Oprah's Book Club Rises from the Dead
There is something so idiotically American about the Oprah Winfrey book club, it boogles the imagination, at least mine. To me Oprah is the modern equivalent of some ancient Nubian Fertility Goddess promising riches beyond imagining to those who bow and kiss her feet. Her TV show only has two formats: weepy women complaining about having been born female and Worshiping Bling Bling.
Anyway, she has now decided to revive the Book Club and promote contemporary authors (ie, more sad sack weepy whingy blah blah). Earlier this week, a first-time (male) novelist wrote this article for the New York Times. Sorry for such a long post, but this is one of the funniest things I've read in ages--practically pissed myself reading it.
From New York Times
September 29, 2005
Pitch Imperfect
By JOHN KENNEY
Oprah Winfrey is welcoming contemporary writers back to her popular book club, and that's good news for the authors and their publishers. ... Winfrey stopped picking contemporary works not long after author Jonathan Franzen said her choices were unsophisticated and appealed too much to women.
- The Chicago Tribune, Sept. 24
MAY I first say how lovely you looked on the latest cover of your marvelous magazine, of which I am a very big fan. What a neat idea, putting yourself on the cover of every issue. You certainly like the color red. (How weird, me too!)
Let me also say that I do not care for the work of Jonathan Franzen. What "corrections" was he even talking about? And that whole bit where Chip goes to Ukraine? Hello! I might add that if you were to invite me on your show or pick my novel (which at no point mentions Ukraine or lesbian sex or what was, to my mind, a very cruel, though, in its own way, a very funny depiction of an incontinent elderly Alzheimer patient) for your book club I would say what my parents taught me to say, which is "Yes, Oprah, thank you very much." James Joyce often wrote run-on sentences.
Did I mention that I recently completed my first novel? It's called "Pass the Gravy, Nana."
It is, Oprah, a novel about family. Well, more a dysfunctional family (aren't they all, ha-ha!). A dysfunctional family from Bolivia that is involved in corn (autobiographical) but also in drug dealing and child prostitution (made up!). They move to Appleton, Wis., after their farm is burned to the ground by the MedellÃn cartel for late payment. There, they are haunted by the ghost of former Senator Joseph McCarthy (like me, an Appleton native). It's a comedy but also deeply emotional.
The center of the book is Nana. Like you, Oprah, she is a strong, vibrant, tough-yet-gentle former communist laborer and soccer star for the Bolivian national team. (She played disguised as a man because, sadly, Nana has the Bolivian woman's curse of copious facial hair. Although in no way do I mean to suggest that you are a communist laborer or have issues with facial hair.)
What do I mean by "Eastern establishment?" And by that I mean that Wally Lamb would be making grande skim doppio macchiatos were it not for your vision! My point is that words like "Yale," "Penn," "squash," "Martha's Vineyard," "Chestnut Hill types" - like Gary in "The Corrections!" Honestly, Oprah, what "corrections" was he talking about? And good for you for disinviting him to your show, which makes me laugh and cry! How do you do this? My larger point eludes me.
You ask me what my "writing" style is. Ironically enough, it is Wally-Lamb-meets-Toni-Morrison- has-lunch-with-Walt-Disney. I would remind you that a woman is the central character of my book, and, coincidentally, many women are part of your book club, which I think should have a T-shirt, which I would wear!
Question: Has anyone ever finished Don DeLillo's "Underworld?"
I want you to know that I am not married to the notion of the Nana character or of Bolivia or of corn or drug running or Senator McCarthy, should you find any of those topics boring or distasteful. I bet Jonathan Franzen wishes he lived in Wisconsin! Although I did like it when he wrote about how when Al, the father, was falling into the water from a cruise ship, he was thinking about his three children, and says, "Because in the end, when you were falling into water, there was no solid thing to reach for but your children." That was pretty incredible writing, though, like you, I still find Mr. Franzen and his windy book rude and snobbish, though I have never personally met him.
I've enclosed my notes on "Nana." I'd be happy to get a completed draft to you by Christmas. Or tomorrow. Also, your choice of James Frey's memoir "A Million Little Pieces" is an excellent one, though I have not read the book yet. (A quick thought: "A Million Little Nanas?") I look forward to hearing from you.
John Kenney recently completed his first novel.