Reviews

Maslin: New Oprah Bio a Dud

NYT critic disses Kitty Kelley’s new book.

Kitty Kelley claims to have the goods on Oprah in her new biography, but does the book back up her claim? New York Times critic Janet Maslin says Kelley has a credibility problem: For example, she says she has 2,732 files of Oprah interviews in the foreword, then ups the number to 2,932 in the acknowledgements. “The larger problem with Ms. Kelley’s reportorial Cuisinart is that its mash-up of Winfrey voices is so disjointed,” Maslin writes. Lots of Kelley’s material, like the information about dieting, has been discussed “ad nauseum,” while when it comes to the rumors about Oprah’s sexuality, “Kelley is left trying to extrapolate about the adult woman’s proclivities from the 50-year-old story of Ms. Winfrey having given birth to a baby at the age of 15.” Maslin concludes, “After some hollow authorial claims of respect and admiration, Oprah just aims for the jugular. It doesn’t draw blood.”