Helpful Score: 3
What a pure joy it was to read this historical novel about the lives of L. Frank Baum, the author of "Wizard of Oz" and his wife, Maud! As the story unfolds, the reader discovers the inspiration for the characters and features of Oz. The chapters alternate between the filming of "The Wizard of Oz" and the earlier lives of the Baums as they struggled financially. Along the way, Maud befriends Judy Garland and her story is woven in. Lovingly told by the author, this story is a magical trip down the yellow brick road, bringing a huge smile to your face.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a really good novel about the life of the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L Frank Baum. We live this through his wife, Maud.
We are taken back through time, during which Maud is growing up in the household of a very strong mother who is fighting to get women the vote along with Susan B Anthony. Her mother, Magdalena, wants very much for Maud to attend college and be strong as a woman.
Maud attends college and does well, except it is a strange place to be as a woman back then. During her time there, she meets L Frank Baum and falls in love. Does not please her mother, as Mr Baum is an actor and revels in the make-believe.
Later in life, Maud wants to see that the movie being made from her husband's loved book is being done right, so she goes to M G M studio to talk to whoever she can about the movie staying true to the book.
She meets Judy Garland and has many encounters with her and others involved in the making of the movie.
This is written so well and you learn so much about the story itself, the meaning behind the Wizard of Oz and the goods and bads of Hollywood and the creation of a classic.
We are taken back through time, during which Maud is growing up in the household of a very strong mother who is fighting to get women the vote along with Susan B Anthony. Her mother, Magdalena, wants very much for Maud to attend college and be strong as a woman.
Maud attends college and does well, except it is a strange place to be as a woman back then. During her time there, she meets L Frank Baum and falls in love. Does not please her mother, as Mr Baum is an actor and revels in the make-believe.
Later in life, Maud wants to see that the movie being made from her husband's loved book is being done right, so she goes to M G M studio to talk to whoever she can about the movie staying true to the book.
She meets Judy Garland and has many encounters with her and others involved in the making of the movie.
This is written so well and you learn so much about the story itself, the meaning behind the Wizard of Oz and the goods and bads of Hollywood and the creation of a classic.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a really enjoyable novel telling a fictionalized version of the life of Maud Gage Baum, the wife of L. Frank Baum who authored The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Maud Baum was the daughter of the suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage who worked diligently for women's right to vote alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. As such, Maud was sent to Cornell University for a college education but sacrificed this after falling for Frank Baum. Baum was in the theater and wrote and starred in various plays. Maud traveled with him and when his stage days ended, he worked as a salesman and later the couple moved to South Dakota where Baum ran a dry goods store. Maud's sister Julia also lived with her younger husband on a remote farm in Dakota. Julia's daughter, Magdalena, became the inspiration for Dorothy.
The novel tells of the Baum's hardships in Dakota but also of the joys including Frank's usually upbeat attitude and his knack for telling stories which later resulted in THE WIZARD OF OZ. Many of the events in their life were incorporated into the novel especially the wish to be in a better place. Later in life, years after the passing of Frank, Maud visited the set of the movie version of Oz and tried to make sure that Judy Garland was safe and played the role as in the book. The novel switches back and forth between Maud's early life and her visit in 1939 to the set of the movie. The author notes in her Afterword that the novel came about after she found a picture of Maud and Judy sitting together reading a copy of Oz.
Overall, this was really a wonderful story. Although it's hard to tell how much of the story is true, the author did her research and most of it is based on facts. I've seen the movie version of Oz countless times beginning back in the 60s when it was shown every year on TV but I have to admit that I have never read the book it was based on. I plan to do so soon!
The novel tells of the Baum's hardships in Dakota but also of the joys including Frank's usually upbeat attitude and his knack for telling stories which later resulted in THE WIZARD OF OZ. Many of the events in their life were incorporated into the novel especially the wish to be in a better place. Later in life, years after the passing of Frank, Maud visited the set of the movie version of Oz and tried to make sure that Judy Garland was safe and played the role as in the book. The novel switches back and forth between Maud's early life and her visit in 1939 to the set of the movie. The author notes in her Afterword that the novel came about after she found a picture of Maud and Judy sitting together reading a copy of Oz.
Overall, this was really a wonderful story. Although it's hard to tell how much of the story is true, the author did her research and most of it is based on facts. I've seen the movie version of Oz countless times beginning back in the 60s when it was shown every year on TV but I have to admit that I have never read the book it was based on. I plan to do so soon!
