Hey! I think I know what would be worse than going through two root canals without novocaine! It would have to be sitting down with Oprah Winfrey on live tv as she tore me a million tiny new a**holes. Oh man.
One of the perks of being home with the lad is that I got to watch this show where James Frey bowed down to the wrath of Oprah. It was excruciating. At one point I had to turn it off because it was too painful to watch him verbally squirm and try to salvage one little shred of self-respect. Oh, but you know Oprah was not going to let him have it. She was out for blood, people. And her seething minions in the audience were just straining to get a piece of him. Honestly i have never seen anything like it ever on television. I know he deserves it - you can't sup at the book club smorgasbord and not expect a backlash, and if you've lied your a** off in your work of "non-fiction" someone is going to make sure that you get your comeuppance. But what I found rah-ther distasteful is that Oprah does not see her role in this at all. She is the pioneer of mass-exploitation of the redemption story. She has built an empire from having everyday people telling the most horrific and distressing events of their lives on TV so that we can "learn" from their stories. She, and all her ilk, have always had to up the ante on the sordid details in order to keep people interested. Her book list is filled with titles, fiction and non-, dealing with incest, drug abuse, rape, suicide, child murder, child exploitation etc etc. And she sits there, shocked, that an author might make crap up to get his book to sell to exactly the monster audience she has created. What a coincidence. Um, yeah, make the connection, Oprah.
i missed de-lurking week, but here is a belated comment, my dear sparling prose goddess! thanks for the stories + photos, they are a real pleasure! xo -carol
Posted by: carol m | January 27, 2006 at 11:10 PM
Yes! Something has always been vaguely unsettling about the Oprah Book Club to me. I admit to being a literature snob at heart, and her mass market approach to marketing and selling books seems seedy. It's like I've found a great little bistro, then the Times does a piece on it and suddenly the line's around the block on Sunday mornings, and then the bistro food goes downhill because they can't keep up with the crush. She's created a monster market that devours and shreds books, and publishers are doing their best to feed this monster with whatever they can find.
Posted by: Mignon | January 28, 2006 at 11:16 AM
I'm with you! Funny...I posted about this yesterday and we're of the same mine. Come by for a look. I enjoy your site.
Posted by: wordgirl | January 28, 2006 at 12:09 PM
Of the same MIND. Sorry.
Posted by: wordgirl | January 28, 2006 at 12:09 PM
Send this to Oprah.
Posted by: Karen | January 30, 2006 at 09:25 PM
Karen - i can't send it to Oprah - she will have me hunted down and her flunkies will force me to wear a hairshirt while flagellating myself with back copies of "O" and genuflecting to a big poster of dr. phil. I'm scared.
Thanks for the comments all!
Posted by: LetterB | January 30, 2006 at 11:41 PM