Book Review Club - November 2019 (Finding Dorothy)

I've been borrowing a lot of books from the library lately and I recently logged in to find a book and saw that they were hosting a book club and the book they would be discussing was Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts.  I must've read a little about it and found it interesting because I put a hold on the book for myself.  I did get the book before the book club met and had I read the book (or remembered about the meeting) I might have participated.  As it was, I started reading it after the group would've met.

On Amazon it's listed as biographical fiction and that seems fitting.  I loved the "disclaimer" at the beginning of the work because it says "Finding Dorothy is a work of fiction.  All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.  Where real-life historical persons appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work.  In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental."  I can't think of any characters in the book that weren't well-known historical figures.

In any event, the story is about Maud Baum's life.  Maud is the real life wife of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  There are records regarding where they lived and what businesses and jobs they had and the author takes all that and expands on it, which is why it is a book of fiction.  There are incidents and conversations that there would be no way of knowing about but in some instances it fits a pattern of certain individuals.  Such as Arthur Freed who was a part of the production of the movie based on the book.  He is known to have exposed himself to a young Shirley Temple and the author has him be inappropriate with Judy Garland.  It's not known for a fact that he was inappropriate with Judy but it fits a pattern for Arthur Freed.

Maud's mother was Matilda Joslyn Gage, a woman who fought hard trying to get women rights, including the vote, and Susan B. Anthony was considered a friend and a frequent visitor to the Gage home (although she's only referenced a few times in the book and according to the story, Maud called her Auntie Susan).  As I was reading these names and actions of these leaders in history (and considering the disclaimer at the start of the book), I wondered if any of it was true.  So I looked up Maud Baum on wikipedia and it lines up.  Which made me question wikipedia and which came first the wikipedia entry or the book.  😃

On wikipedia Maud has a sister not mentioned in the book which added to my confusion.  But, at the end of the book the author has an Afterword which explains a few things.  First of all she did EXTENSIVE research (and lists some recommended reading) on the matter, reading several biographies and even the diaries of the sister who was mentioned in the book!  So basically, the author stuck pretty much to the truth of events as they relate to Maud and her husband and added her own take as to conversations and events that lead to Frank writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and her part in the filming of the movie.

The story is told in a way that suggests events in their lives inspired the book and as it does so there will be a chapter from the making of the movie.  What I'm trying to say is that in alternating chapters it goes back and forth between telling the story of Maud and Frank's lives and 1939 when the movie was filmed after Frank's death.

It didn't read like a biography and would've been an interesting story even if it had been 100% fiction.  It had stories about Maud growing up with a mother who was a leader in the women's movement.  It told stories about Maud going to Cornell University and meeting and marrying Frank and where their life took them after that.  It's a work of fiction, based on facts.

I really enjoyed the book and wish I had participated in the book club, but at least I got to read the book and that's the important thing.  I would highly recommend it, particularly to anyone who read Frank's books or enjoyed the movie based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

To read more book reviews, go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.