When I first began reading this book, I was delighted at the feeling of being enveloped in this dark, Grimm Fairy Tale type place called Oz. The concept of the time dragon, the dwarf-operated marionette machine completely spooked me. The baby elphaba with her green skin and huge teeth was freakish, yet I could feel a tenderness at her otherness, the trouble she would surely find fitting in.

From then on, the book became much less interesting or sympathetic. Elphaba never morphed into a likable character. I genuinely did not like her and did not care about her fate, problematic as she is the main character. It is apparent that Maguire is trying to dehumanize her in the latter part of the book, referring to her as "witch" rather than "Elphaba."

But even in her formative college years, she is unlikable and condescending. From a dialogue perspective, Maguire attempts to make her witty at times, but she is not witty at all. She is an awkward conversationalist, yet always shares her snide opinions.

From here, Elphaba becomes a terrorist for the greater good of helping Animals. The flaws of terrorism -- the way Elphaba shrugs off how innocents will die as necessary to the greater good makes me very unsympathetic to her cause. I feel she should be wiser, smarter, cleverer than that -- and she's not.

But the real reason to dislike Elphaba is the treatment of what is surely her own son. She treats him coldly, like a servant and offers no parenting to him at all. She is so indifferent, she cares more for her bees and crows and monkeys with wings. Perhaps, Elphaba is really not very human. You would think that Maguire would show that underneath her physical deformities is a sensitive human with great intelligence and abilities. I see a subhuman with a crabby negative demeanor that gets her nowhere.

Maybe I'm not getting the political or philosophical commentary. Maybe I'm not seeing how Elphaba needs to be this way to make the book work. But in my view, a book will never work if there isn't a solitary character to like and emphathize with. And there wasn't.

My recommendation to anyone: see the musical -- for all its cliches, it's a much more satisfying experience.