Wicked question

This book BLEW my mind! I had no idea what I was in for. It's one of my top 10 books. It addressed everything from animal rights to our society's inane obsession with 'beauty'. The magic of the musical transported me as well. I vote a definite and resounding 'YES!' to reading it. Oh,and then you have a whole bounty of books to look forward to where that came from. Gregory Maguire is incredible.

I really had to force myself to finish the book so I obviously did not enjoy it.
I thought the book dragged not just in one spot but throughout.

I really loved this book! I read it years ago before all the hype and musicals and have been touting the love ever since. Maguire definitely has his own writing style and I either love his stuff or hate it. This one and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister were my favs, probably both on my all time fav books list!
READ IT!

I thought it was a great book - I really liked it, I liked the writing style and the characters... at first...

You see, as I got towards the end, I started detesting all the main characters, and in the end, I couldn't be bothered finishing it...

But with that said, it was lovely. Great plot and awesome characters... and finishing bit - well, that all depends on the reader...

Sam, if we always listened to what other people said, we would never evolve. I recommend reading it then derive your own opinion. I had to read it twice, the first time to develope an opinion, the second time to reaffirm. I loved this book and the others in the series. I think perhaps the bulk of those who did not enjoy it could not find the possibility of what could of been before the Wizard of Oz. Be your own individual, dare to read what others deem boring ;)

The musical is still based on the book. There may be no lyrics and tunes in the book, but look at the themes and issues it touches, look at each character's struggles, look at how each of them strive to achieve love and contentment and world building for its genre. The land is as exotic and beautiful, power struggles will be more understandable. The book is a product of talent and scholarly approach. Weight the balances of good and evil, of beauty, of love. Read and compare.

Gregrory Maguire definitely falls to those who either love or hate his books. And for some like me, will love some and not others. Wicked, I love, so would definitely recommend at least trying it. It is very much NOT like the musical. (You can get it at the library, so no monetary loss if you don't like it.) There is a dark and almost sommber tone to his writing, so that may put you off. Also, everything is not necessarily spelled out, and sometimes you have to reach your own conclusions. I also love Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister and know I'm one of the few who enjoyed Lost.

Sam wrote: "I've heard that its good and then other people tell me its boring. What should I believe?"

Read it.
It doesn't matter what others think,because we all feel different things when reading a book. You might adore one book (in my case, that was wuthering heights) and your friends hate it. Or maybe you'll hate it,too. Just try and read it.

I think it's a quite interesting view on the wizard of Oz tale. You should read it. It won't disappoint you.

ABSOLUTELY READ IT!!! I've read it like 4 times...it's so good. And re-reading a book is almost unheard of for me! The only other books I have re-read is "Love is Eternal" (read over 20 times) and "The Hunger Games" to prepare myself for the movie :)

As far as musical vs. Book......I loved both, however the fact that they changed the ending in the musical turned me off.

Lastly, as far as the series is concerned....I suggest just skipping to the last book....it's pretty awesome...

I read it and finished it, but it was really hard to get through. Don't read it unless you have the time to read it a lot because otherwise you'll get lost on what's happening.

I thought that the first few chapters were okay but the middle part was a tab bit boring. The latter part of the book was very good albeit very political which I never really equated to The Wizard of Oz when I read the classic. The whole thing puts the wicked witch in a completely different perspective.

I've read it and seen the musical, the only thing it really did for me is to oblieterate the fantasy of Oz.

Only read this if you are up for a challenge. The writing is difficult to read in places and it does take a while. It's nothing like the musical but it was still really good. But seriously, only read it if you have a mature mind set and want to read a pretty deep and challenging book.

This is, hands down, my favorite book. Let me get this out of the way first... it's sometimes slow. it's sometimes boring. it's somewhat pretentious at times. After I finished it the first time, I never thought I'd ever pick it back up yet somehow over the next few weeks I started talking about it to people had also read it, or (dare I say... gasp) seen the musical. The more I discussed it, the more I realized I wanted to read it again. I did. And again. And again.

There is an underlying beauty to the novel that you may not grasp at first, but once you consider the tragic and depressing plight of Elphaba (the wicked witch), you'll never be able to watch "The Wizard of Oz" or even stomach the thought of sitting through the horrid abomination that is the musical.

Here's my complete review...
http://apocalypsecoming.com/post/2054...

Depends on your taste. I read this book long before I even heard of the musical and I loved it so much I read the other books as well. I saw the musical later and although the themes are similar, I was a tad bit disappointed in the musical. If you love The Wizard of Oz, you will more than likely like this as well.

Sam wrote: "I've heard that its good and then other people tell me its boring. What should I believe?"
read it !! is amazing , i love this book , thanks it i start to read again :p

I also had to force myself to finish the book. It really had little in common with the much lighter musical version. You could give it a try and see how you like it?

I have to confess that I stopped reading this book many weeks ago. Its beginning is promising, even brilliant, but somewhere along the way, it goes off the yellow brick road. The story ceases to be compelling, and the characters no longer capture the imagination. I was a huge fan of the Oz books as a child, and I came to this book with great motivation, reading over 200 pages before I turned my attention to other books.

I had really hoped to enjoy this book - it was on my to-read list for a long time (I did end up seeing the musical first, and I enjoyed that). But when I finally got down to it, I had such a hard time. The concepts, and several parts, were quite good - I enjoyed the story, the character development, and the writing in some spots.

But overall, I found this book to be so utterly pedantic, political and just plain preachy that I just couldn't identify. Like a few others, I really had to force myself to finish. I felt like the author was trying to make some sort of point, or take some kind of stand, that I couldn't really pick out of the plot. I was quite disappointed, as I felt it started strongly.

I've read a few of his other works, and while I've found them a bit easier to read, there were still those same pedantic undertones. "Confessions" is next in the line-up, though I'm approaching it with a bit of trepidation...

As a sidenote, I think the answer to the question "should I read it?" is a resounding YES, no matter what book you're contemplating. Just start reading it; if you don't like it, put it down, return it to the library, whatever. But never NOT read a book just because someone says you might not like it, because they didn't.
You have no idea what treasures you might discover for yourself, or what you might be missing out on!

I loved the Oz books as a child, and thought it would be interesting to see what Dorothy and her friends looked like from the other side. But, what I got was a dark jumble of political ideas. This could have been set anywhere, so why dirty my beautiful Oz with it?

I liked the concept, the premise of the story. It's fresh. But it didn't excite me as I thought it would. Elphaba didn't live up to my expectations. There's something lacking in her character that I can't pinpoint. It just felt incomplete.

But all in all, it's a good read. Just don't expect sparks to fly. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is way better :)

Just me,

SheBlogger

I really liked this book, however it did take some discipline to read it. If your looking for an easy read you will probably be disappointed. If you can stick with it then you will be happy that you spent the time to read it.

On my Top Twenty List of favorite fiction. Completely took my breath away.

I was so disappointed in this book. I thought the character development was poor. I loved the Wicked Witch for her advocacy and passion in the beginning. How she was brought down by a pair of shoes, I will never understand. You can look deeper into the sibling issue but seriously, the Wicked Witch was portrayed as such a smart, educated and forward thinking women that I have a hard time believing a pair of shoes turned her evil. Yes, she had hurt feelings, but we all do. I think the author has a pretty warped view of women. Being green was not that big a deal later in life (we are all unique and she did and we should embrace that) and most strong women, as she is originally portrayed, don't lose that. If she is smart enough to manipulate flying monkeys she could care less about little miss Dorothy.

This book is an interesting take on the characters from the Wizard of Oz. I think Maguire did a decent job on this, and gave some depth to the characters. I have also read Son of A witch, which was equally enjoyable, there are two more in the series, but I ran out of steam to read them.
Definitely worth reading!

All I can say is I agree with Debi, it's NOT the musical. The storyline has been compromised for the stage as is the ending changed for the musical. That being said, the book is VERY good. It's gives a very definite different version and, remember, this was one of the first to offer such. Now it is commonplace to have an alternative viewpoint, this was the first!
Read it, what have you got to lose?

I really disliked this book. I found it slow and I didn't like any of the characters. I love the musical though. It only takes the broad strokes, the basic situation of the book and makes a wonderful play out of it, and the music is quite hummable. :)

Loved this book! Read it about 5 times. Couldn't get enough!! A MUST read in my opinion!

Sam wrote: "I've heard that its good and then other people tell me its boring. What should I believe?"

I found the premise interesting and the story carried me for the first 2/3rds. It began dragging after that. I'm glad I read it but wouldn't read it again or any of the sequels.

I liked the book. I have never seen the musical, though I have heard the soundtrack and it's beautiful. I also haven't read any of the Oz books so all I knew about OZ was based on the movies"Wizard of Oz" and "Return to OZ". I always like to hear the other side of the story so it was very interesting. Politics are interesting to me so I didn't mind the political parts of the story. I read "Son of the Witch" and that one was really boring. I haven't read "A Lion among Men" so I don't know if that one is good or not.

I agree that Maguire is an acquired taste though. Although I have enjoyed this series, along with some of this other novels, his style and pace are not like anyone else I've read.

Sam wrote: "I've heard that its good and then other people tell me its boring. What should I believe?"

i read it because in my theater class in highschool we seen the broadway show and it was amazing, so i read the book, i thought it was great, it had alot of words in it that made no sense to me but then again its a fictional place and time. But the storyline to it the plot and all of it was good, id def recommend reading it or atleast giving it a shot

It wasn't the worst book I have read, but it definitely did not blow me away as everyone said it would.

Obviously, tastes vary. De gustibus non disputatum, after all. I liked it, but admit I put it down part way through for a while before I finished it. No, I have never seen the musical, and I think the operative term is "based on". Consider The Wiz .

Gregory Maquire has seen The Wizard of Oz movie, though I don't know how many of Baum's books he's read. I admit I haven't read all of them, either.

Maguire saw a situation and a character he could develop in his own way. L. Frank Baum is no longer around to dispute the subject with him. Neither is Margaret Hamilton. Obviously his ideas have been popular with the public as the series has continued to be published.

FYI, Maguire also writes children's books, which I didn't know until I did a little research for this post. I can't wait to read Leaping Beauty (who appears to be a frog:)Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales

I liked how they gave the Ephelba the Green Witch a story. It wasn't all about Glenda

honestly, it was a little boring in the middle part when it got political. but overall, the story of elphaba is interesting enough.

Yes. Read it. It's weird but why not?

I can't believe people hate the musical. I thought it was wonderful and a nice interpretation of the source material (doesn't have to be verbatim, it brought it's own fun). Maguire has a very distinct writing style and can be interpreted as overwritten if it's not your thing. I personally enjoy it, but I can totally understand why someone wouldn't.

It's also more of a read it twice kind of thing, because he likes to play with the reader not knowing something until the end, which leads to a lot of confusion when you're first reading (who is this character he's focusing on, should I guess? etc etc). But that came up more in the sequels than in Wicked itself.

If you've seen the movie or had read the original book and liked them, then yes you should definetly read this book. I've read it twice so far and will probably read it again because it has been awhile.

Sam wrote: "I've heard that its good and then other people tell me its boring. What should I believe?"

It is worth reading.

The musical was great but, the book even better!

He has his own writing style, which can be boring at times. Some of his books are better than others. This one is one of my favorite books written by him. It isn't a quick read though.

And the musical was great (I just saw it for the first time yesterday). But the book was also great. The story lines are a bit different, but kind of the same. It is hard to describe without giving away any spoilers.

The book is better in my opinion I saw the play also it was nice. But read the book

I read the book, disliked it and forced myself to read and complete it.

I never saw the musical. The only people that I am aware of that like this book saw the musical first; I think I would have a different opinion of the book had I seen the musical prior to reading this book.

No. This was the worst book I bought this year.

i read it and... it was kinda boring. Not 2 mention all the tmi's in it and it was 2 confusing...dnt bother

If you're interested in politic theory, then I would recommend it, because the author really gets into the politics of Oz during her lifetime, especially her college and just after college years. I personally found the book to be boring, and it was just too political for me. If you're looking for a storyline outside of the politics, I don't think you'll like it much either. The musical, though, is a completely different matter... :)

It's a bit dark but amazing.

I wasn't a big fan of it. For me, there was mostly just too much sex and not enough plot. Good characters, though.