Oprah's Book Club Selections from 1996 to 2000

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi – Oprah’s Book Club Selection #5

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Mar 302012

S tones from the River
By Ursula Hegi
Oprah Book Club® Selection #5, February 1997

Editorial Review:

Ursula Hegi’s Stones from the River clamors for comparisons to Gunter Grass’s The Tin Drum; her protagonist Trudi Montag–like the unforgettable Oskar Mazerath–is a dwarf living in Germany during the two World Wars. To its credit, Stones does not wilt from the comparison. Hegi’s book has a distinctive, appealing flavor of its own. Stone’s characters are off-center enough to hold your attention despite the inevitable dominance of the setting: There’s Trudi’s mother, who slowly goes insane living in an “earth nest” beneath the family house; Trudi’s best friend Georg, whose parents dress him as the girl they always wanted; and, of course, Trudi herself, whose condition dooms her to long for an impossible normalcy. Futhermore, the reader’s inevitable sympathy for Trudi, the dwarf, heightens the true grotesqueness of Nazi Germany. Stones from the River is a nightmare journey with an unforgettable guide. Continue reading »

She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb – Oprah’s Book Club Selection #4

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Mar 292012

S he’s Come Undone
By Wally Lamb
Oprah Book Club® Selection #4, December 1996

Editorial Review:

“Mine is a story of craving; an unreliable account of lusts and troubles that began, somehow, in 1956 on the day our free television was delivered.” So begins the story of Dolores Price, the unconventional heroine of Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone. Dolores is a class-A emotional basket case, and why shouldn’t she be? She’s suffered almost every abuse and familial travesty that exists: Her father is a violent, philandering liar; her mother has the mental and emotional consistency of Jell-O; and the men in her life are probably the gender’s most loathsome creatures. But Dolores is no quitter; she battles her woes with a sense of self-indulgence and gluttony rivaled only by Henry VIII. Hers is a dysfunctional Wonder Years, where growing up in the golden era was anything but ideal. While most kids her age were dealing with the monumental importance of the latest Beatles single and how college turned an older sibling into a long-haired hippie, Dolores was grappling with such issues as divorce, rape, and mental illness. Whether you’re disgusted by her antics or moved by her pathetic ploys, you’ll be drawn into Dolores’s warped, hilarious, Mallomar-munching world.

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The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton – Oprah’s Book Club Selection #3

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Mar 292012

T he Book of Ruth
By Jane Hamilton
Oprah Book Club® Selection | November 1996

Editorial Review:

The Book of Ruth is a virtuoso performance and that’s precisely why it can be excruciating to read. Author Jane Hamilton leads us through the arid life of Ruth Grey, who extracts what small pleasures and graces she can from a tiny Illinois town and the broken people who inhabit it. Ruth’s prime tormentor is her mother May, whose husband died in World War II and took her future with him. More poor familial luck has given Ruth a brother who is a math prodigy; Matt sucks up any stray attention like a black hole. Ruth is left to survive on her own resources, which are meager. She struggles along, subsisting on crumbs of affection meted out by her Aunt Sid and, later, her screwed-up husband Ruby. Hamilton has perfect pitch. So perfect that you wince with pain for confused but fundamentally good Ruth as she walks a dead-end path. The book ends with the prospect of redemption, thank goodness–but the tale is nevertheless much more bitter than sweet.

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Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison – Oprah’s Book Club Selection #2

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Mar 282012

S ong of Solomon
By Toni Morrison
Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993
Oprah Book Club® Selection | October 1996

Editorial Review:

Morrison’s earthy, poetic voice compliments perfectly the fantastical and mythical elements of Song Of Soloman. A world where fathers fly in clouds of rose petals, and women can cast spells. The text is perfectly suited for an audio rendition – as poetry, songs and the spoken word feature so heavily in the book.

Morrison narrates for three hours and lays out before us the complex lives and backgrounds of four generations of black family life in the south. Central is the character Milkman–an unfortunate nickname owed to his lengthy nursing period and delayed coming of age. Although a late starter, Milkman develops into a fundamentally strong person, who eventually learns to cherish his family and the importance of his roots. Continue reading »

The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard – Oprah’s Book Club Selection #1

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Mar 282012

T he Deep End of the Ocean
By Jacquelyn Mitchard (Author)
Oprah Book Club® Selection | September 1996
This is the first title chosen for Oprah’s Book Club

Editorial Review:

The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old Ben Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben’s older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family’s friction and torment–along with many gritty realities of family life–with the candor of a journalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been there. International publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It’s a blockbuster. Continue reading »

Oprah’s Book Club Collection – Complete List

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Mar 202012

Oprah’s Book Club Selections – 1996

The Deep End of the Ocean
By Jacquelyn Mitchard
Oprah Book Club® Selection #1, September 1996
This is the first title chosen for Oprah’s Book Club

Editorial Review – Click Here

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Song of Solomon
By Toni Morrison
Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993
Oprah Book Club® Selection #2, October 1996

Editorial Review – Click Here

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The Book of Ruth
By Jane Hamilton
Oprah Book Club® Selection #3, November 1996

Editorial Review – Click Here

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