What do you think?
Rate this book
Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery, and Madness
A portrait of Opal Whitley, the young Oregon logging town resident who recorded her experiences and mystical relationship with God, examines the range of identities and roles attributed to her since the sensational publication of her diary, from New Age prophet and environmentalist to mad genius and long-lost princess. 35,000 first printing.
- GenresNonfictionBiography
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
16 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 16, 2012
If you have never heard of Opal Whiteley than this book will have little relevance for you. To want to read a book about the life of Opal pretty much requires that you bring to it at least a marginal pre-existing knowledge of either her or her famous diary. To approach the subject "cold" is probably not going to appeal to the casual reader except maybe in this case where one is a fan of the author's previous works.
This might have been the book that "explained" Opal Whiteley. The author appears to have done the research; she appears to have interviewed the right people. The promos looked like this might be the book that gives the needed and missing insight into the eighty year old mystery of Opal.
This isn't that book.
First off, the tone of the text gives away the author's sympathies mere pages in. The book has a point of view and no saccharine summary on the last page is going to undo proceeding chapters of caustic verbiage.
The book purports to offer an exhaustive examination of the life of Opal, and it may well have except the reader will never be able to verify most of the research because there are no footnotes. There any many statements enclosed in quotation marks, and some are even sourced within the text, but you are going to have take most at face value, or for whatever value the author has given them, because the normally expected notes citing sources doesn't exist in this narrative; and this is a novel-like narrative rather than a normally constructed biography.
The other major lacking feature is an index. Unless you have an elephant's memory you are going to have trouble placing a name noted on an early page to one that turns up later with no connective reference. I personally can not conceive of a biography of any value that does not have either footnotes or an index.
However, the biggest flaw in this book is that the author gives many reasons why Opal's famous diary could not have been written by the Opal of childhood but she never gives any clue or hint as to how this fraud was pulled off; the "when" maybe, but never the "how". Where was the diary before it was sent for? Who and where were the co-conspirators that would have been needed to pull it all off? How did they even know there was a market to sell the scam to? The author ends the book conceding that the mystery of Opal is just as secure as when the book was began.
The book actually offers quite a bit of new biographical information that doesn't appear to have been compiled in a previous volume before, at least not in this detail. A lot of it is very interesting but what to make of it all? The author poisons her own well by the hostile tone of her writing. Opal is a schemer, Opal is a parasite, Opal is an adventuress, Opal is crazy. Compassion or insight seems to be in short supply in cataloging the described events of Opal's life.
This is an interesting book and probably will be of great interest to "Opalites" as they are called in the text, but the mystery, and maybe the wonder, of Opal's diary is still secure.
This might have been the book that "explained" Opal Whiteley. The author appears to have done the research; she appears to have interviewed the right people. The promos looked like this might be the book that gives the needed and missing insight into the eighty year old mystery of Opal.
This isn't that book.
First off, the tone of the text gives away the author's sympathies mere pages in. The book has a point of view and no saccharine summary on the last page is going to undo proceeding chapters of caustic verbiage.
The book purports to offer an exhaustive examination of the life of Opal, and it may well have except the reader will never be able to verify most of the research because there are no footnotes. There any many statements enclosed in quotation marks, and some are even sourced within the text, but you are going to have take most at face value, or for whatever value the author has given them, because the normally expected notes citing sources doesn't exist in this narrative; and this is a novel-like narrative rather than a normally constructed biography.
The other major lacking feature is an index. Unless you have an elephant's memory you are going to have trouble placing a name noted on an early page to one that turns up later with no connective reference. I personally can not conceive of a biography of any value that does not have either footnotes or an index.
However, the biggest flaw in this book is that the author gives many reasons why Opal's famous diary could not have been written by the Opal of childhood but she never gives any clue or hint as to how this fraud was pulled off; the "when" maybe, but never the "how". Where was the diary before it was sent for? Who and where were the co-conspirators that would have been needed to pull it all off? How did they even know there was a market to sell the scam to? The author ends the book conceding that the mystery of Opal is just as secure as when the book was began.
The book actually offers quite a bit of new biographical information that doesn't appear to have been compiled in a previous volume before, at least not in this detail. A lot of it is very interesting but what to make of it all? The author poisons her own well by the hostile tone of her writing. Opal is a schemer, Opal is a parasite, Opal is an adventuress, Opal is crazy. Compassion or insight seems to be in short supply in cataloging the described events of Opal's life.
This is an interesting book and probably will be of great interest to "Opalites" as they are called in the text, but the mystery, and maybe the wonder, of Opal's diary is still secure.
June 12, 2011
I have to go with Stephen Williamson's review at efn.org... "What we read is page after page of much the same thing; Opal was an ambitious, lying, crazy child who hated housework - and she died an ambitious, lying, crazy old woman who hated housework. Case closed. Beck seems to dismiss or ignore almost any information favorable to Opal while magnifying all of her flaws."
I think she did a huge amount of research but she disliked Opal, and applied her findings to her subject in a way so as to present her in as negative a light as possible. Where things are not known or there aren't primary sources, Beck always suggests something pathological, abnormal, wacky or at least less than honest.
She seems to have taken to heart the embittered spew of Elbert Bede, the author of Fabulous Opal Whiteley. Bede, the editor of the Oregonian newspaper, started covering Opal when she was a young teenager giving nature study lectures and classes in the Eugene area. Captivated by her intelligence and beauty, he continued to follow her activities for many years. When the Diary came out, with its assertions that she was adopted, Bede did a huge amount of research, initially to back up and prove Opal's claim. When he couldn't get enough information, he turned against her. Probably embarrassed and ashamed that he had supported her, he began publishing a series of snarky articles that I suppose he thought were witty and clever, constantly talking up her supposed deceptions and skulduggery. Beck follows Bede's story as closely as Opal's. I was surprised she never used the phrase "opportunities fitted themselves to her plans," Bede's liturgical phrase which he uses to explain why and how people treated Opal with kindness or respect.
There is one point toward the end of the book on which I vehemently disagree with Beck. It's where she says that Benjamin Hoff's commentary warning of ecological disaster at the end of his edition of Opal's diary, The Singing Creek Where The Willows Grow, was "emotionally fraught". She seems to approve of the fact that those passages were removed from later editions of the book. I am no New Age devotee; I've worked with those people, and I hate the stuff. (If you don't know what I mean, read this book and find out what New Age 'spiritual people' -- in those days it was called Theosophy -- did to Opal!) However, it doesn't take crystals and karma to see that Al Gore was right. The fact is, so-called "seers" among others have been predicting global warming for decades. They may not have been actual psychics, just people with common sense who saw that something was wrong. Fans of Opal who saw the catastrophe coming did so because they were, like her, observers of nature, not because of occult belief systems.
If you want to know what I think of this book, go to http://members.efn.org/~opal/beckbook...
I think she did a huge amount of research but she disliked Opal, and applied her findings to her subject in a way so as to present her in as negative a light as possible. Where things are not known or there aren't primary sources, Beck always suggests something pathological, abnormal, wacky or at least less than honest.
She seems to have taken to heart the embittered spew of Elbert Bede, the author of Fabulous Opal Whiteley. Bede, the editor of the Oregonian newspaper, started covering Opal when she was a young teenager giving nature study lectures and classes in the Eugene area. Captivated by her intelligence and beauty, he continued to follow her activities for many years. When the Diary came out, with its assertions that she was adopted, Bede did a huge amount of research, initially to back up and prove Opal's claim. When he couldn't get enough information, he turned against her. Probably embarrassed and ashamed that he had supported her, he began publishing a series of snarky articles that I suppose he thought were witty and clever, constantly talking up her supposed deceptions and skulduggery. Beck follows Bede's story as closely as Opal's. I was surprised she never used the phrase "opportunities fitted themselves to her plans," Bede's liturgical phrase which he uses to explain why and how people treated Opal with kindness or respect.
There is one point toward the end of the book on which I vehemently disagree with Beck. It's where she says that Benjamin Hoff's commentary warning of ecological disaster at the end of his edition of Opal's diary, The Singing Creek Where The Willows Grow, was "emotionally fraught". She seems to approve of the fact that those passages were removed from later editions of the book. I am no New Age devotee; I've worked with those people, and I hate the stuff. (If you don't know what I mean, read this book and find out what New Age 'spiritual people' -- in those days it was called Theosophy -- did to Opal!) However, it doesn't take crystals and karma to see that Al Gore was right. The fact is, so-called "seers" among others have been predicting global warming for decades. They may not have been actual psychics, just people with common sense who saw that something was wrong. Fans of Opal who saw the catastrophe coming did so because they were, like her, observers of nature, not because of occult belief systems.
If you want to know what I think of this book, go to http://members.efn.org/~opal/beckbook...
July 8, 2009
I suspect this book could of been better, but it did lead me to find out more about the lovely & strange Opal Whiteley! So yay for that!
October 29, 2018
Kathrine Beck, known mainly by her pen name, K.K. Beck, is a suspense novelist who elects to delve into the biography of a strange young girl from the early 20th Century. Opal Whiteley (1897-1992) was a celebrity when her mystical childhood diary was published in the 1920s. In “Opal,” through intensive research covering years of correspondence, archival writing, and press coverage, Beck produces an analytical narrative about a bizarre and exhilarating life, an ambitious effort that lacks emotion.
Whiteley, as a young child from the area around Cottage Grove, Oregon, was intimately involved with nature and wildlife, spending hours in the outdoors with a bevy of animal friends and woodland fairies. She could read at the age of three, started a journal of her observations and experiences at 7, and began nature lectures for area children at 15 years of age. She so impressed professors at Oregon State University with her abilities that they created a scholarship for her and admitted her to the university although she had yet to complete her high school education.
Consistent, perhaps, with mental difficulties that plagued her throughout her life, Opal did not do well in college, failing to complete classes and running up a horrendous list of overdue library books throughout the state. She turned, instead, to Hollywood, trying to become a movie star and, when that failed, began writing her memoirs of life as a rural child genius. Producing and promoting such writing was her fervent pursuit for the rest of her life.
Her life, however, spiraled downward in a series of almost manic attempts at getting her works produced. She travelled throughout much of the world, living off the largesse of her enthusiastic supporters until even they tired of her hyperactive efforts and deceptions. She died at a mental health facility in England, alone and reclusive at the age of 95, probably suffering from life-long schizophrenia.
The story of a pretty waif of a girl totally immersed in the beauty of nature whose life becomes a nightmare of self-deception and, eventually, fraudulent behavior, is fascinating. Beck does a scholarly job of getting the details straight. Her narrative is non-judgmental and straightforward; making me wanting a more tender and sympathetic look at a beautiful, if tormented, mind. Opal would be a great subject for a historical novel.
Whiteley, as a young child from the area around Cottage Grove, Oregon, was intimately involved with nature and wildlife, spending hours in the outdoors with a bevy of animal friends and woodland fairies. She could read at the age of three, started a journal of her observations and experiences at 7, and began nature lectures for area children at 15 years of age. She so impressed professors at Oregon State University with her abilities that they created a scholarship for her and admitted her to the university although she had yet to complete her high school education.
Consistent, perhaps, with mental difficulties that plagued her throughout her life, Opal did not do well in college, failing to complete classes and running up a horrendous list of overdue library books throughout the state. She turned, instead, to Hollywood, trying to become a movie star and, when that failed, began writing her memoirs of life as a rural child genius. Producing and promoting such writing was her fervent pursuit for the rest of her life.
Her life, however, spiraled downward in a series of almost manic attempts at getting her works produced. She travelled throughout much of the world, living off the largesse of her enthusiastic supporters until even they tired of her hyperactive efforts and deceptions. She died at a mental health facility in England, alone and reclusive at the age of 95, probably suffering from life-long schizophrenia.
The story of a pretty waif of a girl totally immersed in the beauty of nature whose life becomes a nightmare of self-deception and, eventually, fraudulent behavior, is fascinating. Beck does a scholarly job of getting the details straight. Her narrative is non-judgmental and straightforward; making me wanting a more tender and sympathetic look at a beautiful, if tormented, mind. Opal would be a great subject for a historical novel.
May 14, 2017
I've been fascinated by the story of Opal Whitely for a long time, and I have a first edition of her original diary. She must have been a fascinating woman, to have inspired so much interest and loyalty. Katherine Beck her unravels the mystery, as no one has done before, and this book is evidence of an enormous amount of research She explains the involvement of the various publishers and of previous biographers, and traces the story farther than previous authors. Sadly, the diary itself might have stood on its own as a literary work, if Opal hadn't been so manipulative/mentally ill.
April 23, 2020
If this book had citations/footnotes, I would have given it a 5.
A lot of reviewers are salty that this book obviously favored the position that Opal was a fraud. I'm not upset about that, as it certainly seemed to be the case. I can also understand the position, given that so many people seem to have written about Opal from the position of her story having been true. Either way, despite the position of the author, Opal still came across as an interesting person to read about, and I'll definitely be doing more research. I loved this book.
A lot of reviewers are salty that this book obviously favored the position that Opal was a fraud. I'm not upset about that, as it certainly seemed to be the case. I can also understand the position, given that so many people seem to have written about Opal from the position of her story having been true. Either way, despite the position of the author, Opal still came across as an interesting person to read about, and I'll definitely be doing more research. I loved this book.
March 31, 2024
What a strange book! It reads like nonfiction that reads as fiction that reads as nonfiction. And ultimately, it concludes that the line between fiction and nonfiction really doesn't matter so much as the story itself. The author presents us with Opal's life and the evidence for and against her diary's authenticity, and for and against the truth of her royal parentage, but she doesn't come to a conclusion. Some readers might find this frustrating, but it seems like the most honest way of writing about such an enigmatic person. Overall, it's a captivating and very surreal read.
September 17, 2020
Fascinating story that I could hardly believe. It truly seems made up. Extensively researched, almost to its downfall. I found myself overwhelmed by the exuberant amount of details and name drops included. It does form an overall understanding of each player in Opal’s story, but I often found myself skimming paragraphs trying to get to the core of the point the author was trying to make. I kept reading because I was truly entranced by the story of Opal.
March 19, 2019
A touching look into the life of a young woman shrouded by mystery and madness.
November 30, 2014
Opal Whiteley, despite the fame she continues to have among her fans, Opalites, was a very sad character.
She grew up in Oregon, her father worked in lumber camps, one of 5 children. Their mother was mentally unstable, the father was often absent. Opal was small, dark, charming, intelligent, had an astounding memory, and was mentally unstable herself. She was a young Christian volunteer and showed a great skill in getting people to participate in the organization she was involved in. But really it was all about Opal, making people like Opal and believe her, whatever she said.
She brought these people skills to Los Angeles, Boston, Wash D.C., and India. She had an amazing ability to work her way to the top social strata of any city she was in, and quickly. But she was already cracking and as each group of friends tired of her and wanted her to go away she cracked more. When she got into her thirties she lost her looks and finally her mind really was gone. It was very sad to see her without family or anyone to truly love her. She was loved more in the abstract, and as a youthful memory, than as a real person in this world. What made her famous was her book, ostensibly her diary written as a small child. The book is on many school reading lists and there are people who absolutely believe the book is her diary from when she was seven years old. They also believe she was actually from French royalty and was given to the Whiteley family to raise. Opal believed it. She also believed that she was married to the Prince of Wales as a child bride. She was committed to a mental institution at age 50 and lived there until her death.
It is an interesting book to read if you like history and biographies. I think I picked it up in a Little Free Library and I am glad that I got the chance to read it.
She grew up in Oregon, her father worked in lumber camps, one of 5 children. Their mother was mentally unstable, the father was often absent. Opal was small, dark, charming, intelligent, had an astounding memory, and was mentally unstable herself. She was a young Christian volunteer and showed a great skill in getting people to participate in the organization she was involved in. But really it was all about Opal, making people like Opal and believe her, whatever she said.
She brought these people skills to Los Angeles, Boston, Wash D.C., and India. She had an amazing ability to work her way to the top social strata of any city she was in, and quickly. But she was already cracking and as each group of friends tired of her and wanted her to go away she cracked more. When she got into her thirties she lost her looks and finally her mind really was gone. It was very sad to see her without family or anyone to truly love her. She was loved more in the abstract, and as a youthful memory, than as a real person in this world. What made her famous was her book, ostensibly her diary written as a small child. The book is on many school reading lists and there are people who absolutely believe the book is her diary from when she was seven years old. They also believe she was actually from French royalty and was given to the Whiteley family to raise. Opal believed it. She also believed that she was married to the Prince of Wales as a child bride. She was committed to a mental institution at age 50 and lived there until her death.
It is an interesting book to read if you like history and biographies. I think I picked it up in a Little Free Library and I am glad that I got the chance to read it.
June 30, 2014
The life of Opal Whitely is bizarrely fascinating no matter how you look at it: either she was the illegitimate daughter of the Duke D'Orleans who was smuggled to Oregon at the turn of the century and given to a lumberjack's family to raise in obscurity and safety, then abused by that family only to eventually make her name as a nature expert and author and then publish a childhood diary that had been torn to pieces by one of her jealous "sisters" and after its publication learn the truth of her own birth OR she made that all up but got a huge international readership and some very devoted fans to believe her. Plus going to India, having an affair with a Swami that was even more of a con artist than her, living for years with nuns in England, having financial and emotional support from the inventor of the Gillette razor and the husband of Amelia Earhart, and spending the last decades of her life in an insane asylum, all without ever losing her undeniable ability to charm those around her. With a story like that, this book couldn't help but be a page turner. The author however, is not a historian but a novelist, and the lack of a bibliography, footnotes, or citations in this historical investigation, along with some of the research quirks of the author, irked this archivist more than just a bit. Still, worth reading. Google Opal Whitely because this shit's bananas.
Read
March 28, 2011In 1920, The Story of Opal was published, supposedly the childhood diary of Opal Whitely, who'd grown up in a small town in Oregon. She describes nature and animals in a way people either find endearing or twee (I'm in the latter group) and it became a best seller. It was soon dismissed as a hoax, written by Opal as an adult and tailored to sell to readers who were looking for a return to childhood innocence in the wake of WWI. In the 70s, Ms. published some of the diary in the "Stories for Free Children" section and it found a new audience. It's been rediscovered by New Age people and poetic environmentalists, and interest in Opal continues. This book attempts to discover the truth about Opal, and to tell what became of her later.
The diary contained hints that she was related to European royalty. For the rest of her life she insisted this was true. She got further and further from reality, and ended her life in a British asylum. From this account, it sounds as though she was schizophrenic.
It has a lively style that I enjoyed and involves many odd people (LA faith healers, New England theosophists, New Age writers). I really enjoyed this.
The diary contained hints that she was related to European royalty. For the rest of her life she insisted this was true. She got further and further from reality, and ended her life in a British asylum. From this account, it sounds as though she was schizophrenic.
It has a lively style that I enjoyed and involves many odd people (LA faith healers, New England theosophists, New Age writers). I really enjoyed this.
September 6, 2016
Woah. This was definitely an interesting look at quite a character. I was intrigued enough to do some outside research on opal throughout the book. I've also heard that this biography is quite controversial among Opalites. I was annoyed by its haphazard organization and lack of ANY AND ALL FOOTNOTES OR CITATIONS. This book left me with a very particular bias about Opal and her diary-- which I haven't yet read. I'm anxious to read other works by Jane (someone) and Benjamin Hoff in order to get a more well rounded picture. What a lady! This isn't much of a mystery to me, but it is definitely bizarre.
January 10, 2017
I was not initially taken with the book as I had no idea why someone would write about this person. It would have been helpful if somewhere at the start, the purpose of the book might have a clue. I continued to read the biography and things unfolded. This was well researched, and though at times it seems the author had an intense dislike and wanted to paint Opal in a bad light, overall, I think it was truthful and carefully constructed. I would recommend it as a good book to read as a book club and discuss opinions.
March 16, 2009
Opal was my grandmothers nanny for a few years. This is a fascinating and very mysterious story.
April 2, 2010
Interesting story about a writer of a mysterious diary and whether it contained the truth or was the ravings of a mad woman.
September 11, 2010
Okay, I really enjoyed the first part of this book, maybe about 1/3 of it. After a point I realized I was done with the story, even if the book wasn't over.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews