The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

There are so many references to this work, some of which I didn’t even catch until reading up on fan sites. Where to begin?

A man named Henry Gale crashes on the island in a hot air balloon. (Ben Linus steals his identity.) Later, Sawyer calls Tom Friendly, one of the Others, “Zeke.” Zeke is one of the farmhands that works for Henry Gale, just as Tom works for Ben.

There is an episode titled “The Man Behind the Curtain” in which Locke calls Ben this and then directly mentions the Wizard of Oz. (As it turns out, the actual powerful being behind the curtain is Jacob, though he, unlike the Wizard, has real powers.) There is also a three-part episode called “There’s No Place Like Home” with flash forwards for Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Kate, & Aaron.

Then there are also some references to the film, like a character getting crushed and having red shoes sticking out. (In the book, they were silver shoes, not ruby slippers.) But such references don’t really count, so I think I’ll let it go here.

Speaking of shoes, Dorothy uses her shoes and a wish to return home to get back to Kansas. To get back to the Island, Jack thinks he needs his father’s shoes.

On a larger, thematic note, both stories are about people being caught in a storm and thrown into a magical land.

Thoughts:

If I’m honest, I didn’t really care for this book. It wasn’t bad, but with all the hype around both the book and the movie, I was expecting a little bit more. It was written very simplistically, which one would expect from a children’s book, but there was far more “telling” than “showing” in the action. I never really felt engaged or like I was part of the story, just observing from the outside. Dorothy’s emotions especially were told very passively, and even when she did say or do things that would support the purported emotions, it just wasn’t enough to make up for the rest.

Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Jacob is reading this book as Anthony Cooper pushes Locke out a window.

Thoughts:

This collection of short stories (named for one of the stories within) recycles a few recurring themes. Primarily, O’Connor deals with family issues, racism (especially in the Deep South), and ungratefulness. She also fixates on religion, a very specific kind that turns up in other works of hers, such as The Violent Bear it Away. This brand of religion is not one that most people would be familiar with – it’s basically crazy people with occasional violent deeds throwing stock religious phrases into conversations and yelling a lot. None of her characters are particularly appealing, but some are insightful cross-sections of major human flaws, usually the main protagonists. It makes sense for Lost, though. Obviously, everyone in the show has family issues, including Jacob. Lost also has frequent references to many religions, including various forms of Christianity.