Living Oprah by Robyn Okrant

i have to say when i heard of this i thought" what a great idea" then i read the book and wanted to shoot myself.  Now let me first explain that i personally dislike when others attempt to tell me how i should view advertising or who i should listen to, and with this book  you got it in spades.

 Now i understand the premise is for her to see if living by Oprah's advice would give her her best life, as im reading this (which im glad as hell i didnt purchase but borrowed from the library) i kept wanting to hit her over the head, Oprah has never said follow every single word or idea i have ever uttered and i personally think if she had focused on one aspect in which to follow O's advice then this book would have been better.

 This of course is all my opinion and she too is allowed to have hers, but this book doesnt really go  beyond numbers and her increased sense of self importance and her lowered self esteem. Now i know that many women become like this because they believe some celebrity Guru is going to show them the way and help them find happiness and Nirvana and as a yoga teacher i was surprised she didn't already know this and have some common sense about this topic.

Despite saying all of that there are several salient points to this book which much like she says to stay glued thinking there would be some nuggets of truth buried within and she has them there buried in the end of the book. Its never easy attempting to live up to anyone else's ideal of happiness and she shows that throughout the book. the one thing that struck me is that for a yoga instructor she doesn't mention any real practice beyond work and i wonder if she realized that had she maintained a spiritual practice even with all the things she was attempting she wouldn't have been as stressed out in the end?

Oprah (who i cant say im an avid watcher) does have a lot of good info out there and its up to you to glean all the pertinent information that relates to you and your lifestyle, i understand she was trying to see what would happen if you listened to Oprah, but many people listen to others they cant name for what they wear, read,eat, dine at and how they look; i personally feel this book would have been better if she had focused on one or two things in her life she was going to use Oprah's advice for, then this wouldn't have been the ramblings of a over 30 married without children woman but someone who could say Yes or No O's advice didnt help her, as it stands im upset that i took the time to even read this.

since i dont want to give away the ending if you still want to read it after reading my ramblings, post back and tell me what you think.


love and light
aisha