Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

I was already in love with the musical before I started Wicked, but this book went above and beyond my own expectations. Compelling in spite of all its sorrow, it’s a fine, fine read.

Maguire’s story meshes so well with the original Oz stories, it’s as if the mythos has become a thing of itself, and Baum only wrote a sanitized version of an older legend, bigger, richer and more in depth. Now imagine Maguire researching the source texts and writing a peripheral view with the original darkness and complexities. Please understand that I hate retellings which insist that the original author “got it wrong”-- but Wicked just seems so true.

It’s beautifully written (Maguire’s debut!), with one of the best endings I’ve ever read. show more It’s also complex and the political unrest in Oz is a brilliant way to use Baum’s own creation as an attack against his racist views. But best of all, it achieves in what many of the best retellings attempt--making the villain the heroine. After all, it is the winners who write the history books. show less

Short summary:
The story follows Elphaba, a girl born with green skin who is treated as strange and different from the moment she enters the world. As she grows up, she never quite fits in and often feels like an outsider. When she goes to Shiz University, she starts forming friendships and begins to see more clearly how the society of Oz works. In particular, she becomes deeply concerned about the treatment of the talking Animals, who are slowly losing their rights and their place in society. As Elphaba becomes more involved in questioning what is happening around her, she starts to clash with the authorities and the systems in power. Over time, rumors and misunderstandings begin to shape how others see her, and the world slowly show more starts to label her as “wicked,” even though her story is far more complicated than that.

Review:
I really loved this book.

Even without knowing The Wizard of Oz or seeing the Wicked movie, the story was still very engaging and easy to get into. It works perfectly well as its own story, and I never felt like I was missing important background knowledge.

What I found most interesting is how complex the world and the characters are. Oz isn’t just a magical setting here. It feels like a real society with politics, prejudice, and power struggles. The storyline about the Animals losing their rights was especially compelling and added a much darker and more serious layer to the story.

Elphaba is also a very interesting main character. She’s intelligent, determined, and deeply concerned about injustice, but she’s also very isolated. Because she looks different and often challenges the system around her, people are quick to misunderstand her. I really liked that the book doesn’t try to make her a perfect hero. She makes difficult choices and sometimes pushes people away, which makes her feel very human.

Another thing I appreciated is how the story slowly shows how someone can gain a reputation that doesn’t fully match who they really are. The idea that a person can be labeled “wicked” by society, even when their intentions are more complicated, is one of the most interesting themes in the book.

The writing also creates a very rich and detailed world. There are political tensions, cultural differences, and philosophical questions throughout the story. Sometimes it feels a bit dense, but overall it makes the world feel much deeper and more believable.

Final Thoughts:
Wicked is a fascinating and complex story that works well even if you have no familiarity with The Wizard of Oz. It explores themes like prejudice, power, and how society decides who is considered a villain. The characters are complicated, the world is richly developed, and the story raises a lot of interesting questions. I really loved reading it. show less

So everyone loves Wicked, right? At least, thats what I've heard. "Wicked's so good!" "An immediate classic!" "A best-selling original novel!" I call Maguire's bluff. I've been fed lies.

I heard of Wicked from the Broadway advertisements. Its super popular, and when its coming to your city, it tends to be EVERYWHERE. You see the TV ads, hear the radio commercials and see the billboards & flyers. People around you have begun reading it, even people you know who you never thought could actually read or even knew what a book was. You read reviews and everyone says its "one of the best books I've ever read." I pick this book up and start it and find myself wondering: "What in the heck is wrong with you people?!?! I've been conned!!!" Yep. show more That's right. I'll say it now: THIS BOOK IS TRASH. Did you hear me? TRASH. In case that doesn't stick, here are some more: Excrement, Garbage, Filth, Junk, Muck, Rubbish, Sewage, Slop, Waste, Atrocious, Awful, Carelessly Written, Crummy, Dissatisfactory, Dreadful, Icky, Junky, Lousy, A Rip-Off, and completely UNACCEPTABLE. What has gotten into people's minds? This "wonderful piece of literature" falls flat in every possible way.

In all honesty, I read only the first part of this book. That's all I could stomach. However, I skimmed the rest and my reading partner finished it off for me and completely filled me in. I read other excerpts and whatnot. So, I am pretty well informed with this book. I might as well have read it, but luckily I was able to salvage whatever willpower I was left with after being subjected to torture of the worse kind. This is poorly written, insubstantial, overly perverted and completely blasphemous. I care nothing for Elphaba...this story doesn't even remotely tell us ANYTHING about her, except that LIKE HER MOTHER, she enjoys an affair. She is wicked, without a doubt, but you never find out why. People were nice to her and she was mean in turn. She had friends, but I guess that wasn't enough for her. She was a vegetarian and LOVED animals. What in the heck went wrong?? No one knows, because Mr. Maguire refused to tell us. It is even states in the text that no one knows why she is wicked, she just is. What the heck am I doing here reading this then? I figured that "The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" would at least give us some insight into why the Wicked Witch is the way she is today. I figured she probably was ill-treated when she was young or that something set her off, but seriously? Nothing. No explanation whatsoever. If this was just supposed to be about the way Oz is run then why not entitle it: "Wicked-A Brief Glance at How The Land of Oz is Run and its Citizens." Because, that's all I felt I read about. I found affairs, animal rights activists, selfish leaders, and just overall disgusting writing.

Is this the best book we can be given in this day and age? You would figure that since we, people as a whole, have come so far that we could afford to write better books. In my opinion, I am ashamed to live in an era where people think Wicked is actually worth wasting time on. How pathetic can you get?? I've read some pretty bad books, but this one takes the cake. Thanks very much for making me do this Mr. Maguire. Now I feel I have to take it upon myself to protect all the people who actually read for substance from this book of erroneous bull-monkey. Oh wait, I'm sorry, flying monkey feces. My apologies.

This book doesn't actually deserve a star, but as it is, Goodreads does not allow me to do that. I'm actually doing an injustice by just handing that star over. So, do yourselves a favor and don't even bother with Wicked. Just look it up and read a synopsis, because reading the book won't give you anymore than that. I am really glad I borrowed this from the library and didn't waste any money.

P.S. Mr. Maguire: Cheap shots at the Church do not a good book make! show less

"People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us. It's people who claim that they're good, or anyway better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of."

Once upon a time, back before Wicked was a musical (or had any sequels), I read several Gregory Maguire novels, including this one. I liked it back then, but my tastes have changed over the years. I wasn't sure how it would hold up.

After rereading, I'm letting my 4-star rating stand. The beginning felt slow and there are bits that seem unnecessary, until you realize later how necessary they were. Mr. Maguire gets a little preachy on his themes of good vs. evil and fate vs. choice, but overall it's a good tale, an imaginative take mostly on L. Frank show more Baum's classic tale, with a little influence from the 1939 film.

"I have always felt like a pawn," said the Witch. "My skin color's been a curse, my missionary parents made me sober and intense, my school days brought me up against political crimes against Animals, my love life imploded and my lover died, and if I had any life's work of my own, I haven't found it yet, except in animal husbandry, if you could call it that."
"I'm no pawn," said Glinda. "I take all the credit in the world for my own foolishness. Good gracious, dear, all of life is a spell. You know that. But you do have some choice."

As a note, the play took more liberties with the plot and characters of this novel than the film version of [b:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|236093|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz, #1)|L. Frank Baum|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398003737s/236093.jpg|1993810]. Judging the original by its dissimilarities from an adaptation is asinine. Just saying. show less

If you want to read a book about murder, politics, espionage, and a journey of self awareness, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is your book. Wicked is the story of the witch from the story of Oz. Gregory Maguire describes an Oz that has a much deeper and richer landscape and history than just watching the movie would lead one to believe. Oz is a land full of political intrigue, espionage, murder, faith and of course magic. Maguire did not write a fluffy version of the Wizard of Oz from the Witch’s point of view. Wicked is full of social and moral commentary. Maguire addresses religion, ethnic suppression/genocide, slavery, tyranny, and the idea of good vs. evil in a way that makes the reader think not only show more about Oz’s landscape and political environment, but about the state of the world around us as well.
For my complete review see my blog: http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com show less

I read Wicked over two decades ago, and my impression at the time was that it was a clever concept but it got bogged down in with long stretches of debates among the characters about politics, religion, and ethics. Nevertheless, despite my middling feelings, the book has stuck with me. When I learned that the book had been made into a musical I wondered how such a dark and talky book could possibly be adapted to musical theater. In the intervening years, I've become more acquainted with the works of Stephen Sondheim that demonstrate that successful musicals can be made about incredibly grim subjects (even when offering revisionist versions of popular children's stories).

I've still never seen the Wicked stage musical, but having watched show more the first part of the movie adaptation, I decided to revisit the book. And I can tell you that they made it into a musical by wildly changing a lot of the plot points and characterizations. Now, in a lot of ways I think the work that Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz did in adapting the novel makes for a better story, and have made the characters and their relationships so resonant with so many people. This is particularly true of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, which just isn't a major factor of the book. I expect that a lot of fans of the musical/movie coming to the book will be disappointed.

Nevertheless, revisiting the book after two decades, I found myself liking it more than I remembered. Yes, there are way too many political, religious, and ethical debates (Maguire should learn the "show don't tell" rule) that bog down the book, especially it's middle parts. But those issues in the Land of Oz feel so relevant to the sociopolitical situation of the United States for the past 25 years that it makes Maguire look prescient (or the scoundrels in America's political and religious leadership just plain unoriginal). I particularly like the final section when Dorothy arrives but we're told about it from the perspectives of the book's characters as Elphaba's sanity ebbs away. It's funny and sad at the same time.

With my improved opinion of this book, I'm thinking of taking on Maguire's sequels as well. show less

Been meaning to get around to this one for years. I wasn't exactly anticipating a masterpiece, which I think served me well. The only expectation I truly had for the book was from a review an uncle gave me when I was in middle school, basically adding up to the idea that it was a dark and cynical book and that I probably wasn't old enough to read it, but that he thought I might like it.

I am very familiar with the musical, having seen it when it came through town on tour, with that same uncle, and more recently having watched both parts of the movie adaptation. I really enjoy the musical, and while I was aware there would be differences, as there are in any adaptation, I wasn't expecting it to feel like two separate stories, sharing show more mainly character names and setting. Once this realization set in, after the second major deviation from the musical, at least that I noticed, I sort of settled into reading the book like any other, and not really comparing one to one with any other stories set in the land of Oz.

Moving outside of the broader context this book finds itself in, I had a lot of fun reading this. I found the pacing to be engaging, with stuff happening one after another, at times too fast, only to slow down or get sidetracked down another route. This pattern kept me engaged, as the book would eventually return to chase down the plot thread it had dropped earlier, and in the interim as the reader you spend the time trying to focus on the new events that are unravelling, while also wondering what happened to that thing from earlier, only for it to swing back into relevance in the next chapter, sometime coinciding with the current or another plot thread to have events converge and then continue. It's that classic set up of many moving parts, and yet there is also time to breathe, as, perhaps a little too frequently, characters would seemingly come to a stop to have some philosophical or political debate, meanwhile there are several pots simmering and about to boil over in the background.

For the most part, Maguire balances this tension well, and nothing boils over or burns, to extend the metaphor just a little further. At times the pacing does feel like it slips, getting a little too slow here and there, or jumping to something that you suppose may be relevant down the line, but which never materializes and is dropped. There are a few false starts and long pauses in an otherwise excellently paced reading experience.

The tone of the book is another element I enjoyed. It is dark, and cynical, and gives the reader a front row seat to the bad decisions made by morally grey characters for self-motivated purposes, which seem to either have no effect or a negative effect on their lives and the lives of others. There are a few good actors, those striving for betterment of some cause or another, but even those groups and people are often depicted cynically, or accurately, depending on your worldview, as self-serving of their own morals or self-image of their goodness. (This is one element where a line from Elphaba in the musical comes to mind: "Was I really seeking good? Or just seeking attention?" It's not quite a one to one with book Elphaba, but it still feels relevant. No Good Deed is the song from the musical that most matches in tone with the book, in my opinion. Just beautiful stuff.)

The themes throughout the book, of good and evil, crime and justice, purpose and the soul, struggle and futility, as well as the social commentary on racism, classicism, and pretty privilege, so to speak, were fascinating. Not every theme was explored with equal depth, but they were consistently represented where it made sense. If some aspect of a person, say their religious upbringing, affected them in one context, it would consistently affect them outside of that context as well, to the good, bad, or neutral, as dictated by the established social norms of their society.

Maybe it's the contrast provided by my recent abandonment of a book based on its poor writing, but I also feel I should mention that the writing in this book is line perfect. There were no annoyances, no habitual ticks, to shunt me straight out of the story and into the desire to locate a red pen. The editor and author did an excellent job in that regard. The writing tended to disappear behind the story, expect for moments when the dialogue truly shined. I would only notice the writing when it was noticeably good, otherwise, it blended into the reading experience seamlessly. That's not something I get to experience a lot.

My main critique of this book is simply that I did not like the ending, which feels somewhat silly to say. I knew the ending going in, of course, having seen the Wizard of Oz, but the way in which the ending approached felt rushed and confused - likely on purpose, but I still found it grating - and the political and societal elements that had been so strong throughout the book seemed to fade into the interpersonal. It was like we were tumbling toward the ending that we knew had to happen, the author and the reader both, and yet the way it was accomplished was just sort of disappointing. I wanted more from some characters, less from others, and in the end it just felt like the reader got shorted. Even if that were the intention, I still just subjectively didn't like it. It wasn't enough of a let down to write off the entire book, not by a long shot, but endings are difficult, and this one did not stick the landing. show less