Product Description: Following the traditions of Gabriel GarcÍa Marqu,z, John Gardner and J.R.R. Tolkien, Wicked is a richly woven tale that takes us to the other, darker side of the rainbow as novelist Gregory Maguire chronicles the Wicked Witch of the West's odyssey through the complex world of Oz -- where people call you wicked if you tell the truth.
Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin -- no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or to overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. But Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters the university in Shiz, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz' most promising young citizens.
Elphaba's Oz is no utopia. The Wizard's secret police are everywhere. Animals -- those creatures with voices, souls and minds -- are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals -- even it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Even wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas.
In Wicked, Gregory Maguire has taken the largely unknown world of Oz and populated it with the power of his own imagination. Fast-paced, fantastically real and supremely entertaining, this is a novel of vision and re-vision. Oz never will be the same again.
Droll & Amusing While this book was fun to read, it is also a serious attempt into describing the definition of evil versus good. It is also a look into how rumors take hold and just how much a rumor is a rumor and what is the truth? People take different viewpoints on one another and this book shows that.
I am not sure what I expected when I read this book. I have read one other of his book in its entirety and another one that I put down because it was too crude for my liking. This book is much better than those two and definitely had me thinking. I love Wizard of Oz the movie and the book ... but this is such a refreshing change of pace that I enjoyed this book too.
Let's start with Elphaba's skin color. It's green and even her own mother didn't want to nurse her. Elphaba grew up as an intellectual. She disappeared from main society when she decided to take up a cause of saving the Animals (the talking ones, that is) and fell in love with one of her former classmates. Then there's Nessarose, her sister, who is the Witch of the East. Beautiful and beloved of her family, Elphaba had to take care of Nessa until she escaped to the university at Shiz. The comparison between the sisters is simple. One is considered to be ulgy but is the brains. The other one is beautiful but considered to be dim. Now who is the more dangerous woman? Definitely not Elphaba. Elphaba danced more in the shadows trying to avoid controversy. Nessa ruled the Munchkins and is the one that chopped off the Tin Man's arm and set the lovesick carpenter on the road to becoming a man of tin.
This is just a sampling of what went on in this book. It is a story of a woman who legend has made her into a terrible person, when in reality she wasn't. Dorothy wasn't even trying to kill her, just helping to clean Elphaba up. Yet, Maquire showed what could have been and is a different version of Baum's Wizard of Oz. He has managed to tie in the political climes of the 90s into this book and I had to keep looking at the copyright as some of his theories are still timeless that it's true even today.
I have not seen the musical and would love to. While this book is recommended that I read for a book club ... I am glad that I finally had a chance to. It is much better than I expected and definitely kept me on my toes. I love books that make me think.
9/2/08
interesting premise, weak execution You can read "Wicked", as I did, with little awareness of the musical. Of course this is a clever idea, and we often find the evil or bad people much more interesting, George Lucas' bungling of Darth Vader notwithstanding. Elphaba is the center of attention, naturally, but only occasionally is actually interesting. An opportunity for true development of her character and a mission was lost.
Elphaba, never really "wicked", never really develops. She has her moments, inspired about animal rights and mildly fighting the Wizard's tyranny. I read the theme about the dysfunctional Oz and the suppression of rights and all that as a creative idea, and not as a parallel to America or anything else. Trying to compare Oz to modern times isn't that interesting and, if Maguire really meant to do that, he did a lame job. His story and writing were not nearly sophisticated enough, and he had no plot that developed the theme well enough.
I wouldn't exactly call the book dull. For one thing, I kept wondering when the development into the "wicked witch" would occur and when Dorothy would appear. Why so long in the Vinkus west - is something going to happen? How exactly was he going to hook into the movie's events? It's getting rather late, don't you think? Finally, Dorothy drops in, the action picks up temporarily, and then the novels sputters to its end.
I can see why the musical is apparently different. The novel clearly needed to be adapted for the stage, as it's too dark as is.
Unique & heart breaking I just finished reading Wicked at 3:50am 29 Aug 08.
This book is not my normal read. The style was much darker than I had thought it would be. In the first 80 or so pages, I could not believe how bad the book was. But as I read on I fell in love with the Wicked Witch of the West. While the book describes her as unattractive, I see her as the most beautiful creature in OZ. I wanted to cry when it ended even though we all know how it ends. I think it would hurt to much to read this again but still a must read.
Wicked The book was in decent condition upon arrival. The book itself is worth the read, I enjoyed seeing the land of Oz through the prepective of the Elpahba (the wicked witch). Gregory Maguire has become one of my favorite arthors and I am now unable to put his books down.
philosophical blather and burlesque comedy This book offers a peculiar mix of philosophical blather and burlesque comedy. I give it one star because the writing is good enough to draw you in but then leaves you high and dry. The other star is earned by the characters of Nanny and Amah Clutch (I'm not sure about the spelling of Amah Clutch as I listened to this book).
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