This book is outstanding, it's only flaw is that Dolly didn't want to leave any friends out so she mentions all of them. BRIEFLY!!!

As you would expect (if you're a fan of her songwriting) Dolly gives you the picture of her life in an honest, straightforward and sometimes amusing manner. Through tales of her own misdeeds and beliefs while growing up in a family that she admits didn't always play well together, she looks at her memories and can see how they shaped her into the performer that she always wanted to be. The little girl who loved to dream, make up her own songs and read everything she could get her hands on did get to be the center of attention as a much-loved entertainer, a shrewd and proficient businesswoman and a ceaseless humanitarian.

But through it all she remained the caring, considerate person she had been raised to be. The rough little stone truly did prove to be a shining diamond; sparkling, tough as nails and valuable to the fans who love her for the beauty that shines from within. There's no one like Dolly!

The best thing about Dolly Parton's autobio is 'hearing' her VOICE come through the print. Eternally optimistic and carefully eccentric, there's no doubt Parton has one of the most blithesome star qualities in the biz. And why not - it's her business to be so lovable.

While she hedges (considerably) on her 'indentured servitude' with Porter Waggoner and speaks infrequently about her creative process (writing and recording), when she gets a topic that pleases her - such as her childhood exploits - Parton lets go like one of her coolest numbers. Her humanism seems unbounded.

Since the publication of this book, Parton, confounding all reasonable expectations, returned to the studio with a revitalized muse, producing some of her most credible work (Grass Is Blue, and onward). Hopefully, we shall 'hear' Parton speak of her artistic reinvention in a future volume.

This book is like sitting down with an old friend and having a nice long chat. I enjoyed hearing (I bought the audio version) Dolly tell her story. This book will warm your heart.

I guess everyone knows or has seen Dolly Parton perform. She knows how to take a lemon and make lemonade out of life's challenges. I highly recommend the reading of this book.