Still Woman Enough: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Loretta Lynn (Author), Patsi Bale Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2002

In this riveting follow-up to her #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, Coal Miner’s Daughter, Loretta Lynn continues her captivating story about triumph over the odds.

Loretta Lynn’s first memoir, Coal Miner’s Daughter, was a #1 national bestseller that sparked an Oscar-winning movie and left fans hungry for more. Now Loretta finishes that story, and the second half of her life is every bit as remarkable and inspiring as the first.

In a friendly, down-home style that belies her stature as country music’s most celebrated performer, Loretta writes candidly about the price of fame and the stresses of stardom; tells of friends and family she’s loved and lost along the way; and shares secrets not included in her first book. But at the heart of this memoir is her stormy relationship with Doo, the man she married at thirteen and stayed with until he died, through his drinking, their violent arguments, and their passionate reconciliations. Loretta reveals the devotion behind "one of the hardest love stories in the world." Filled with intimate portraits of country legends, and brimming with folksy humor, this personal tale of grit, determination, and loyalty will enthrall Loretta’s countless fans and anyone who adores a good old-fashioned love story.

Loretta Lynn, the most celebrated entertainer in the history of country music has a lot to sing about:

--9 gold albums
--A national bestselling book and film, Coal Miner’s Daughter
--First female artist to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year
--First country artist to win the prestigious Golden Plate award given to those who excel in all fields of achievement worldwide
--First female recording artist to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
--Longtime member of the Country Music Hall of Fame
--One of Entertainment Weekly’s 100 Entertainers for 1950-2000
--One of Ladies’ Home Journal’s 10 Most Admired Women of the World

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When asked to write her first memoir, Lynn was in her early 30s: "I hadn't never done nothing with my life except sing and have babies, and I didn't think I had a life to talk about." But Coal Miner's Daughter, the story of the dirt-poor Kentucky girl who married at 14, had four of her six children before she was 21 and went on to become one of country music's most successful recording artists, captured the American imagination. In this follow-up, Lynn mostly focuses on her marriage and the trials and pleasures of Nashville stardom, including fond recollections of friends like Conway Twitty and Tammy Wynnette. Lynn admits that the passing of her husband, Doo drunk, abusive, womanizing and yet her most loyal, trusted companion in 1996, freed her to write more openly. There are no stunning revelations here, rather a series of small, genuine ones about family and career. Though her grammar may make purists flinch ("I thought me and Doo was no longer husband and wife just because he throwed me out"), Lynn's literary voice is as natural and endearing as her songs. Many tales have a conspiratorial tone, and Lynn is quite willing to incriminate herself ("I ain't proud of that story or this next one, but this one has such a good ending I got to tell it anyway"). Honest and always entertaining, Lynn's memoir should delight country music fans and perhaps win her some new ones.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In her best-selling Coal Miner's Daughter, Lynn allowed us to watch her grow from a na‹ve mountain girl in Butcher Holler, KY, into a country superstar. Husband Doolittle "Doo" Lynn played a major role in that earlier memoir, and it was his death in August 1996, as well as the passing of several close friends, that made her realize that her life story deserved a sequel. Here, the Country Music Hall of Fame member sets us down on the porch and talks more about Doo (his alcoholism and womanizing in particular), her own struggles with bacterial pneumonia and other health conditions, and the deaths of her mother, siblings, and son, Jack Benny. With her homespun, folksy voice, Lynn also reminisces about many of her friends Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, Cal Smith, Ernest Tubb, Faron Young, Conway Twitty, and Tammy Wynette and thanks the Wilburn Brothers for taking her under their wing and helping launch her career. Humorous and honest, Lynn gives us that rare opportunity to know what kind of strength it takes to stand by one's man (in spite of Doo's boozing and cheating, she loves him to this day) and make it through the night. Recommended for all libraries. Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1ST edition (April 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786866500
• ISBN-13: 978-0786866502
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( L ) > Lynn, Loretta

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Strong Story By a Strong Woman, March 28, 2002

By 

Jeff Marshall (Claymont, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Still Woman Enough: A Memoir (Hardcover)

We all loved both the book and the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter." And now Loretta Lynn is back with "Still Woman Enough" to not only finish the story since the original book, but to complete and more accurately detail events from the earlier book. As expected, the vivid stories are told in Loretta's appealing brutal honesty, wit, detail, and charm. The biggest change between the two books is that as time and people have passed, Loretta can provide a different perspective on her life. You will openingly laugh at some of the tales. And you will be greatly sadden by the stories of abuse. We have all seen stories of Loretta in the tabloids for years, but nothing I've read in the tabloids is as shocking as what I found in the book. Several parts of this book must have been very difficult for Loretta to write, and I give her a lot of credit for having the guts to do so. Loretta also writes about several country music legends, personally I enjoyed reading about Conway Twitty and Tammy Wynette. All in all this book is fascinating and very satisfying. And, yes, she is still woman enough.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loretta...Still the Greatest!, April 6, 2002

By 

a viewer "a viewer" (antioch, tn United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Still Woman Enough: A Memoir (Hardcover)

I happened upon Loretta Lynn's new book by accident and I finished it in ONE DAY! Impossible to put it down. Like "Coal
Miner's Daughter" "Still Woman Enough" is written as if Loretta were sitting having a chat with you telling you all that happened.

Her memoir is revealing and she holds nothing back. And I was
shocked at some of the 'things' she had to go through with her
beloved husband. She says often throughout the book that these are things she couldn't tell while he was still alive....and small wonder.

Loretta Lynn is a remarkable 'just a person' person! If you don't know why Loretta is universally loved, this book will show you why.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hitched To A Bad Man, April 22, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Still Woman Enough: A Memoir (Hardcover)

This book really makes you feel that Doolittle Lynn, portrayed as such a hero in the Loretta Lynn's first book, and played by Tommy Lee Jones as a saint in the 1980 movie version of the memoir, was really the devil. Oh, she fell in love with him young, she was not quite fourteen years old, and still Loretta Webb, under 14 just like Juliet in ROMEO AND JULIET, but when push came to shovem it was Loretta Lynn who got pushed and shoved sometimes physically and violently. She explains how she was forced to write COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER and put a positive spin on things, by her management and by family pressures, and also she did not see yet how "Doo" and his wayward cheating ways were destroying her family from the top on down. You know how one bad apple can destroy the whole sack? Well in this case it was "Doo."

And yet she continued to stay with him and nurse him through his battles with diabetes, etc, heart problems, until his 1996 death. But at that point, as she says, it was like the sun (instead of going down) appeared from behind dark clouds and she found herself able to see a lot more clearly. Doo drank too much, often with her connivance, and slept around, most humiliatingly with women in her own family, and yet she sucked it all up and stood by her man even when she was actually in danger from him. She admits that theur children were hurt in this one-sided struggle, and yet as she saw it, it was all part of a mysterious game plan God had for her (and for them). However, STILL WOMAN ENOUGH is not all about blaming Doo, it is about good friends, good times, the incandescent electricity of being a country star, and many anecdotes about fame and her fellow musicians. On every count you feel that she has pulled up a kitchen chair and she's telling you things in her low voice, intimate things that make you feel you're the only one in on the know.