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Summary: About a Dorothy who never gets to leave Kansas
Review: In The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum the fictional Dorothy spends just four pages in Kansas with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry before a cyclone takes her to Oz, a country of marvelous beauty. This novel explores the life of a fictional Dorothy who never escapes the harsh reality of her life in Kansas except in the world of her imagination.WAS mixes a historian's dedicated search for details with a fictional story that spans a century to create a sweeping novel of the American experience. Ryman focuses on the tragedy of his characters' lives to help us understand our collective need for a fairy land like OZ where love and kindness are the rule. Using carefully researched historical details Ryman builds a truly believable but sadly horrific story of a fictional Dorothy Gael of Kansas. Placing her in such accurate settings gives incredible power to her story and the stories of those her life inspires. Drawn into the vortex of her tragedy are a mixture of real and fictional characters including L. Frank Baum (the writer of the original Oz novels), the young Judy Garland, an actor with AIDS who is compelled to play the Scarecrow, and his psychotherapist who met the elderly Dorothy just before she dies. The story takes place in the 1870s, the 1920s, the 1950s, and the 1980s. Yet these disparate plots and eras are tied together wonderfully and all given a sense of reality based on the historic research that went into the book. In a postscript called Reality Check at the end of the book the writer sorts out the historic from the fictional. Here he also talks a bit about the philosophy he has toward fantasy and realism, a theme that is constantly addressed throughout the novel. This is not about Oz, except as an ideal. The novel is about the tragedy of life, and it explores why the pain of our lives makes Oz so important to us all.
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Summary: An Emotional Wringer
Review: It's not the fairy tale that we so wanted it to be when we were young...but now Oz takes on a more human and realistic glow that tears at our emotions until I was sobbing over innocence lost and cheering with the rebirth of hope and fantasy...it's not the Oz you remember or even the Oz you want it to be...but its powerful, and circular, and you feel yourself gripped by it and the sheer human fallibility of the characters that were once infallible...Our heroine is anything but and still I felt nothing but compassion and sympathy for her...The scarecrow is not the fumbling gangly image that I laughed at...he's a scared man about to be consumed with a frightening disease...and the Wizard seems to happen almost by accident...actors and characters and life and fantasy meld into one another that leaves the audience enchanted...
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Summary: The darker side of "Wicked" . . .
Review: Like many people, I read "Was" immediately after "Wicked."
Both books cover the same topic ("The Wizard of Oz") but they have different approaches, different agendas, different topics entirely. They're both excellent and really shouldn't be compared.
Whereas "Wicked" gives us a non-traditional view of what's _inside_ Oz, "Was" takes us into the more disturbing realms of reality. We see Dorothy as a human placed in horrible circumstances. We get a glimpse behind the curtain to see the suffering of "Judy Garland." And then Ryman brings it all together with a modern day scarecrow dying of AIDS.
"Wicked" was a fantastic metaphor. It made you think. It gave us imagery to wonder at and ponder. "Was" strips most of that away and attempts to give us a possible story behind the metaphor. As in, if Dorothy was a real person what would she be like?
"Was" is not light reading. It's not intended to be. If you like your fiction to stay out of the shadowy corners of human existence you should avoid this book completely. If, however, you'd like to see a dark vision of reality about Oz give "Was" a try.
It's unfortunate that this book gets slammed for what it clearly was never intended to be - like "Wicked." Both books are great. But they have different fish to fry.
I only give the book four stars because Ryman could have have done a better job in his characterization. Still, it's a very good book and will be one of the rare fiction titles that I plan to keep on my shelf indefinitely.
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Summary: Astoundingly moving
Review: Like several others here, I read this book some years ago, soon after it was published, and it has haunted me ever since. It's one of the finest novels I've ever read. I recommend it to everyone. But unlike some others who've reviewed it here, I have no particular interest in "The Wizard of Oz"--and I don't think that's what the book is about at all. The book is about the search for what was, for home, for safety, for love. It's about how we spend our lives yearning for that perfect security that we had, or think we had, or never had but imagine and long for. About loss--of mother, love, home--and the ways we try to make up for all the losses that accumulate as we age. That's why it is so moving, and why it haunts all who read it. Because everyone has a "was" lingering in memory or subconscious.
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Summary: A powerful, emotionally wrenching work of art
Review: My husband and I are visual artists for whom watching "The Wizard of Oz" every year on TV was an important part of our childhoods, so we were intrigued by the subject of the book. "Was" is so intense, neither of us could read it straight through; we sort of had to rest from it every so often. We were impressed by the skillfullness with which the author weaves so many disparate characters and settings, in ways that not only further his plot but burnish the memories and childhood longings that the "Oz" movie elicits. "Was" serves both as an homage to the artistry of L. Frank Baum, Judy Garland, and the Hollywood movie and as a strong work of art in itself. We now want to read more by this author.
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Summary: How can such a wonderful book be so little known?
Review: One of the great sadnesses of life is to see a work of true wonder be relatively unknown. This deserves to be read widely and if the author checks in to this site to see what is said about his work, I say...take heart. It is not how many you effect, but how deeply you effect those you reach. You are a truly talented man.
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Summary: Oz-o-Rama
Review: The real Dorothy Gale's tragic tale of Kansas life blends seamlessly with the story of an OZ obsessed horror film star suffering from dementia and dying of AIDS, the making of the 1939 film, the childhood of Judy Garland, and a monologue by Judy's mom. Amazingly, Ryman pulls this off and it all works splendidly! Themes, images, the entirety of this book is magic in its artistry and imaginative power. This book explores the nature of fantasy as born of tragedy and the timeless truth of 'There's no place like home'. Moving, unique, and sure to captivate. One of those books I love to read and reread on an annual basis.
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Summary: one of the most memorable books i've ever read
Review: The seamlessness with which Ryman weaves the three or four story lines together chapter to chapter make this exquisite elegy to The Wizard of Oz one of the most memorable books I've ever read. From the story of Jonathan, an actor, dying of AIDS, obsessed with the movie, to a young fictionalized Judy Garland, and the story of an poor, abused girl from Kansas named Dorothy. After reading WAS, I waited for Ryman's Unconquered Territories, was greatly impressed by that collection, and have become a fan of this great new author. Now I will go back and read The Child Garden
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Summary: You don't need to have seen the movie to like the book
Review: This book is a lot of fun to read. I came across it by recommendation because I like historical fiction, and this book has more about what I like in historical fiction than something more centered in that genre. Despite the fact that I could find nothing to celebrate at the end of the book (rather a downer), I know I liked it. I read the author's historical note first, and found his apparent fascination with "realism" to be an interesting twist to how someone could have thought up such an unusual story
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Summary: I can't forget
Review: This book is still haunting me. It will not leave my thoughts. I have never experienced anything like it. Beware....this book will never ever let you go!
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