Oprah - Kitty Kelley

If someone told you that Kitty Kelley was writing your biography would you be happy? Probably not, because even though Kitty's biographies make fun beach reads that we all secretly gobble down, they are always "unauthorized" and fearless when it comes to setting the record straight. While Kitty's books are usually a gossipy romp through a celebrities life, Oprah: A Biography
is more like a jet fuel induced rocket rushing to space.

Kitty focuses on interviews with Oprah's father and relatives all who have little to do with her current life and while they may be able to talk about her past life, they seem to lack the understanding of the woman she's become. Kitty races through Oprah quotes so fast that they are more like reading a list than having any context to the complicated and intelligent Oprah Winfrey. Oprah is funny. Sometimes her humorous quotes are taken out of context.

No matter what you think about Oprah, (and lets face it, she has sort of gone off the New Age, "I'm so rich, I don't know what to do with all this money" heebie jeebie cliff.) the book cannot truly tear her down off her pedestal. For those of us who grew up watching her, there is a sense of understanding that Oprah has always been a "work in progress" and the fact she loves to continue to learn and grow is one of her greatest assets. No one can deny that Oprah has earned her wealth, worked hard to improve her skills and dreamed and set goals for her life that most of us average people cannot or do not know how to do. The woman is extremely generous and her humanitarian works alone could probably be the subject of a book in itself. In the end, Oprah is always inspiring, always transcending stereotypes of race, gender and looks. She is always brilliant. She is always Oprah.

I hope that one day Oprah writes her own autobiography or someone writes a fair and balanced definitive tome on her life. She deserves it.