Wicked - Wicked Years, Bk 1 Author:Gregory Maguire, Douglas Smith (Illustrator) The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West — Following the traditions of Gabriel GarcÍa Marquez, 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 throug... more »h 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.« less
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire begins decades before Dorothy falls into the scene, with the birth of a strangely green baby girl who has unusually sharp teeth. We follow Elphaba as she grows up, attends university, and falls into the political turmoil behind the scenes at the Emerald City. Maguire paints a detailed background of the realistic politics that shape Oz into the country it is when Dorothy arrives. The Wicked Witch of the West may be a tortured soul, but for different reasons than you had previously thought. The book is perfectly understandable even if you have never seen the movie or read the original book, but several parts are much funnier if you have. The end of the story can drag on if you are not interested in introspective psychological monologues, but flipping past a few pages of internal commentary can speed the story along.
Fairy tale retelling, interesting reading and silly at times, but like the other Maguire book I've read before--Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister--I found it to be a bit slow and draggy in spots, and my attention wandered. Definitely not as good as all the hype had me hoping for. Still, I found the speculation as to the origins of Glinda and Elphaba--and her dead sister and the ruby (actually silver) slippers from L. Frank Baum's tale quite interesting and amusing, as were the political machinations that got the Wizard where was when Dorothy came on the scene a few years later. Maguire certainly has an imagination! I'd like to see the Broadway production of this, though--I bet that would be something!
This book is great. Be prepared that it will not follow your idea of "Oz" with respect to the movie. There are definate "religious" and political undertones. However it will capture your imagination and you won't be able to put it down.
I tried very hard to read this book because I do like the Wizard of Oz etc etc. The start of the book is good, but after that..it really drops off and gets to be rather dull, boring, and hard to follow. Half way through I was disappointed by the book, as I was expecting so much more, and was also disappointed with the content that was put into the book. Why children are reading this book I don't know..but they shouldn't be. Older teens perhaps, but not 8 year olds!! I have heard the musical is very different and have even looked up the differences, and yep, it's really different. I think the musical would make more sense, and move at a faster pace and not be so wordy and full of filler words and content.
I say don't waste your time with this book. Think what you want to think, you'll probably come up with a better story anyways!
I have read a couple of Gregory Maguire's other novels, Next Queen of Heaven & Confessions of an Evil Stepsister, with mixed reviews. I liked Confessions a lot, and Queen a little. My feelings about Wicked were a bit underwhelming. Maybe I was tainted by the Broadway Show hype? The story was told in a visually beautiful manner; Maguire is a real detail author. The books makes me curious about the play, but as far as the story, I felt disappointed. I sympathized with the Wicked Witch of the West, Ephalba. Am I naive to want a happy ending for her sake? Maybe. I will still continue to read the rest of this, and his other fairy tale series.
I am absolutely enthralled with this book. Once I picked it up it was very hard to set down. I think it lends a different view of the wicked witch. Beautifully written in vivid detail!!
Don't go into this book expecting anything. And I don't mean that in a bad way! This book is really one of the most unique, unclassifiable things I have ever had the pleasure to read. We all know the familiar story of Dorothy Gale's adventures in the magical land of Oz, and how, in the initial novel, a wicked old green witch tries to kill her for some shoes. But we never got to hear the story from the witch's perspective, did we? This novel explores adult themes and creates defining fantasy characters, the landscape of Oz it paints is a far-more complex one than ever encountered before. Don't miss this book, and don't think it's merely a gimmick to make money. It's far more than that. It's highly literary and mixes such opposite genres like fantasy, politics, drama, romance, and character study. Very interesting stuff, highly recommended!
patticom - , reviewed Wicked (Wicked Years, Bk 1) on
Another of GM's books that is definitely NOT for children. There are a few really creepy/icky parts in this book that I could have done without (in the city of Oz), but on the whole it was unique and fun, a very different and curious take on the classic story. I have NOT seen the musical, but I can tell you from photos I've seen that the sister "wicked witch" seems to be quite different in the musical than the book. STOP reading here if you don't want minor spoilers.... If you loved the classic Oz story, you may find some of the character changes offensive. Dorothy, at least in the book, is portrayed as an insipid idiot. The Wizard is evil, and Glinda is full of herself. If you are willing to accept these as another possible point of view, read it and enjoy it!
Most of the book is from the point of view of the people around the Wicked Witch of the West. Those around her don't understand her It is only in the last section that we see things from her point of view. I wish that we saw more of the book from her point of view instead of those around her.
I could not finish this. I got to the explicit and perverse pantomine within the first few pages and wondered why is this is here? The author was making fun of low humor, debased entertainment, and superstitious mindless people. However, in order to do so, he had to conjure up, yeah, low humor, debased entertainment, and threaten to make the reader into a superstitious mindless person. I decided to walk away.
I'd seen the musical and was intrigued to find out more about the life and times of Oz and the Wicked Witch of the West. This book gave me what I expected and hoped for, and yet it didn't. The story is fleshed out more than the musical's plotline, and you do get more insight into the personality and life of Elphaba, the wicked green anti-heroine. However, the details start getting skimpier and Elphaba's motivations get murkier as the story moves along. How she actually becomes "wicked" and glories at her newly won reputation as the Wicked Witch of the West is treated shabbily. The plot details and looks at Elphaba's life get traded in for discussions of morality and the origin of evil and the theology of souls, and it's a poor tradeoff where readability is concerned. The story never recovers from this derailment and the last section of the book, which should have been exciting and enthralling as this is the section where Witch meets Dorothy, is a big letdown. Throughout the book, the main character is referred to by name, as Elphaba, although different nicknames are ascribed to her at various times, yet in the last section she is continually referred to only as The Witch and no longer called Elphaba, a distracting device designed to distance the reader emotionally from her death.
Characters are never fleshed out enough to garner sympathy or likeability and the sections of the story reflecting the well-known Wizard of Oz story are far too brief to enjoy properly. Author Maguire goes through all this trouble setting up a rich and detailed storyland and then pulls away the vicarious enjoyment we could've had comparing this refreshingly new take on old familiar scenes and people by removing almost all such references out of the plot.
An interesting but flawed read, not all I had hoped it would be.
Tough to get into, but once I did I was hooked. Much darker than I anticipated. Much more complex and satirical. I am looking forward to the sequel now!
I tried to read this book a few years back and I couldnt get through it. I found the excessive use of vulgar language to be a distraction and it didnt add anything to the characters or the story. That being said the idea is very clever and original. If you are a fan of the musical, be aware that the two are nothing alike.
Whenever there is a story like that of the Wizard of Oz and all its characters, everyone wonders what happened before. Maguire does a great job of combining every characters stories and also explaining why every character is the way they are from their backstory. It has lovely twists and turns with surprises that you may not see. A great read for anyone especially those with a love for the Wizard of Oz and/or the musical Wicked.
wonderful story about how things look different taken from the perspective of elphaba (the wicked witch of the west). what if the wizard of oz movie is all wrong? that is what is explored in this book.
This was such a creative book. I loved the thought of having the story from the witch's perspective and it was so well-written, my view of Oz will probably stick with this one instead of the original. I just loved it!
This was such a creative book. I loved the thought of having the story from the witch's perspective and it was so well-written, my view of Oz will probably stick with this one instead of the original. I just loved it!
