Everyone Hates Singing

     In Out of Oz, Dorothy Gale, the same Dorothy that was in the original Wizard of Oz, constantly sang. She would always sing about the United States, so she was the only one that understood what she was singing about. Everyone absolutely hated her singing, though. It seemed to frustrate them that they had no idea what she was singing about, not to mention, she was not a very good singer anyway. All of the characters constantly asked her to stop; however, she never did.
     I can directly relate to Dorothy's singing. I constantly sing, although everyone hates it. Whenever there is music that I know, I sing it. All of my friends constantly complain about how awful it is and how much they would like me to stop. I still don't, though. I just really like to sing, just like Dorothy. Unlike Dorothy, I realize that I am not a good singer. I know that I probably should not sing constantly since it is awful for everyone else to listen to. Unfortunately, I still do. 

A Man into a Woman

          In Out of Oz I was absolutely shocked after La Mombey, Eminence of Munchkinland, cast a spell that called each person in the room's past forward. Liir Thropp, son of Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West, had been turned into a Black Elephant (capitalized since he was a talking animal) and La Mombey was trying to turn him back into a human. She managed this, but also changed others in the room. Liir's daughter, Rain, who had been born green but was turned white by a Serpent when she was just a baby for her own protection, turned green again. All of this completely confused me at first, but I did catch on after a few pages. However, the father and daughter changing were only the beginning of the weirdness.
     One of the people in the room when the spell was cast was Tip, who had been a helper of La Mombey. After the spell engulfed him, he turned into a woman. It turned out Tip was really the long lost Ozma, a ruling family of Oz for hundreds of years that was thought to be dead. La Mombey had disguised Tip for her own benefit. This took me a while to grasp. It was an absolutely weird, shocking event. After I began to understand what had happened, I was able to enjoy the book again.  

Oddly Out of Oz

     Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire is the fourth book in the Wicked Years. It is also the last. I greatly anticipated reading this book, hoping for answers to the many cliffhangers of the previous three; unfortunately, this novel ended with many questions unanswered. As I read, I enjoyed most of Out of Oz; however, it did get dry at some parts, mainly when the characters were traveling. It was just a lot of walking and not a lot of action. Luckily, though, when there was action, it was high quality and entertaining. 
     However, the ending was questionable and confusing. It got extremely weird, extremely fast. A man turned into a woman who turned out to be a significant part of Oz's history and I was lost. After a few more chapters I did get a grip on what was going on, but it did not make me enjoy it anymore. Then, the last couple chapters became very vague and I did not like it. Out of Oz ended with the main character, Rain, flying on a broom over water. She did not know where she was, where she was going, or what was happening with her family back in Oz. This left the series very open; I really wish there would have been more closure. Still, overall I did enjoy this book. It answered enough of my questions from the previous three books to satisfy me, though the ending was not ideal.