"Coal Miner's Daughter"

After finally sitting down and watching through the entire movie, "A Coal Miner's Daughter", I felt compelled to read the book. The movie has always interested me and I have stumbled across it various times playing on the TV, but I never actually sat down and watched it. The show left me a lot to think about concerning Loretta Lynn and the life she has led. I just had to read the book to learn more.

Wow. What a life! Growing up in a poor company run coal mining town in the hollers of Kentucky, Loretta learned how to make due with everything and anything. Stories of how her mom would use every part of the chicken cooked for dinner, even making biscuits from cutting up the chicken feet. Ugh. They didn't have a lot, but they did what they could with what they had. Then at barely age fourteen she married "Doolittle" Lynn, whom she affectionately calls "Doo". She knew little about sex and babies and was in for quite a surprise on her wedding night. She writes how she didn't figure out how babies came until after she had her first three. From there we follow her through cross country moves, family tragedies, and finally her start in music. Her raw talent, hard work, and determined husband made her the famous country singer she became.

It is fascinating to follow her adventure and hear her humble honesty about life. The book is kind of written in stream of conscious, with random things popping up left and right. It was a different style than what I am used to, but soon I felt like I was chatting with the woman myself and getting her input from marriage to politics. It was a fun read that taught me about a total different world, life in a coal mining Kentucky holler, and gave me a greater respect for Loretta Lynn.