Review: Excellent way to look at an old story!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2012
The loose re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz, first piqued my interest in The Emerald City. Many years of watching the old black and white version of the old Wizard of Oz, I became fond of the cast and crew that drew very distinct lines between good and evil. And as a young girl this was comfortable for me, and snuggling with my Granny was the best, but as I grew older I wanted color, and parts of me challenged other things like ...challenging the old ideas of good and evil.J.A. Beard does not disappoint. Right away, he does not open up with your typical Dorothy-type. Like Dorothy, Gail Dorjee (his main character) is away from home, but Gail is trying to escape the pain of losing her parents' death by retreating inside a shell of anger. Gail is very different. If a house fell on the Wicked Witch, Gail would take the Witch's red shoes and sell them on Ebay, not thinking twice about it. Right away, Gail had enough snarky to win my heart as an adult, just like Dorothy had enough compassion to win me as a kid.The other characters are dripping with their own unique characteristics that differ from the original cast, but keep an original strand from the old OZ.  Without giving too much away, Nick is my favorite Tin Man, absolutely worth the effort to try to find a heart for, and not get Gail's broken in the process. Other that great dialogue, characters, the plot is woven beautifully and it is a complex one broken down from basic physics. Physics yes, because, again, not giving too much away, there are forces at work that defy gravity.Beard really had his thinking cap on when he wrote this, and forced me to put mine on, which is something that could sneak up on young adults in a fun surprising way. They might read this and find they just learned a thing, or two.Now, for all of you literary folks, Beard's Gail didn't challenge good and evil boundaries like Elphaba (Wicked, Gregory Maguire) but she/Gail certainly made things different and sometimes a little color on the same story is all we need, and a bit of mind blowing gravity changes. I highly recommend The Emerald City.