Much Ado About Oprah's Book Club
In Amazon's Significant Seven interview with Jim Frey
, the controversial author of the Oprah Book Club selection, "A Million Little Pieces," he was asked: "If you could have one superpower what would it be?" Since Mr. Frey has been the focus of media attention lately, could anyone familiar with this issue guess as to what his answer might be? Given the circumstances surrounding this whole matter, one might make a good stab at the answer. No, still can't get it? Well, Mr. Frey's answer was...immortality.
After Oprah's second television interview with the now famous author, I think he just earned that superpower. As an author myself, I got a little swept up in this whole thing with Frey. Not having read the book, I cannot comment on the contents or on the stylistic elements which catapulted this relatively unknown former substance abuser into the stratospheric heights of "bestseller-dom." Mr. Frey achieved what few achieve: a spotlighted author of the Oprah Book Club, an endorsement of the book by the superstar herself, and a guest appearance to her immensely popular talk show. Many an author salivates at the very thought of achieving this success. Although I do not know the sales numbers for the book, I do believe Mr. Frey has earned enough money to devote full time to his writing career. I do not doubt that the book has sold in the millions of copies. After all, an endorsement from Oprah is like the Midas touch to any aspiring author.
In this case, however, the Midas touch turned out to be the Devil's retribution. For having ascended the heights of Everest, Mr. Frey plunged to the depths of Hades. In the second interview with Oprah, the Harpo Productions media giant vigorously rebutted the author's position and attacked the chicanery he employed to elevate him to celebrity status. As I saw clips from the interview, I sensed an almost suicidal look on the face of Frey, while he sat there desperately trying to mollify Oprah's wrath at his having deceived not only her but the millions of readers who relied on her endorsement. Not a good position to be in. Not for Frey. Not for anyone.
Interestingly, Frey's answer to the Amazon interview question sheds light on why he fabricated his story and presented it as an accurate memoir of his life: people will do almost anything for a shot at the big time, for a shot at immortality. As the whole matter comes clearer into focus, it becomes evident that this premise underlay Frey's motives. Although getting on Oprah does not confer immortality on anyone, some authors believe that this is the end-all be-all of existence. Some would literally kill to get on Oprah. Others will do what Frey did: lie and fabricate. And that's what kills me.
You see, there are so many good writers out there--honest, hardworking writers--who are starving. Many deserve a moment in the sun, yet many will never get it. How unfortunate.
Though not familiar with the picks for Oprah's club, I only hope that she would select more nonfiction books written by very ordinary people, and that these works covered such themes as education, morality, or spirituality. These themes are those which we as a society are in such desperate need of.
What happened to Oprah with Frey could have happened to anyone, and I certainly do not impugn Oprah for her selection of Frey's book. Assuming Frey's memoir to be true, Oprah believed that his experiences, as detailed in the book, could help millions. Moreover, Frey's book--as critiqued by many--gave readers a spellbinding look at the horrific world of drug and alcohol abuse. For this reason, I certainly understand the selection. Unfortunately, as a result of Oprah's sincere motives yet Frey's specious ones, she got much egg on her face, and Frey got his supernatural power.
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Free Articles and MoreJoe is a prolific writer of self-help and educational material and an award-winning former teacher of both college and high school mathematics. Under the penname, JC Page, Joe authored Arithmetic Magic, the little classic on the ABC's of arithmetic. Joe is also author of the charming self-help ebook, Making a Good Impression Every Time: The Secret to Instant Popularity; the original collection of poetry, Poems for the Mathematically Insecure, and the short but highly effective fraction troubleshooter Fractions for the Faint of Heart. The
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