Arnon Grunberg

Vengeance

Nail

I was intrigued by this paragraph in Lauren Collins’ review on Kitty Kelley’s biography of Oprah Winfrey in this week’s New Yorker:

‘One of Kelley’s most voluble sources is Katharine Carr Esters, an eighty-one-year-old cousin, at whose suggestion Oprah donated five million dollars to build a Boys and Girls Club in Kosciusko. “It’s easy when you have that much and you need tax deductions and all,” Esters told Kelley. “And Oprah doesn’t bang a nail for Habitat unless her cameras are running.” Esters’s grudge seems to stem from Oprah’s failure to help her publicize a memoir, and from disagreements about their family history: Oprah has said that she grew up in filth; Esters tells Kelley that the family’s home was “spotless,” with “white Priscilla-style lace curtains.”’

Katherine Carr Esters appears to be a woman with a vengeance -- I would love to meet her.

But in defense of Oprah: I would not bang a nail for Habitat unless a camera is running.
I would not even dare to bang a nail in my own apartment.