The Zen of Oz: Ten Spiritual Lessons from Over the Rainbow: Amazon.ca: Joey Green: Books

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Review

"Green excavates more meaning from the beloved movie than five decades of kids and parents ever found. This is a delightful book whose illustrations by Cathy Pavia are stills from the movie transformed into Japanese wood block prints." -- Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D., Whole Life Times, February 1999

"In this spiffy little book, [Joey Green] mines the Zen insights in one of the most popular movies of all time--'The Wizard of Oz.'" -- Frederic Brussat, www.spiritualrx.com, January 15, 1999

"This charming book will have you scrutinizing 'The Wizard of Oz' for the profound messages you missed in previous viewings." -- Entertainment News & Views, December 11, 1998

"Versatile writer Joey Green has done it again with 'The Zen of Oz.'" -- Social Studies, December 19, 1998

Book Description

Does The Wizard of Oz touch a spiritual chord in each one of us because it has a certain Zen to it? Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, is clearly a Zen Master. She sets Dorothy on the Yellow Brick Road to spiritual enlightenment. When Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion let go of their conscious yearning and free their minds to function spontaneously and inharmony with the cosmos, brains, heart, and courage flow easily and effortlessly. Ultimately, Dorothy attains satori, the Zen experience of "awakening." She finds her true Self, her higher consciousness, her ultimate Oneness with the cosmos--and her home.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars are you kidding me?, May 27 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Zen of Oz: Ten Spiritual Lessons from Over the Rainbow (Hardcover)

An interesting idea behind the book... finding the spiritual connections and philosophy behind the story of the wizard of oz. The writing style of the book is poor, redundant, and not terribly smooth (inconsistent pronoun usage, repetitive sentence structure, etc.) The book has its glimmers of insight, but in general, I think it looks way too much into the Wizard of Oz- and that means a lot coming from someone who usually gives new-age, self-help, and spiritual books more credit than they probably deserve sometimes. The very basic connections between the Yellow Brick Road and intuition or following the true self, and the basic metaphors of each the scarecrow, lion, and tin man are backed by literary evidence and are argued logically... and I think these basic connections are compelling. Prevelant is the idea that each of the characters, whether his/her search is for brains, courage, a heart, or home, actually possesses these qualities already... it's just a matter of discovering this truth. Green also goes into the philosophy of love, intelligence, courage, and one's personal "home" or the self, and that too is interesting (but at times can be a stretch when relating it back to the story). The book sometimes takes great dives into detail, jumping to conclusions that are based 100% on speculation ... of the author, and not at all on a logical connection. An example you ask? Well, the Lion, while being primped at the Wash & Brush Up Co. in Emerald City, the author observes, gestures "with a decidedly limp wrist, possibly insinuating that his sexual orientation is a 'fate I don't deserve.'" The author continues to discuss the lion's inability to come out of the closet to come to terms with his true self, assuming that his limp wrist gesture and interest in fine fabrics means the he is gay. Frankly, I think the lion was just acting like a wealthy king. He also suggests Ms. Gulch is a "victim of her own repressed sexuality." To come to this conclusion would require pure speculation based upon [standards], and though the idea has good intentions, it actually weakens his overarching statement. The idea of the book was obviously very interesting to me, but ... the book has left me disappointed and unsatisfied. The kernels of truth in the book are cluttered by details that are not fully developed. But the pictures are cool, I guess.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Three and a half stars, July 5 2001

By

B. Bridges (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Zen of Oz: Ten Spiritual Lessons from Over the Rainbow (Hardcover)

A cute book with wonderful illustrations; unfortunately it seems like the author came up with a great idea (at least for light cocktail party conversation) but really had to reach for enough material to form a book. Better as a gift for a Wizard of Oz fan than for a Zen Buddhist...

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5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, Dec 5 2000

By

Joseph S. Maldonado (York, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Zen of Oz: Ten Spiritual Lessons from Over the Rainbow (Hardcover)

The Zen of Oz is a thoughtfully laid out interpretation of an American Classic. Joey Green offers up so much insight for consideration that, often times, my brain felt as full as if it had eaten 2 holiday dinners. Follow the yellow brick road to your check book and buy this one for every human you care about. No one will leave Oz dissapointed.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The low down on the hoe down.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Does wonders when given to others
So many people have seen and related to the subject matter of the text, almost everyone can easily identify with one of the characters. Read more

Published on Jan 13 2000 by stephen s piper