Was

This dense and disturbing novel offers a look into the life of one Dorothy Gael of Kansas, Ryman's imaginary inspiration for the well-loved Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz, and into a bevy of other characters whose lives are touched (directly or indirectly) by her. His Dorothy doesn't have a happy story, and for most of the novel misery carries the day. It is softened by the depths of character and a few moving exemplars of compassion. Wrapped within the novel is a fascinating glimpse into the history of the book and the movie-from its disreputable and unsavory youth to its arrival as a full-blown American classic. "Was" is not going to be universally appreciated. It is difficult. More than once I found myself reminded of James Joyce; there's a lot going on, and the language isn't always easy to penetrate. The book has something to say about human nature, the way the world and other people break us. Society's response to difference and pain. Homosexuality, child abuse, even the enfeeblement of the aged-the miseries of the human condition are shunned for their power to infect. I can't say that I always enjoyed this book, though I'm glad I read it. I found it very well written. The characters were in my opinion completely believable. Ryman exhibits a compassion for everyone he writes here, from the least sympathetic to the most. He seems to really understand what drives human beings to the ways they behave, and, unlike the society he represents, he's willing to look at them unflinchingly. I did find the narrative jumps sometimes a little tough to follow; the book required more work than it always rewarded in that regard. But that's in keeping with the rest of this novel, which doesn't spoon-feed you answers. What's the purpose of all this misery? Perhaps it is so that we, like one of the characters, can say, "I'm going to have to do something about all of this." In this book, in this world, there are Dorothies aplenty, shattered souls who need our help. This resonant novel is a powerful reminder of that fact, an incentive to let them know they are loved. Through most of this novel I would have called this a 4-star, maybe even a high 3--but I found the final section so gripping and the conclusion so powerful that I wouldn't be doing it justice to give it less than a 5. It may not make its way to your list of classics, but it deserves its placement on mine.

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.

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.

Everyone loves the Wizard of Oz! Geoff Ryman returns us to childhood, the time when the distinction between art and reality was not so clear. He reminds of the time when seeing a movie like the Wizard of Oz was so powerful that it changed our lives, by crawling up into our tiny heads and never coming down. The Wizard of Oz and films like it are to our culture what the Ramayana is to India; it is a narrative shared by the whole culture together, an epic, a source of references that can lead to mutual understanding, an art form that endlessly gives rise to more and more beautiful art. What is in this book? The true, tragic story of Dorothy; real Munchkins and their make-up artist; a man trying to complete a pilgrimage to the sacred sites of Ozism before the disease he carries kills him. Geoff Ryman writes like a delirious angel. I read this book more than three years ago and it still haunts me.

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.