Oprah is a name known by most Americans. Who hasn’t watched the Oprah show at some time in their lives? I have enjoyed and learned from some of her show topics and have disagreed with others. I was looking forward to reading Where Has Oprah Taken Us? by Stephen Mansfield. I was curious to find out more about Oprah’s faith journey and learn more about what she personally believes. Instead, I found this book was filled with unnecessary comments about the promiscuity of her younger years and other scandalous comments. The book attempts to blame Oprah for leading Christians astray on their faith journey. I find it odd to blame a celebrity for others short comings. If you are strong in your faith, you are able to listen to the ideas and beliefs of others with acceptance even when they might not worship in the same way you do. This should not shake your faith, but strengthen it.I found this book was overflowing with footnotes. Chapter Two had a whopping 64 footnotes with Chapter Four winning the grand prize with a total of 103 footnotes. It’s hard to respect an author when he spends most of the pages referencing passages from books that were written by other authors.
In the introduction of the book, the author tells the reader that there will be sections in the book when he will speak from his personal point of view. He acknowledges that these biased comments will be set off with italics. I found these sections to be too “soap box” in nature for my taste.
I would not recommend this book. Instead, I would recommend that if you disagree with Oprah’s faith practices, you pray for her; that God would reveal His love to her. I am a Christian who worships God. I don’t worship Oprah or any other celebrity so why would I be threatened by her belief system.
I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
I won't disagree with your review until I've read the book. But I did want to comment on your dislike of footnotes. In a nonfiction book, footnotes are a requirement. Especially when you're writing about someone else, you have to cite your sources. I would actually be worried if this book wasn't full of footnotes. That would make it a book that was nothing but the author's opinion, and that's not a book I would want to read.
ReplyDeleteDeb ... thank you for your comment. Your point is well taken. I do understand the necessity of citing your source when writing a nonfiction book. I guess after noticing the number of times Mr. Mansfield referenced the Oprah biography written by Kitty Kelly (3/4 of the notes in Chapter One alone), I felt that maybe I would have been better served just reading that book. I would, however, be interested in hearing your opinion of the book if and when you decide to read it.
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