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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)

Gregory Maguire

Why we're reading this: #80 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
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[close] #80 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...

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Oct 02, 2010 Ivy rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, audible-owned

The premise of Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is nothing short of genius. One of the most maligned characters in literary and movie history might not be so bad after all. We live in an age that loves to pit one side against the other...why not show the world that the witch wasn't actually out to get Dorothy and her little dog too? That it was all a plot of the liberal media? All this promise...for a poor execution. No pun intended...is tha The premise of Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is nothing short of genius. One of the most maligned characters in literary and movie history might not be so bad after all. We live in an age that loves to pit one side against the other...why not show the world that the witch wasn't actually out to get Dorothy and her little dog too? That it was all a plot of the liberal media? All this promise...for a poor execution. No pun intended...is that a spoiler? Can you spoil the ending since most of us grew up watching the Wizard of Oz? I suppose it wasn't technically an execution anyhow. But I digress.

I will not go as far as to say this book was terrible, because it wasn't. Having grown up also reading many of the original Oz stories by L. Frank Baum, it was fun to see an adult take on this fantasy world. The title also clues the reader into the fact that the book is going to be rather expansive, starting before Elphaba (WWW) is conceived and concluding with the news of her death in the Emerald City. Some elements from the source material stayed the same; Munchkinlanders were small, the Wizard arrived in a balloon, the Wicked Witch of the East has beautiful ruby slippers. The backstory of familar characters is introduced, giving them more depth than seen in the original. Elphaba lacked love from her parents and had a traumatic childhood, yet she grows up to become an intelligent political activist. Glinda is a beautiful bubblehead. Their time at college is interesting, providing an alternative view of the Land of Oz. Little gems hidden here and there foreshadow famous characters and events that will happen after the arrival of Dorothy.

The biggest problem with Wicked is that it rambles, and even at its conclusion I'm not sure where it had been going, where it took me, or why. The press release states this is an allegory, but many of the political elements and religious debates were too straight forward to be considered allegory; furthermore, many of the questions posed including the nature of the soul or the origins of evil failed to be answered. The only real allegory seems to be Elphaba's green skin, as she spends many years of her life envious of those around her. Other magical elements remain unanswered, mainly the origin of the Clock of the Time Dragon, or who or what Grommetik is (although I believe he features in the original Oz stories). Perhaps these elements are explained in future books in the series, but they don't seem compelling enough to make me pick up Son of a Witch. Finally, many reviewers before me complained about the explicit sexuality. The subtitle very well could have been Fifty Shades of Green. I didn't take offense at the majority of these sex scenes; they were raw and honest, and reminded the viewer that they were not reading a child's story. The only episode that truly made me uncomfortable was the fact that Elphaba appears to have been conceived after her mother took a Bill Cosby worthy date rape potion. Quite honestly, any story dealing with rape should make the reader uneasy.

In light of this review, I can neither recommend or dissuade readers from picking up Wicked. If you grew up loving Oz, or are a fan of the musical or the fantasy genre in general, you may wish to read it to decide for yourself. I doubt I will ever pick up other titles in this series, but I am yearning to return to my childhood and re-read the original Wizard of Oz. ...more

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