Do I really need to provide a synopsis of this book? Between the classic children's novel and the rather well-known 1939 movie starring Judy Garland, it feels a little bit redundant to explain the plot.
Briefly, though, in case you've lived your life outside of western cultural cannon: Dorothy (a little girl), her dog Toto, and their Kansas house get sucked up into a tornado and transported to the land of Oz. The house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her and freeing the munchkins (small people) who lived in fear of her. Dorothy is given the Wicked Witch's shoes and sets off with Toto to visit the Wizard in the Emerald City, with the promise that he will be able to get her home to Kansas. Dorothy gains several travel companions and has many adventures along the way.
The story is written for children and is introduced as a 'modern fairytale'. The language and the story reflect this, and the book is an easy and enjoyable read for an adult.
I'm pretty sure I read this book as a child. I definitely remember the cover of the copy at my parents' house and I since I was the kind of kid who would read anything I could get my eyeballs on, I'd say it's almost a certainty. I'm not sure if I've seen the 1939 movie, but the images are definitely firmly embedded in my brain. I also read and loved 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of The West' by Gregory Maguire, an exploration of the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West, and was equally enamoured by the musical adaptation.
All that to say, I was carrying a lot of Wizard of Oz baggage into this re-reading.
The first thing that struck me is that I'd totally forgotten that the amazing shoes that Dorothy receives are in fact silver! In my mind, they were definitely ruby, as made famous by the 1939 movie. I think this helped as I re-read the rest of the book - don't assume you remember the original text correctly! As much as most of the rest of the story matched my memories, it definitely made me read a little more carefully.
In the end though, most of the rest of the story was as I had remembered it. Perhaps the characters were a little more annoying, but they are written simply, for children, so really we can’t expect too much depth and subtlety. The story is fun and fast-moving. Adventures and narrow-escapes abound, and, as required, everything ends happily ever after. This is, after all, a ‘modern fairytale’, or at least L. Frank Baum’s idea of what a modern fairytale should be.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is worth a read if you’ve never gotten to it, or a re-read if it’s been a while. Quick and easy and quite delightful!
Why not check out the past parcels in the NovelTea shop to see if we have any ‘Over the Rainbow’ parcels left?