"Morales has made a moving, provocative pilgrimage through the complex culture--mainly southern--that produces country music and some of its outsized performers. I found her very readable."--Larry McMurtry, author of Lonesome Dove
"Part quirky travelogue, part study of celebrity culture, part autobiography, Pilgrimage to Dollywood is a witty and self-aware account of being transplanted into an alien culture and deciding to revel in its (and one's own) otherness."-- "Times Higher Education"
"The heart of the book is Morales's personal meditation on the Dollywood shrine itself, the theme park for feminism, Christianity, and the Old South, its mythical log-cabin home, its worshippers at the Dolly Dollar cash-tills, and the reputation of the whole (deserved or not: discuss) as 'the redneck Disneyland.' This is cultural criticism on holiday . . . frank, self-revelatory, comic and clever, revealing greater identification with the heroine than her day job traditionally allows."-- "Times Literary Supplement"
"'This is not a book written from the Olympic heights of an objective observer, ' writes Morales in the introduction to her funny, engaging and erudite book. 'I confess up front that I love Dolly Parton and her music.'"-- "Times (UK)"
"It'll make you want to experience your own pilgrimage, with the windows down and 'Jolene' blaring."-- "Bust"