The Saturday Morning Post EXTRA! EXTRA! (No. 150)

 

Well, today kids, we have another story rifting off of a classic story. It seems that you can't throw a dart on a publisher's lead title list and fail to hit a "retelling." We are, perhaps, in the end times of literature. Just about everything has been written, so all we can do is go back and rewrite stories already told. Well, no one was twisting my arm to pick this book up, so I have no right to rant. Right?

My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.

Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.

Wait! No, that's not the one! Mine has a talking dog, not a bustling beaver. Alas.

Toto by A J Hackwith  C

It could've been worse. This is a retelling of Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz, set in modern times, with Toto the dog as the narrator. I watched the movie half a century ago, but never read the book. (Though I do often use that line in the movie when Toto pulls back the curtain on the real Wizard.) Given my vagueness, I can't speak to how faithfully this version retells the story, though, of course it has its modern twists to it. Having a snarky dog narrate the story who can talk to the inhabitants of Oz gives the book the only flare this rather prodding story has going for it. It was just enough.

It starts with the tornado and the house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East and Dorothy ending up with the silver slippers (in this story), with Glinda, the good fairy arriving on the scene and sending them off along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to see the Wizard of Oz for help getting home. Along the way they collect the usual characters and several more as well. As I said, I'm not sure how closely this story follows the plot of the book or movie, so let's just say they have adventures, they reach the Emerald City, see the Wizard, who sends them out to capture the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West, in order to get home to Kansas.

The world building in this book is sketchy at best. This Oz feels as deep as a stage set. They seem to travel from the Munchkin village to the Emerald City in a day or two. There is no sense of distance or how they find the food to live on after the picnic basket they are given runs out. As I said, they meet Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion, each with their special twists. As with all modern stories, there is commentary on the social and political issues of today sprinkled through the story. Though, rather heavy handed, this author thankfully weaves these observations into Toto's narration instead of delivering then as lectures as was the case in that Mary Darling book. I may be the pot calling the kettle black, but for me, I found this book overlong. If it wasn't for Toto, and Crow, I wouldn't have continued on to the end. The two of them were just entertaining enough to get me to the Emerald City and back.

This book only has a 3.5 star rating, so with my C grade I'm a lot closer to the mark than I usually am.