Le storie di quattro donne che abitano nello stesso caseggiato di un quartiere genovese; tra amori e drammi; perbenismo e ipocrisia.Sullo sfondo di un anno apparentemente tranquillo srsquo;intrecciano le storie di quattro donne che abitano nello stesso caseggiato di un quartiere genovese. Gli uomini entrano ed escono dalle loro vite; ma tengono in ostaggio il loro cuore. Gli occhi dei bambini seguono ogni episodio famigliare con trepidante attenzione; vorrebbero contare qualcosa e mutare il corso degli eventi. Lrsquo;atmosfera dellrsquo;epoca trapela da ogni vicenda: usi e costumi di esistenze semplici o complesse; rapporti umani allrsquo;insegna del perbenismo e dellrsquo;ipocrisia. Un mondo di ieri che; alla fine; risulta meno lontano del nostro rispetto a quanto solitamente siamo disposti ad ammettere.
#179011 in eBooks 2014-05-09 2014-05-09File Name: B00K822ROC
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. New Adventure For Dorothy Ozma In The Land of EvBy Dominick CastleFresh from reading the 2nd book in the Oz series I jumped right into Ozma of Oz as I was quite curious to see where the story would go with there being such a departure in the 2nd book (The Marvelous Land of Oz) from the 1st (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).In this tale; Dorothy returns to the realm of make believe after being swept overboard while on a journey to Australia. She ends up in the far away land of Ev; a place a bit different from Oz; with a talking hen named Billina and she goes on a whole new adventure making new friends along the way; like Tik-Tok; the mechanical man and the Hungry Tiger; whose appetite never seems to be satisfied. She also reunites with some of her old friends as well; like the Cowardly Lion; Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman; as they team up together with Princess Ozma to rescue the Queen of Ev and her 10 children from the clutches of the evil Nome King.All-in-all book 3 is a great adventure with somewhat darker overtones than the previous two books that is full of the same whimsical elements and creative ideas common to the earlier tales. Our beloved Dorothy is back in the storyline and this time around her return home to Kansas does not entail a one-way ticket as Ozma retains the means to call her back to Oz whenever she is needed to save the day. A definite must read for any fan of the Wizard of Oz series.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Better and BetterBy StrangePegsBecause The Woggle-Bug Book; is not included as one of the Oz books; Ozma of Oz is considered the third book in the series. Despite the fact that the book is not really about Ozma (introduced in The Marvelous Land of Oz); it gets her name. She doesnt even show up until more than 1/3 into it and hardly takes center-stage after that. The title; though; is probably the greatest weakness of the book. So far; Im enjoying each of these more than the previous one. Being only three books in; though; thats not saying much.In a broad; cultural sense; Ozma of Oz may be the most significant of the Oz books. It introduces the character Tiktok; who is considered by many to be the first use of a robot in literature. An actual mechanical person with a mechanical brain. Hes a clockwork; as the name implies; and you have to wind him up; but; unlike the Tin Man; he is completely manufactured and his knowledge was "programmed." Of course; we dont really know what that means; but it doesnt really matter. Within the structure of the book; he is just another of Baums interesting and entertaining characters; winding down at inopportune times.My favorite of the new characters in this book is the Princess Langwidere. The princess owns only one dress; a white one; because it goes with all of her heads; all the 30 of them. Rather than change clothes to make herself attractive; she changes heads. The white dress is because it goes with whatever head she chooses to wear. This; of course; rather confuses her subjects; because they cant figure out why she looks different every time they see her. Each head also has its own personality so; although she retains her memories; some heads are more likable than others; and she can feel bad in one head about what she did while wearing another. This whole idea is a great concept; and I wish Id thought of it.I should mention that this book features the return; by popular demand; of both Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion.Now; rather than talk anymore about the story; clever as it is; I want to discuss some social issues and commentary that are worth noting.There are no men in these books. Not really. The only real example of a man that you get is that of the Wizard in the first book; and hes a fraud. Although the Tin Man used to be a man; he is no longer. All thats left is a rather vain and pompous facsimile. Fortunately; hes also genuinely caring; or he would be insufferable. The other male personas among the main characters are just that: personas. They dont represent actual people but ideas. Then there are the soldiers in Ozma of Oz; who are rather comedic as they are all but one officers. The lone private is only there so that the others have someone to give orders to. Hes also the only one who doesnt run away from danger; although the officers were supposedly chosen for their bravery.All of the important characters in the books are women; and most of them are positive examples of powerful women; Princess Langwidere being a prominent exception. She was more interested in admiring her various heads in the mirror rather than ruling the kingdom which she was responsible for. Considering that these were written before women had the right to vote; I think this is an important aspect of the Oz books to acknowledge.That said; we do run across Jinjur; who had been a general in the previous Oz book; who is now married and settled down. Dorothy is amazed by the change but; as Jinjur says; "Ive married a man who owns nine cows and now I am happy and contented and willing to lead a quiet life and mind my own business." So; despite the fact that Baum supports the independence and power of women; there does still seem to be the underlying belief that all a woman needs is to find the right man to marry and she will settle down and give up all that other stuff. It does seem; though; that Jinjur wears the pants in her marriage; her husband is indoors nursing the black eye that she gave him for not following directions. I think; though; all things considered; we can forgive Baum this one slip. At least in these first three books; Oz gives us a powerful representation of what independent women can do.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. In which a supporting character gets the titular nameBy The Office TrollThis story returns to Dorothy as the primary protagonist with a new animal companion; Billina the Hen; but starts with her outside of Oz and in the land of Ev. Baum was trying to move to other fairy stories unconnected with Oz but people seemed only interested in stories with Dorothy and Oz; so this story was a bit of an effort to bridge his desires for writing with the desires of his readers. Dorothy meets Tick-Tock; a mechanical man and arguably the first robot in literature; and they fight the Wheelers (a race of people who are bullies because they cant fight back); and are captured by Langwidere who has 30 heads which all share the same memory but have unique personalities. Ozma sweeps in with a cast of old and new characters and they go to rescue the royal family of Ev from the Nome King... This book is fun; but is confused by having too many overlapping plots and being overly violent. Instead of being a travelogue; this book crams the various stories together and it flags from it.
