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Out of Oz
Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years | Gregory Maguire
28 posts | 47 read | 45 to read
Maguires work is melodic, symphonic, and beautiful; it is dejected and biting and brave. How great that people flock to these magical novels. Los Angeles Times Book Review Bestselling author Gregory Maguires remarkable series, The Wicked Years, comes full circle with this, his fourth and final excursion across a darker, richer, more complex landscape of the magical land of Oz. Out of Oz brilliantly reimagines L. Frank Baums world over the rainbow as wracked with social unrestplacing Glinda the good witch under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion on the lam from the law as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland. Even Dorothy makes a triumphant return in Maguires magnificent Oz finaletying up every loose green end of the series he began with his classic Wicked, the basis for the smash hit Broadway musical.
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review
Roary47
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Bailedbailed

DNF, I‘ve had trouble getting into these last three books. I did do the audiobooks for them so that might be why. The narration can be a little dry, and there is battle and plans laid out that is a subject I‘m not very interested in.

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xicanti
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Pickpick

A couple years ago, a friend and I talked about WICKED and how I still hadn‘t read OUT OF OZ.

“It‘ll happen,” I said. “And when it comes time to review WICKED again, I‘m just gonna post a solid block of exclamation points.”

“DO IT!!!!” she said.

OUT OF OZ isn‘t WICKED. I don‘t love it the same way, but I DO love it—and on the whole, the series has got me all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xicanti (You want a smidge more? There‘s a lot here about parenthood, and childhood, and distance, and the pressures that hold people static. Maguire‘s as concerned with his characters‘ decisions NOT to act as he is with their actions. I‘m gonna be digesting it for a long time to come.) 4y
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xicanti
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Back to green tea today.

I‘m not yet sure if I‘ll love OUT OF OZ or really like it. It‘s the longest of the four books, and with just under 200 pages to go it feels like it‘ll come out OVERlong. That‘s at least partly because Maguire handles his usual time jumps with extended transitionary scenes instead of just, like, jumping ahead four years or whatever, as he did in WICKED. It adds a lot of narrative bulk.

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xicanti
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Maybe it‘s because I made it a book & beer night, but I can‘t stop laughing at this limerick.

(Nah; it‘s because I have the sense of humour of a stereotypical twelve-year-old boy.)

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xicanti
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Friends, I‘m living out that age-old readerly curse:

Person buys book they‘re desperate to read.

Person sits on said book for 8 years (because what is desperation, really?).

Person finally reads book and is keen to binge it, but book‘s a hardcover chunkster and hurts their hands so bad they need frequent breaks.

BLAH. Hardcovers are the worst.

I‘m now reading at a table, with salsa con queso. It‘s helped a bit.

Amiable I feel your pain! I bought “A Suitable Boy” in hardcover—all 1,400-plus pages of it —and then carted it around through numerous moves for 20 (yes, TWENTY) years before I finally broke down and read it. Thankfully I really liked it —the disappointment would have been crushing after so long! 😬😀 4y
xicanti @Amiable whoa. 1400+ page hardcovers are INTENSE. I‘ve vowed never to read one that long again. I get whatever it is in ebook. 4y
47 likes3 comments
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xicanti
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I finished rereading A LION AMONG MEN right before bed, processed my I-used-to-love-this-and-now-I-don‘t grief, and resolved to take a little break before I went back to Oz.

Then I woke up and started the grand finale over breakfast (which: a tasty date omelet).

So far, I‘m cautiously optimistic. It‘s more immediately gripping than ALAM. I want the answers to all the questions Maguire asks as the first part unfolds.

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xicanti
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I‘m gonna post a book (or series) from my TBR every day until I‘ve shared the lot. No descriptions. No explanations. Just a whole bunch of books I haven‘t read yet.

This is Day 61, and also the LAST DAY. That‘s right—I‘ve now posted about every book on La TBR! I‘ll use the hashtag again as I buy more stuff, but this daily schtick is over.

#LaTBRrevealed

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Amandajoy
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I‘m posting one book a day from my extensive TBR pile. No description. No explanation. Some will be new. Some will be old. They all spoke to me at one time. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in on the fun if you want to.

Day 6 #tbrpile

Cortg I still have to read Wicked 4y
Amandajoy @Cortg Wicked was great. 4y
42 likes2 comments
review
pppooraikul
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Pickpick

As you all might have guessed from my previous rants, I LOVE this final installation of Wicked Years series. It‘s better than the previous 3 books combined in all aspects. Plot, pacing, punchlines, character development, etc. And far more passionate.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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pppooraikul
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...wounds the heart. 🎼🎤

I do love Maguire‘s humorous tribute to the musical version of Wicked. Can‘t stop reading this in tune. 🤣🤣🤣

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pppooraikul

Its prequels are all melancholy despite being thought-provoking. But this one gave me too many emotional blows. I apologize for having doubts about you, dear book. Right now I‘m very so in love with you. (80% read) ❤️📚❤️

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pppooraikul
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This scene reminds me of the parents of a child with some kind of developmental disease. Believe me, I‘ve seen a fair number of such cases. The feels. 😢

Maguire‘s writing can be bleak, despairing and surprisingly emotional somehow.

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pppooraikul
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What a quote from a prologue. And on Monday too! Don‘t know about you guys but I always feel somewhat caged on Monday. 😞

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Insightsintobooks
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Dan_SpiderCrafts
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Today's new beaded craft dragonfly, as I get back again to reading Out of Oz. 💙

readordierachel Looks great! 6y
38 likes1 comment
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MommyOfTwo
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1. Book totes
2. Out Of OZ
3. Chicken wrap and homemade fries
4. Hmmm, 🤔
5. Cujo by Stephen King
#HumpDayPost

MinDea Cute totes!!! 7y
30 likes1 comment
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Estherhasredhair
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#bookhaul I think the Barnes and Noble gift cards have finished trickling in for my birthday. I also wasn‘t able to grab my other book before my sister‘s appointment, so I guess I‘ll have to start reading this. I liked the previous books, so I am looking forward to this one. However, I really have a preference to one at a time.

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MommyOfTwo
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36 likes1 comment
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Dan_SpiderCrafts
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#Glass Thinking of the chapter magic globes in Out of Oz. #ReadingResolutions @Jess7

39 likes1 stack add
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Dan_SpiderCrafts
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? "There's no place like home." ?✨

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Dan_SpiderCrafts
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Dorothy figurine and mini treasure box, bought at a used bookshop, and going to my Mom as an upcoming birthday gift. 😊❤️

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Dan_SpiderCrafts
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I still haven't finished through Out of Oz. 😵 As much as I wanted to get back on Game of Thrones, I'd best honour other dragons first.

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Dan_SpiderCrafts
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#Stripes I decided to manage this one myself. 😄 I don't have the ruby slippers, but my dark bow purple is best with all styles of sock collecting. #ReadingResolutions 🔮

Jess7 ❤️ 7y
46 likes1 stack add1 comment
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MrBook
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A young lady brought this #bingeread stack in this morning. She'd rather read than do her schoolwork. I'm proud of her 😆🙌🏻! #LitsyLovesLibraries

Sassy_Steph You need to add Hiddensee to that pile!! 7y
Tav I love all of these books! 7y
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Dan_SpiderCrafts
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Quite a lucky find today, while visiting the Aurora library. 😄 I got generously away with this for $2.00, willing to pay $5.00. My spare day for a long bus adventure was really great, with lots of TBR photos. - I was half through Out of Oz last summer, now without a worry of library due dates. Aurora must have had more copies; thus one on discard.

OrangeMooseReads I liked this series. It was a fun look at Oz. 8y
Dan_SpiderCrafts @OrangeMooseReads I really enjoyed more with Glinda in this one 😊 I'll likely start again with it and love the whole series. 8y
PurpleyPumpkin Hey, you made it to my neck of the woods! Glad to see you found something worth travelling for! (edited) 8y
Dan_SpiderCrafts @PurpleyPumpkin I really should have gotten there sooner 😄 I'm planning more adventures on a 2-zone YRT pass. There's so much to see in Aurora! The library seemed to be having a celebration today on new cool things for the community. 📚 8y
Indexasaurus Great find! When I read Out of Oz, I had just visited San Francisco and noticed that some San Fran landmarks meshed with some descriptions in the book. So my theory is that Oz is in a post-apocalyptic US West Coast and that Dorothy didn't travel to another land, just time traveled to the future. I've always meant to reread the series with that in mind, I may have to do that soon. 8y
41 likes5 comments
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Chey12
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Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much.

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MaleficentBookDragon
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MrBook 😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 8y
TheBookAddict 😍👍🏽💕 8y
67 likes2 comments
review
hof1991
Pickpick

A follow up to Wicked and a worthy one but this isnt the signing and dancing Oz.