Living Oprah: My One-Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk

By Robyn Okrant

Book Overview

What happens when a thirty-five-year-old average American woman spends one year following every piece of Oprah Winfrey's advice on how to "live your best life"? Robyn Okrant devoted 2008 to adhering to all of Oprah's suggestions and guidance delivered via her television show, her Web site, and her magazine. LIVING OPRAH is a month-by-month account of that year. Some of the challenges included enrollment in Oprah's Best Life Challenge for physical fitness and weight control, living vegan, and participating in Oprah's Book Club. After 365 days of LIVING OPRAH, Okrant reflects on the rewards won and lessons learned as well as the tolls exacted by the experiment.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1599952394
• ISBN13: 9781599952390
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Center Street
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Smart AND funny!

What an amazing idea! I followed Living Oprah's blog looooong before the book was published, and fell in love with Robyn's wit, insight, humor, intelligence, and ability to stay objective as she turned her life upside-down in what began as a simple (yeah, right!) social experiment. The book is a completely honest look at what it means to let go of your own power in decision-making, and rather unquestioningly follow the dictates (advice? guidelines? Nah, much of it boils down to dictates!) of someone who has been made powerful by fame and media. It should be noted that there is very little judgement about Oprah herself (in fact, there's clear admiration for Oprah's self-made empire); rather, opinions are naturally formed based on how one's life (i.e., time, money, energy, thinking, etc.) becomes managed due to the significant input of "another." Again, Robyn's writing is smart, witty, and feels so familiar: We can all identify with her questioning her self-worth because of not "measuring up," and likewise we can celebrate ourselves when we've found something that really makes us feel better, stronger, happier. She's the quick-witted, smart friend we all like to hang with, and she opens herself up and makes herself available to all of us. This was an ingenious project for someone to come up with and take on; the result is an enlightening book! Can't wait to see what Robyn writes next.

Living with media gurus

What exactly would happen if an educated woman without a lot of discretionary income decided to take every Oprah mandate literally for an entire year? That, of course, is the premise of this very interesting account that is Living Oprah. The rules were: 1) No corporate sponsorship, advertising on her website, or financial help of any kind. She wanted to feel free to praise or criticize as she felt was appropriate without worrying about someone else's stakes. 2) If Oprah said anything in the form of a command, as in, "You must do this," or "Everyone should do that," then the author took that directive literally and completed it to the best of her ability. This applied to anything said either on her show or in her magazine, but she did give herself a pass on the many emailed newsletters from [...]. She simply read those for research purposes. This wasn't so much about the Oprah's media empire or about Oprah herself as it was about what it's like to follow a media guru who gives out advice in every area of our lives, from relationships to fashion to finances to how our poop should look (I kid you not!). Some of Oprah's advice clearly benefitted the author. It seems she found the household decluttering advice particularly useful, and the book was frequently complimentary towards the Oprah empire. Other times, though, Oprah told the author to do things she did not want to do at all. I laughed when Oprah told her that she must go see Celine Dion live in concert--let's just say neither the author nor I are great fans of that style of music. The most troubling parts, though, had to do with her personal relationships and her stress levels. An Oprah.com quiz insisted that she and her husband were on shaky ground and caused her to go poking into a perfectly functioning relationship, probably not to its benefit. And the act of substituting someone else's priorities for her own became quite disturbing and stressful. As the author points out, Oprah is the equivalent of the coolest girl in school, and many people want to join her clique. When she tells us something is "life-changing," we want to believe her. We keep holding out that faint glimmer of hope that Oprah and her army of experts know something we don't, and that watching her show will cause us to magically fall into that place she calls our "best lives." And because her show covers so many areas of life and society, it gets contradictory at times. We're supposed to save money but buy fabulous shoes. We're supposed to eat right and exercise and indulge in decadent desserts. We're supposed to love ourselves just as we are while striving to improve ourselves. It's neverending and exhausting to be in Oprah-world, but this book is a fascinating look at one woman genuinely trying to meet these impossible, expensive, time-consuming standards.

Buy This Book!!!!

This book is a must-read not only for all the women who have ever watched an Oprah show and come away with an epiphany as to how to change their lives, but also for all the men who have had to decide whether or not to support said epiphany or run for cover! I bought this book as a Christmas present for my wife who is a big Oprah fan, and Mrs. Okrant had us both in stitches. The anecdotes and observations were so funny, and neither of us could believe how far the author went to follow all of Oprah's advice. The situations and problems this caused are so hysterical- her husband should get some kind of medal! At the same time, the book really made us look at Oprah in a completely different way, while at the same time, making us ponder are we really that messed up that we need someone on televion to give us advice? Whether you are an Oprah fan, an Oprah critic, or just someone who marvels at the influence Oprah has on the world around us, Mrs. Okrant's honest, engaging and entertaining look at Oprah Winfrey provides a tremendous amount to think about as Oprah prepares to end her show, and Ms. Okrant does it in a way I guarantee will make you laugh out loud!

Fascinating and Well-Written

What makes this book special is that Robyn is NOT an Oprah super-fan, she's is your standard Oprah-admirer who took on this experiment in the spirit of a cultural and personal experiment. The result is a page-turner, remarkable for a non-fiction book. Robyn has an Nora Ephron-like writing style that works especially well with this material. Also of note are the grids at the end of each chapter (one chapter = one month) summarizing that month's action items along with the time it took, the cost (if any) and her remarks. A wonderful reference to try a your own version of her experience.

Robyn Okrant shows LIVING OPRAH is never as good as just LIVING

After seeing Robyn Okrant featured on the CNBC special THE O EFFECT, I was eagerly awaiting her book of the experiment. So many times you hear people talking about slivers of what the Queen of Talk suggests for living your best life, but here was someone who was taking everything Oprah said and applying it as real guidlines.. What was the result? It took me a day and a half to read LIVING OPRAH, and I closed the book with a smile thinking of the many lessons I took in through Robyn's journey along the way. Yes, the account is about what Oprah says, but isn't the real test of any minister, speaker or individual who is considered an authority on a subject whether or not what they say really works for YOU? That was the day-to-day struggle for Robyn. You can be given all the tools in the world, but it is about how you apply them that makes the difference. As a fellow creative, I appreciated the way Robyn took to the experiment with great thought. What were the pros and cons physically, financially and quite frankly emotionally? How would it affect her relationship with those in her life, especiailly her husband (I'll come back to him later)? What if people misunderstood her goal? Robyn approached the answers to these questions in a way that was deliberate and cautious of the possible side effects. There were many things she liked that were praised by Oprah. When it came to issues of conflict and conscience,however,such as the lessons of The Secret, we see Robyn weigh it against her own beliefs. There were moments when she also seem to realize that by taking this year-long journey, she was going to be noticed. There was a situation when she came literally face-to-face with herself on public transporation, and seemed to realize that not all would view what she was doing as something worthwhile. Speaking of being noticed, I think all would agree that Oprah garnering success and fame is why a project like this is interesting at all. It stands to reason that anyone who would take up living the life that Oprah encourages would also get attention for doing so; but when the media comes calling to Robyn, she has to decide how much of this attention does she actually want for herself. I mentioned Robyn's husband earlier, and I honestly believe that the experiment wouild not have worked if he was not only accepting and supportive but in many ways affected by it as well. I can relate to him personally, because as a man---a gender that seems not to be as much a part of Oprah's audience for tips on living---I can say that a woman who has overcame challenges, followed her dreams and is enjoying the reward, is just as much a catalyst for me to learn from as anyone else. That brings me to my biggest takeaway. I feel that what was impressed upon her husband the most was what this journey was doing to Robyn, how it was making her feel and look at life---not so much who was responsible for it (Oprah). He was her cheerleader, there on the frontline wanting her to s