Loretta Lynn: Still Woman Enough: A Memoir

Wonderful story from one of Country Music finest ladies. She will forever be missed in Country music and by her fans. Loved everything about this book and i am sure you will too.

I read the first book, Coal Miners Daughter, when it first came out, and saw the movie as soon as it was released. This is the rest of the story, taken up where the other left off. I picked up the book to read on a Friday afternoon and was through with it by Saturday night. I could have read it all in one day if life had not interfered with my reading. lol. I didn't want to put it down once I started. I would definitely recommend this to any Loretta Lynn fan. I have seen her in concert many times, and met her in person long enough to have a nice conversation 3 time. She is very real and down to earth. She is friendly and from my experience, really loves her fans.

I love this book She is so open about everything and honest how she feels. I just love her. I would truly recommend that people should read this book.

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.

Reading as many memoirs and autobiographies as I do, I sometimes wonder to what extent what I am reading has been "sanitized" inorder to present the subject in the most favorable light. This book seems totally honest, at times so honest it was painful for me to absorb and digest what was being shared. What a full life Loretta Lynn has had thus far! She had given birth to four of six children by the time she was 21. With a combination of "true grit" and unique talent, the coal miner's daughter developed and then sustained a career which earned her great wealth and popularity, eventually earning her a rightful place in her industry's Hall of Fame. But consider all of the health problems (both mental and physical) she somehow overcame along the way; consider, also, her marital problems with Doolittle Lynn, most of which she concealed in her first autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter (first published in 1976), on which an award-winning film was based (1980). And consider all that she now shares in this book with the general public, much of it for the first time. To her credit, she assumes personal responsibility for many of her travails. If anything, on occasion she seems to blame herself too much as when discussing her volatile marriage to a man who was an abusive alcoholic and compulsive womanizer. It has been more than 25 years since the publication of Coal Miner's Daughter. This book covers most of the joy and heartache in recent years but also provides information (and especially perspectives) on her youth. For me, one of the book's most interesting components consists of all the personal and professional relationships Lynn had with others in her industry. She and they share a concept of "family" which may well have helped to compensate for the insufficiencies and agonies of her domestic life. All I know about Loretta Lynn is limited almost entirely to two books, one film, and her recordings. I am by no means an authority on country western music but conclude these brief comments on Still Woman Enough by expressing my great admiration of the courage and candor she expresses in it.

I happened upon Loretta Lynn's new book by accident and I finished it in ONE DAY! Impossible to put it down. Like "CoalMiner'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 wasshocked at some of the 'things' she had to go through with herbeloved 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.

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.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found it very hard to put down. The book is written the way Loretta talks because Loretta wanted it that way. I am glad she did! Loretta talks of friends and family. She speaks of good times and bad times. Loretta also talks about the price of fame. Some may think Loretta leads a glamorous life, but you'll see from this book that it is not always easy to be "The Coal Miner's Daughter". Loretta talks about many struggles she has faced, but her humor can be found in this book as well. In the end, Loretta is shown to be a very courageous and inspiring lady who is indeed "Still Woman Enough"!