I had heard how wonderful the musical based on this book was so I bought the book to read on vacation. I kept reading it hoping it would improve and finished it for the same reason one finishes a bad movie on cable-you're this far in,might as well see it through. None of the characters were very interesting or sympathetic and the main character was the least interesting of all. The best thing I can say about this book was that it inspired me to read L.Frank Baum's books.