Customer Reviews

OZ: Behind These Walls: The Journal of Augustus Hill

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

 

 

I've been a huge Oz fan for many years now and it greatly excited me to get this book, but I was sadly disappointed with it after reading the first 20 pages. This book is nothing but an extended episode guide, which is something you can find anyplace for free online. It also has detailed describtions of each episode until the end of Season 5, but unfortuanately, it looks like most of these describtions were just blatantly copied off of hbo.com and placed into this book. If even a die-hard Oz fan like myself didn't enjoy this, then I'm not sure you will either.

With this book you enter the mind of Augustus Hill, a wheel chair bound inmate who is also the narrator. It clearly depicts life in a prison. OZ: Behind These Walls: Journal of Augustus Hill lets you become part of an experimental lab inside Oswald State Correctional Facility known as Emerald City. It is an accurate description of what goes on behind jail bars from rape to sex to murder and drugs. You will truly feel like you are amidst the inmates. It is written in such a way that you "get to know" each character. Everything from what they did to get into Emerald City to the day-by-day trials and tribulations that they face on a day-to-day basis. When something happens to one of the characters you feel almost as if it happened to someone in your family.

Leo Glynn is the warden at Oswald State and Timothy McManus runs and created Emerald City. They worked together because they wanted to make a better living environment for prisoners who had capabilities of rehabilitation. Sister Peter Marie is the psychologist that works with Father Ray Mukada to help rehabilitate the inmates. Gloria Nathan is the doctor for the inmates and creates jobs for them so they are doing something positive with their time.

The best emotion depicted in this book is FEAR. Fear of living, fear of dying, and fear of fear itself. Augustus explains this through his eyes with each word he writes. As a wish he asks to have this book published so people can see what goes on behind the walls of a prison.
I enjoyed this book because of how detailed it was and how well it was written. I didn't get the chance to watch the show on HBO so it was a privilege to read about it and imagine it in my own way. This book also gives out interesting facts about court cases and prisons that a lot of people wouldn't know about. OZ: Behind These Walls will keep you wanting more to the point you will not want to put this book down. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about prisons or prisoners. There is not another book like this and I think publishing this book made a great way to remember the show and keep its memory alive.

I loved this book. I am a fan of Oz but not a huge fan. The book gave a strong voice to the show and I loved that way the diary of Augustus Hill illuminated the episodes and the shows without being a plain episode guide. It was well written and absorbing. I thought it was quite entertaining and led me to understand better. There are also non-fiction excerpts from books, newspaper articles, etc. which illuminate how the prison system in America functions. Good book. A good read.

I have been an Oz fan since day one. The characters, the storylines, the greatest collection of character actors ever assembled, the originality... Well, you know the rest if you've stuck by it as I have. As I write this, I saw that other people who bought this also liked wrestling books. I like wrestling. I loved Oz. I hate being deceived. This book is awful to an Oz fan, wrestling fan, or anyone with a brain, and some fans willing to spend money and be loyal do have them, Mr. Fontana. Other than the original poetry by Mums and the factual inserts that are predictable, not very much else here is original. To a fan, it becomes tedious to read because we've already been there, it doesn't even try to be clever, and is just plain boring. It almost reads like nothing more than a breakdown of episodes I could read on a chat line or the back of a video box. It is also carelessly edited. Do I really want to read basically the same exact paragraphs in different "chapters" about Clayton Hughes when I could be learning something original? A little thought here? Oz was so original a television show, but is such a boring book. Tom Fontana recently remarked that short stories might be in the future. I would have supported a series. After seeing what they produced for the fans the first time around, I'm going to have to think twice. Even if you're a fan, wait to get it used. Otherwise, you might feel used.

Anyone who has ever watched HBO's gritty prison drama "Oz" knows what kind of series it was: hair-raising, heart-thumping, and daring as the show showed viewers, for the first time on national American television, what went on in a maximum security prison.

This coffee-table style book is a must-own for all fans of "Oz" as not only does it discuss the show's entire run up until the final season, but there's an episode by episode guide, tons of black and white photos, and it really is a neat encyclopedia on one of the best American shows ever broadcast.

I wasn't disappointed to receive this book as I knew what to expect, the best way to describe it is an episode guide but in story form. It was received in approx 3 weeks from USA in december, so VERY happy with service at a great price!

I bought this book knowing it was a marketing tie-in for HBO, so I suppose I shouldn't be disappointed. But I was. Augustus Hill's "journal" is really just an extended summary of Oz episodes, without any of the new stories or new insights I'd been hoping for. And because it's all told from Hill's point of view, some story lines (like the Beecher/Keller story that's a big draw for many Oz fans) are only treated very briefly. The writing style is almost painfully dull, which is strange given the relatively good writing of the show and the strong narrative voice the show gave to Hill's character. I also found the book's chronology very peculiar, perhaps because the events of Oz's short, 8-episode seasons had to be spread out into a continuous narrative.

On the plus side, it's a handsomely produced book, on a nice glossy paper stock with plenty of photos. I liked the occasional sidebars about the real world of American prisons, though sometimes these felt a bit preachy (and I'm a liberal, generally in agreement with the politics of the show, and the book).

It's a shame this book isn't better; it's not much of a farewell to a landmark show.

I'm currently reading the book. It's good so far, but a lot WAS left out b-c it's only from Augustus' point of view. A lot of good stuff is missing. It's interesting seeing things from Augustus' view. It's good and I am able to understand better what Augustus means b-c I watched all 6 seasons.