For those who followed the yellow brick road and found it led straight into their hearts, Rebecca Loncraine’s THE REAL WIZARD OF OZ: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF L. FRANK BAUM is for you. The biography of the WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ dreamer is certainly the most complete and final word on its subject, who, for whatever reason, remains infinitely overshadowed by his own creation, whereas other fantasy authors — say, C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien — never were.
While I’m generally drawn to bios of players among the entertainment industry, no matter their medium of play, I’m turned off by having to slog through names and dates unimportant to the work and the story it chooses to tell. I read REAL WIZARD to learn about L. Frank Baum, not his ancestors, which mires the opening chapters.
The book fails to take flight until Baum really starts to take up his pen, which is roughly halfway through. Then it gets interesting, shedding light not only on the creation of his world of OZ — he felt it found him, not the other way around — but also his works that are all but forgotten today, including a novel about an electric demon.
He kept the OZ reviews in a scrapbook, and only two of them were negative. That success reversed the fortunes of someone who grew up poor … but even after hitting it big, he fell into heavy debt — $12,000 worth, at a time when his assets totaled $85.
Aside from his financial problems, Baum seems like a guy on the up-and-up. That’s good for his reputation, but not necessarily good for a highly compelling read. With a life practically barren of scandal, his days and nights are a little too boring to recommend this work beyond those who already are fans of his. —Rod Lott
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