After Oz by Gordon McAlpine
⭐️⭐️ 2/5

As a dedicated fan of The Wizard of Oz and Wicked, I was excited to explore this new take on the classic tale. While the book offered an intriguing perspective, it left me with mixed feelings.

The story aimed to provide a fresh spin on familiar elements, but I found it challenging to follow, especially during the doctor’s investigative scenes. The plot sometimes felt convoluted, and I had to revisit sections to fully piece together the narrative. The ending also felt a bit rushed, leaving me scrambling to understand the resolution.

One notable aspect was the limited exploration of Dorothy’s point of view. Her inner thoughts and experiences were not deeply delved into, which was a missed opportunity to add richness to her character. Additionally, the portrayal of Oz as a figment of Dorothy’s imagination was an interesting choice, but it didn't fully resonate with me.

Despite these issues, the book offered a unique interpretation and certainly had moments that piqued my interest. For those who enjoy creative retellings of classic stories, it might still be worth a read.

I liked the idea of a thriller following Dorothy’s return after the events of Oz. It was dark and sad considering Dorothy ends up being thrown into an insane asylum at age 11.

I enjoyed the mystery of this and found it interesting. The story followed Dr Wilfred who talks to Dorothy and learns about how she got there and learned about her.

I was listening to the audio and while I liked the story, one thing I didn’t like was one chapter being over 1 hour. It was too long for me, but I still enjoyed the story. Another thing that bugged me was the speed of the narrators voice sometimes changed to quick for a few sentences and then went back to the normal speed.

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After Oz is a historical fiction imagination of what happened to Dorothy Gale once she reappeared after missing for four days following a destructive tornado with far-fetched tale of a magical land. In the 1896 conservative Protestant town of Sunbonnet, Kansas, even the mention of witches is sinful but when Dorothy admits, “I didn’t mean to kill the witch” she unintentionally confessed to a real murder. Dr Evelyn Grace Wilford visits Dorothy in the deplorable conditions of the Topeka mental hospital and sets out to free Dorothy by uncovering the true murderer’s identity.
Fans of the Wizard of Oz and historical fiction will enjoy this mystery. Gordon McAlpine uses various narrators and writing styles to create a vibrant setting. The audiobook is well done, easily bringing Dr Wilford to life. This book is suitable for young adult readers.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I want to say that I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could. It was a unique addition to the many retellings or re-imaginings of the Wizard of Oz for an adult audience. I love the plot which focuses on what happens to Dorothy when she returns from Oz and everything thinks that she is insane. The way she was vilified (you'll have to read to find out more about why she was vilified) was disgusted and unfortunately realistic. Lots of that mob mentality going on. My favorite parts of this story were actually the scenes where the psychiatrist is working with Dorothy. I found this version of Dorothy to be interested. Unfortunately we did not get to dig into her character as much as I would have liked. I didn't necessary love the 'shocking revelation' at the end of the book and felt ho-hum about the final resolution. I'm not in any way sorry to have read this book but I don't think it lived up to its potential.

I just finished After Oz by George McAlpine and here are my thoughts.

Did you ever wonder what happened to Dorothy after she returned from Oz?

Dorothy can describe her whole adventure in exact detail. Trouble is, she is coming across as delusional and witchy. It does not help that her memories of killing the witch coincide with the death of a recluse that lives not too far from the farm Dorothy was living on.

Her story and the death of her neighbor, earns her a place in an asylum. Dr Evelyn Wilford, a psychologist, goes to the asylum to talk with Dorothy and she doesn’t believe for one second Dorothy committed the murder.

It’s one heck of a reimagining that focuses less on her adventures in Oz but on the aftermath of coming home. It was a really interesting story that worked pretty well as a follow on from the original tale.

I thought Dorothy came across a lot older than her age in this book and she felt like she may have been a borderline sociopath maybe. It’s just how she came across to me. She didn’t seem scared of where she was but annoyed at having to be there. She wasn’t even really the main attraction. Evelyn was and it was a real gamble writing a book about Dorothy and not having it from her POV. I kinda liked it personally.

The narrator was good and I enjoy the overall tone of the book.

Definitely glad I read it!

4 stars. Thank you to @netgalley and @dreamscapemedia for my gifted ALC

Out now! Run, don't walk!

There were parts of this story I really loved and others I was wondering what the helicopter I was reading. The ending felt rushed but overall a good read.

This was an unusual book and yet I found myself surprised nobody had written it years ago. It was a slow starter for me and I was somewhat irritated with the narrator at first; but as the book went on, I got into it more and started enjoying it.

I did guess who the real killer was before the ending revealed it, but it was fun putting all the keys together.

This was such an atmospheric listen. I loved the vibes and couldn't get over how much Dorthey was looked down as being crazy. The Wizard of OZ was a childhood favorite of mine so this was so nice to have a variation of it as an adult

This should have wide appeal based on subject, but I could not get into it. I made it about half way.

"After Oz" by Gordon McAlpine is a book that landed somewhere in the middle of my reading experiences—it wasn’t the worst, but it certainly didn’t reach my expectations. As a big fan of "The Wizard of Oz," I had high hopes. The townspeople depicted in "After Oz" are incredibly frustrating, making me feel like I might want to toss my reading device aside. Additionally, the religious bigotry presented in the book was difficult to digest, although that is just my personal take.

One of the most surprising elements of this retelling is that Dorothy is not the central character, which left me puzzled. I was also looking forward to Toto’s portrayal, but unfortunately, the little guy was rarely mentioned. Despite these aspects, I hold nothing against the author. Rest in peace, Gordon McAlpine.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was a fantastic retelling of the Wizard of Oz! I am in love with the narration choices made throughout the book, and I can't wait to pick up more by this author.

Have you ever wondered what happened after Dorothy landed back home, was found, and relayed her story?

This story was so fun! It's told from the perspective of an outsider, one that's come after a shocking smalltown murder and a young girl institutionalized. I loved the twists, the interesting way they tied to word Oz into the explanation. I loved the fanaticism, meeting the small town as she interviewed them and seeing Dorothy from a different POV. I loved the small details of the town, the shocking twist at the end and that last chapter. This book was just such an adventure, a good homage to the original story!

I did this as an audiobook and found the narrator was wonderful! I highly recommend this entertaining read!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Who knew that such an engrossing historical mystery with thought provoking social commentary could be born from a whimsical children’s story?

I want to warn you from the start, though: If you’re looking to revisit the magical land of Oz, no amount of heel clicking will get you there in this book. It is, as the title indicates, after the event, and set strictly in the unexciting land of Kansas. (I am sorry, Kansas residents.) The story is grounded in reality with L. Frank Baum’s book as its influence, rather than the movie.

In this, Dorothy is a precocious 11 year old telling stories of Oz that lead the townspeople to conclude she is insane. Worse, after the town “witch” is found with her face melted off, they accuse Dorothy of murder. She is institutionalized and a mystery begins.

After Oz started off well, but managed to get even better as the story unfolded. Small town prejudices and stringent religious beliefs were at the heart of this novel, and those are two of my favorite themes in books. While these issues seemed properly addressed for that specific time period, I remain haunted by how relevant they felt, reminding me that certain attitudes have not progressed dramatically.

Initially, I did feel like Dorothy seemed a bit too adult, beyond what one would expect from a precocious child. However, after considering her difficult upbringing, as depicted in After Oz, and the general expectations of the early 20th century, I concluded that McAlpine’s version of the Gale girl seemed right.

The novel looks at some important topics, including herd mentality, how women were viewed, how religion shaped behavior, and how those deemed mentally ill were treated. It’s a serious tale, unlike its predecessor, but it’s easy to imagine the reactions to Dorothy’s return from Oz as reality.

I had never heard of Gordon McAlpine before this and I was saddened to learn he’d passed away after completing this novel. After Oz was published recently, but posthumously. I will be looking into his previous works, as it is clear that he was an insightful and highly creative writer.

I am immensely grateful to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

Contrary to other reviews, this is NOT a retelling of the Wizard of Oz. It’s about what happens to Dorothy when she gets back from Oz!

This one surprised me. Dorothy barely makes an appearance. I’d say she’s in the book for about 25% of it. That’s because when she returns from Oz and tells everybody her story, they immediately assume her story is nothing but diabolical delusions. That is until the local spinster turns up dead and some incriminating evidence against Dorothy comes to light. Then she finds herself institutionalized in the Topeka insane asylum.

As Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford interviews Dorothy at the asylum, she starts to wonder who really committed this crime and starts to investigate on her own.

This book was rampant with religious bigotry and small town prejudice, but this is 1896 so that really is to be expected. That didn’t stop me from rolling my eyes every time a character said Dorothy was the work of the devil, though.

This was a very interesting concept, but I think the execution was a little sloppy. However, the author was writing this as he was losing his battle to cancer so I am willing to give a little grace on that regard. I did like the ending and how everything played out.

I read this arc as an audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed her style of narration.

Thank you to netgalley for this arc!

This book was good but wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I think I expected more magic and fantasy, but this one read more like a murder mystery/thriller type book.

Still, it was enjoyable, and I found it very well-written and engaging. On enjoyment factor alone, I'd have to give it 3 stars simply because, as I said, I was expecting something else. But on its own merit divorced from my expectations, it's probably a 3.5- to a 4-star book, so I went ahead and gave it the four stars.

The story itself is basically an unsettling, small-town bigotry-infused look at what life was like for Dorothy after she returned home from her fantastical visit to Oz. (Which just so happened to coincide with a brutal murder of the town pariah.) It did a nice job of showcasing prejudice, small-mindedness, and how people sometimes twist religion to serve their purposes. In short, it's about what you'd expect from a rural, small town in the 1920s or 30s. Ha.

The narration comes from two places: a psychiatrist trying to help vindicate Dorothy and prove she didn't kill the woman in town & a dissenting voice who absolutely KNOWS Dorothy is guilty. (side note: You'll grow to hate this narrator by the end, especially if you're listening on audiobook like I was.)

Dorothy herself plays a surprisingly small role in the book. Her "voice" comes in on tapes recorded with her sessions from the doctor trying to help her. I actually really liked this. It was a very interesting way to present what most people would consider "the main character" of the story. It made it so that the reader had to rely on the (possibly unreliable) narrators and took most of Dorothy's agency away. It was a very unique and interesting way to tell the story, and I enjoyed it.

However, in another way, that's also what made me not enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. Taking Dorothy out of the story, so to speak, also takes away all the magical elements. There's very little Toto and only the briefest mention of the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tinman. In short, it erases all but the very barest of bare bones from the actual Oz story.

So, while I enjoyed the unique method of storytelling, I also disliked that it took the fantasy out of the story. If that makes sense.

Also, I didn't find the ending 100% believable. It was a bit too dramatic for my tastes.

Even so, I enjoyed the book, and -- as I said -- on its own merits, I can give it 4 stars, even if it personally felt more like a 3-star read to me. As for narration aspects, those were excellent. No complaints whatsoever there.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC for review purposes.

Thank you Dreamscape Media for the ALC of After Oz in exchange for my honest review. When I saw this book available , the title and stunning cover totally hooked me, and when I read the blurb, I was immediately impressed with the creative concept behind the book. After Oz is not exactly a The Wizard of Oz retelling, but rather extrapolates the story, imagining the ripple effect of Dorothy’s adventure as she returns to her small rural Kansas town.

Though the famous film was released in 1939, it is of course based on L. Frank Baum’s book, published in 1900- a very different America than 1939. After Oz is set in 1896, in a cloistered community which views a fantastical story of talking scarecrows, wizards in emerald cities, and good & bad witches as pagan at best, and satanic at worst. When Dorothy reports that she slayed a witch with a bucket of water, the authorities are alarmed, and when the body of a local woman is found, Dorothy is swiftly sent to an asylum for the criminally insane.

I enjoyed this spin on the classic Oz story and was interested to see how it would play out. The writing style alternated between “found footage” letter entries from one character, and an unusual plural first person representing the townspeople at large. The transitions between the two POVs could have been a bit clearer, though I am not sure how it would come across in the print version. Overall I recommend After Oz, especially to fans of the original work!

While After Oz was a highly enjoyable book that I would normally rate five stars, the narrator’s voicing of Dorothy came off as bratty and unlikable, rather than a character you’re supposed to sympathize with. The voicing the narrator gave to other characters was fine, but Dorothy’s was hard to get past. Fantastic book, okay audio version.

This was fine. I never felt drawn to any characters, other than to Dorothy's plight while she was in the asylum. The relationship between Dorothy and Dr. Wilford didn't seem fleshed out enough and I wasn't hooked on why Dr. Wilford got so involved in the first place. While I think what she did was admirable, it seemed far-fetched. I did like Dr. Wilford's correspondence with her relative and the connection made to the actual Wizard of Oz; I thought it was very clever and something that helped save this book for me. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic, which also helped in my enjoyment. Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

The POV in After Oz was a little strange. Maybe it’s because I was listening on audio, but I didn’t always know whose perspective I was in right away and then I felt like I was playing catchup after I figured it out. So that was frustrating, but maybe that’s an audio vs. print issue.
Otherwise I thought this was a really interesting take on what happened after Dorothy returns from Oz and spoke more to the racial/socioeconomic issues of the time that would definitely played into the fantasy of Dorothy in Oz. The small town feel and scandal were interesting and felt accurate and I enjoyed the perspective of the psychologist and her letters to her mentor were an effective way to get her thoughts across to the reader. It’s kind of an obvious yet brushed over take that no one would believe Dorothy’s story of Oz and assume she’s mentally ill.
There are also a lot of church and bible references - on town for a small town, but be warned, I guess.
Overall this book is great, though, and I’ll definitely recommend to my Wizard of Oz superfan friend.

This book was a great story of what could have happened after the events of Wizard of Oz. It was well written and offered a story that really could have happened. I highly recommend this book to everyone!