Ive Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton Melnick Lynn

"An ode to storytelling itself.... Already in her young life as a Jewish teen in the 1980s, she had been the victim of rape, abuse, and trauma, and her path to healing would be long. A gorgeous and heart-rending story of survival."--Melissa Febos, author of GirlhoodA moving and essential exploration of what it takes to find your voice as a woman, a survivor, an artist, and an icon.The first time Lynn Melnick listened to a Dolly Parton song in full, she was 14 years old, in the triage room of a Los Angeles hospital, waiting to be admitted to a drug rehab program.

But in Parton's words and music, she recognized a fellow survivor.In this powerful, incisive work of social- and self-exploration, Melnick blends personal essay with cultural criticism to explore Parton's dual identities as feminist icon and objectified sex symbol, identities that reflect the