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Oprah's Book Club Goes to Wal-Mart
Nowhere to Go But Up 
Oprah called
today's Book Club meeting "our most offbeat yet." Appropriate,
since Where
the Heart Is, by Billie Letts, is certainly one of our most
offbeat selections. Also, one of the funniest and most inspiring
and uplifting. It starts out with Novalee Nation, a pregnant 17-year-old,
stranded by her boyfriend at an Oklahoma Wal-Mart... luckily it gets
better from there!
Stranger Angels At the beginning of the show Oprah met two real-life Novalees. Karen's darkest hour came when she took a job as a topless dancer. Kim's struggle to graduate high school also mirrored some of Novalee's challenges. And like Novalee, both met "stranger angels" who helped them rebuild their lives. Surprise -- Oprah reunited both with the people who came to their aid just when they were needed most. Where Billie's Heart Is 
Billie Letts,
author of Where
the Heart Is, lives in a small Oklahoma town, and writes
about small Oklahoma towns. She started writing as a young girl,
to make her classmates laugh. When she dreamed about writing books,
Billie imagined all the exotic places she would go to do research
for them. She ended up visiting a Wal-Mart less than an hour from
her home. Wal-Marts have changed small-town life, Billie believes.
They've become social centers. "It seemed an appropriate place...
because Novalee would meet a variety of people there."
Names and Turtles After Oprah took on the job of Wal-Mart manager, she and our Book Club guests sat down with Billie to discuss her book. Where did the wonderful, and sometimes strange, names in the book come from? Moses Whitecotton "just came to me," says Billie, but Sister Husband was inspired by her husband's brother, whom everyone calls "Brother." And what about Willy Jack running over turtles in the book's opening? Billie's husband, who once accidentally clipped a turtle on the road, inspired that. Unlike Willy, however, he stopped the car and helped the poor creature make its way to safety. The Kindness of Strangers What did Billie hope readers would take away from her book? "I wanted people to think this is a better world than maybe sometimes they believe it is. Even on the darkest days... I wanted people to think that there are some good people out there. And if we'll just open up and give them a chance, they'll help us in some way." That's so true. Especially after Emerson Goodwin, a "stranger" in our audience from Wal-Mart, announced that Wal-Mart will be building the Angel Network house in Oklahoma City. Thanks, Wal-Mart! Your food might not be the best, but your hearts sure are! A Real Gem Oprah's new Book Club selection is Jewel by Bret Lott, the story of a Mississippi woman in the 1940s who has five healthy, beautiful children... and then a sixth who turns out to be her trial. The book and much of its dialogue is true to its time and place, and Oprah cautions that some of it may be considered politically incorrect. The story, however, is one that's true to the heart. For more information on Jewel, visit our online Oprah's Book Club area. |
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