- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; (Reissue) edition (2 Aug 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0586091793
- ISBN-13: 978-0586091791
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,128,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
‘Enthralling’
DAILY TELEGRAPH
‘Forceful and resonant’
NEW YORK TIMES
‘Staggeringly original and profound’
TIME OUT
‘The book and the characters will haunt you’
DAILY MAIL
Product Description
Back by popular demand. Ryman’s most accomplished novel to date.
Was is the story of orphan Dorothy who goes to live in Kansas with Aunty Em and Uncle Henry. Was is the story of Baby Frances, who grows up to be a famous movie star, adored the world over. Was is the story of Jonathan who sees his first movie on television in November 1956. It will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Was is the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the story of all our childhoods, of how America grew from the settling of the West to the glittering megalopolis of modern Los Angeles, like a child, from innocence to maturity.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What if Dorothy from “The Wizard Of Oz” really existed, Uncle Henry was a predatory paedophile, and Aunty Em and the dreadful Miss Gulch were the same person? That’s basically the main plot of this superficially bizarre, but very heartfelt post-modern take on the Oz legend.
But if it sounds like one of those dreary comical rewrites where everything is subverted just for laughs, then I’ve done it an injustice. “Was” purports to be the story of the real Dorothy, who meets L Frank Baum, who goes on to write the story of the life she should have had – the Oz books themselves.
It’s also the story of the making of “The Wizard Of Oz” movie, Judy Garland’s family strife mirroring the real Dorothy’s, and dying AIDS patient Jonathan’s obsession with them both. Everything is linked across the hundred-year span of the novel, and the end is also the beginning. But the result, a swirling mass of parallel lives across the centuries, comes across like a literary cyclone itself.
That said, this isn’t a particularly literary novel. I found it very easy to read, but to really appreciate it you need to appreciate either the film or the Oz books themselves. This isn’t a happy book, and there is little let-up from the misery. There are certainly no happy endings in the conventional sense. In a way, the characters are just swept away at the end of the novel, but when you get that far, this kind of seems fitting.
Unfortunately, this book seems to go in and out of print regularly, so snap it up whilst you still can!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Geoff Ryman has weaved a wonderful web of fact and fiction to produce a seductive take on L. Frank Baum's classic 'The Wizard of Oz'. The novel contains vivid descriptions of nineteenth century American life; snippets of Judy Garland's biography, and a colorful psychological drama involving a terminally ill young man. The story skips back and forth over eras and characters, echoing the relationships between the main characters. This is one of the best examples of this form of story telling I have come across - the web, though complex at times, is clearly developed for the reader and does not become confusing. A knowledge of Baum's characters is helpful preparation for reading this book. Finally, whilst 'Was' is steeped in fact and some solid true to modern life fiction, I felt that its more fanciful elements will thrill some readers but may be too resonant of the Oz story for others.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is rare to encounter a book that so successfully combines so many themes into such a thought-provoking whole. The Wizard of Oz provides a framework for many lives, separated by time and space, yet entangled by their connections to the magical story of Oz. From an unhappy childhood in the Wild West of Kansas, to a early death by AIDS in contemporary USA, by way of a showbusiness upbringing in an early Hollywood, this story has no simple, happy lives, yet provides a breath-taking and stimulating vision of life.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
We're off to see the wizard...
Orphaned Dorothy Gael is raised by her Aunt and Uncle in a bleak Kansas farmhouse of the 1870s. Her unhappy life is filled with thankless chores, society visits with Aunty Em, the... Read more
Published 16 days ago by neverendings
Dorothy put on those Red shoes and dance the blues ...
I've taken a few days to mull this book over. I loved the premise for the book as it takes you on a journey of discovery and at times the fiction and factual side of the story... Read more
Published 16 days ago by B. Robinson
Loved it
First of all, don't be deterred by the science fiction tag on this novel. I personally hate SF and fantasy as genres, but this book isn't remotely SF. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2009 by Peter Lee
Was
As someone who aspires to write, this book is something I could readily die with as my greatest work. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2006 by G. R. Fullam
Engrossing, but overlong and over elaborate
I don't usually like novels that try to tell several stories at once, but I did enjoy this. However, it was unnecessarily padded out - there are whole swathes of the book that... Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2005 by Archy
Dorothy ain't in Kansas any more
This novel combines several threads at once: the cruel and harsh real life story of Dorothy, whose only friend is uncovered in a chance meeting with L.Frank Baum. Read more
Published on 12 July 1999
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