The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Isn't So Wonderful

I am a big fan of the classics; when I was little, I read the children’s versions of the classics.  As I got older, I picked up the full versions of the classics.  My first classic was The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and I absolutely loved it.  I loved Crime and Punishment so much that I named one of my stuffed animals after the main character.  I have read books from Pride and Prejudice (I absolutely hated it) from The Crucible (I loved it) and everything in between.  I decided the other day to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and I was not a big fan of it.  I decided for this article to write about why I don’t recommend reading the book.

1.  It is VERY different from the movie.  There are some elements of the book that made it into the movie: the cowardly lion, the scarecrow that wants a brain, the tinman that wants a heart, Dorothy that wants to go back to Kansas, the wicked witch, Oz, Glinda.  The main story plot is the same too, but with some major changes (some will be discussed in the next section).  If you are an avid fan of the movie and love it to death, then this probably won’t be the book for you. 

2.  It is violent.  Now, I am not one to shy away from violent books; Psycho is my favorite book.  I mention that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is violent because it is different from the movie, and some of the beloved characters from the movie are the sources of the violence.  In one scene, the scarecrow rings the necks of crows that come to attack the group; in another, the tinman chops off the heads of wolves.  The violence of the book did not shock me so much as how there was so much of it compared to the movie.  It was very shocking to think of the tinman chopping off anyone’s head.

3.  It can be repetitive at times.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is very repetitive with its dialogue at times.  Several times the book mentions that the scarecrow wants a brain, the tinman wants a heart, the lion wants courage, and Dorothy wants to go back to Kansas.  The scene where the troupe goes to have their audience with the Oz is also very repetitive in its nature of how the scene is set up.  This gets very exasperating at times, often to the point where I had to put the book down because I couldn’t handle the repetition anymore.  If you don’t mind repetition, then this is certainly the book for you.

I hope that this article has given you an idea of what The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is like as a book.  Whether or not you read it is up to you; I personally didn’t enjoy it and while I don’t recommend reading it, I think that everyone should try to read it if they want.  Let me know if you have read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and if you liked it or not.  Also, let me know if you haven’t read it and would want to try it.  My favorite version is the Barnes & Noble version; this is the version of the classics that I always enjoy.