Name: Oprah
ISBN: 9780307394866

Kitty Kelley

The first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential, powerful and admired public figures of our time is based on three years of research and reporting as well as 850 interviews with sources, many of whom have never before spoken for publication. 600,000 first printing.

A Biography

Oprah

Jeni Enjaian

When I started listening to this book I was immediately made uncomfortable by the "unauthorized" nature of the biography. However, I was willing to give the book a shot since most biographies written are actually "unauthorized." (It's hard to ask a dead person for permission. Living biography subjects are a different story.) That being said, the unauthorized nature of the biography significantly limits the type and character of the interviews available. The included interviews weigh heavily on the anti-Oprah side. 
When the book actually starts Kelly makes an odd choice for the start, the sex-abuse episode in which Oprah revealed her own abuse. The amount of detail plus the lack of background for the biography subject makes this a lurching, off-kilter start to the book. 
Kelly regains her footing when she goes back and starts at the beginning and creates a roughly chronological narrative. Note the word "roughly." If Kelly had bothered to stick to this sort of a narrative, I might have given the book 3 stars instead of 2. Instead, Kelly frequently gets off on tangents which cause her to backtrack and add confusion to the incredibly scattered narrative. 
Another sign of her chronology trouble is evidenced in one description that stuck out to me. While discussing an event that took place in the mid-1990s, Kelly describes the shrimp as the size of "iPods" which is a problem since iPods didn't come into existence until over a decade. 
I don't recommend this book at all.

Oprah A Biography

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