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Most Helpful Favorable Review
8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
A book to borden your view of Oz
As an avid fan of Wizard of Oz I was always told that "Wicked" would be a great follow up and new take on Oz. I became a fan of the musical adaptation of the book but was told they are greatly different. This fueled me wanting to read the book. It wasn't till recently t...Read More
As an avid fan of Wizard of Oz I was always told that "Wicked" would be a great follow up and new take on Oz. I became a fan of the musical adaptation of the book but was told they are greatly different. This fueled me wanting to read the book. It wasn't till recently that I finally did. The book is very well done. The book took the tale classic tale, showing before and how Elphie became the "wicked witch". Elphie's tale makes you wonder was she really wicked and evil or just a girl who's life took turns giving people other ideas about her?
I can't wait to read the follow up books to the "Wicked" series but i bet they will be just as great as this one.
All and all wicked is just a great read and should defiantly be added to your collection.Show Less
I can't wait to read the follow up books to the "Wicked" series but i bet they will be just as great as this one.
All and all wicked is just a great read and should defiantly be added to your collection.Show Less
posted by Moonbunnyperry on January 15, 2010
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22 out of 36 people found this review helpful.
Awful
To start with the positives, this was a wonderful idea for a novel. Unfortunately, the positives end there. Throughout the whole book, Maguire seems to be screaming, 'OH LOOK AT THE CLEVER PARALLELS TO MODERN SOCIETY! AREN'T I CLEVER?!' This impossibly boring, almost ma...Read More
To start with the positives, this was a wonderful idea for a novel. Unfortunately, the positives end there. Throughout the whole book, Maguire seems to be screaming, 'OH LOOK AT THE CLEVER PARALLELS TO MODERN SOCIETY! AREN'T I CLEVER?!' This impossibly boring, almost maliciously confusing novel is peppered with gratuitous sex scenes that seem to have been placed there to bring your attention back to a storyline that even the author knew was incredibly boring.Show Less
posted by Anonymous on August 16, 2008
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Anonymous
Posted August 16, 2008
Awful
To start with the positives, this was a wonderful idea for a novel. Unfortunately, the positives end there. Throughout the whole book, Maguire seems to be screaming, 'OH LOOK AT THE CLEVER PARALLELS TO MODERN SOCIETY! AREN'T I CLEVER?!' This impossibly boring, almost maliciously confusing novel is peppered with gratuitous sex scenes that seem to have been placed there to bring your attention back to a storyline that even the author knew was incredibly boring.
22 out of 36 people found this review helpful.
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So who was wicked anyway?
I saw the Broadway show in February and it was absolutely incredible. Clearly I needed to read the book that this masterpiece was drawn from. A play can only tell a small part of a story so the book had to be amazing. Amazing is a word I would use to describe the book, certainly:
Amazingly boring. Amazingly bad. Amazingly pretentious.
I couldn't tell you what the plot was for this book. Every time it seems like the author is going to give us a real plot, he whisks you away to some point in the future. Be prepared to be left hanging. A lot.
I was constantly waiting to find out more about things that happened in the book. What was the group that Elphie was part of? What did Madam Morrible really do to Glinda, Elphie, and Nessa?
Things just happen because we're told they happen. Glinda and Elphie are friends, why? Not relevant. You just have to accept that they are.
The gratuitous sex scenes all seemed out of place as well. Why did the author choose to write them? Was it to shock the reader? They added nothing to the story. I suppose since I would argue there was no real story, that it would be impossible to add to it. The author also had an obsession with urination. I guess the denizens of Oz have bladder control issues.
This disjointed, plotless, lifeless excuse for a novel was all buried under flowery language. I'm an avid reader and I have no trouble with big words. But as boring as Wicked was, the writing style just made it even more painful to get through.
It was a painful trip from beginning to end. Go see the musical. They took the idea of what this story wanted to be and made it something exciting and fun. There's a payoff at the end of the musical. There's none at the end of Wicked, other than the fact you don't have to read it any longer.13 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
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Unsatisfying
I must commend Gregory Maguire on his ingenious idea for a novel. I am also very impressed with the thorough creation of the pre-Dorothy world of Oz. Maguire certainly knows how to weave a whole new culture and throw the reader into the middle of it, allowing us to discover for ourselves the intricacies of all the aspects of this new world for ourselves. Other pros: smart, witty, and often funny narration can be found throughout. Excellent and clever musings on the nature of good and evil, plus some interesting thoughts on religion and the existence of a soul. Lots of allusions that are not obviously handed to the reader, but must be discovered by taking a closer look. Some fantastic character development. The plot however left a lot to be desired. This book simply meanders. There are many unresolved or poorly resolved in-book links, and the only links to be found are those that connect with the original Baum story. There are large gaps of time that are inadequately filled in, or addressed only briefly and in an unsatisfying way. The best way I can describe it is that is just... goes. On and on. For pages and pages. Sort of like a diary. Lots of brilliant narration and character development along the way, but nothing adds up within itself. Although some characters I would have liked to see developed more (e.g. the Wizard). No fantastic plot twists, though a few are dangled before our eyes but then never resolved, which is a major disappointment. After checking out the Broadway musical, I am convinced that a novel based on the adapted plot of the show would have been a much more interesting read. That altered story is way more exciting and gratifying than this one. PARENTS BEWARE: pre-teens and younger children looking to find a great companion to the family-friendly Broadway musical will not only be disappointed, but will also find a good deal of R-rated material including sex scenes, an orgy involving bestiality, and a couple scenes of graphic murder plus a few paragraphs detailing gruesome torture.
11 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
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One of the Worst I've Ever Read
Clever idea for a novel, but so slow I don't know how I finished it. I agree with other reviewers that there were really odd and almost lewd sexual scenes that had absolutlely nothing to do with this story. I found myself shaking my head in wonder, asking "What was that about?" over and over again. I really wanted to like this book but I just hated it. I would never be enticed to pick up another book by McGuire.
9 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
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Moonbunnyperry
Posted January 15, 2010
A book to borden your view of Oz
As an avid fan of Wizard of Oz I was always told that "Wicked" would be a great follow up and new take on Oz. I became a fan of the musical adaptation of the book but was told they are greatly different. This fueled me wanting to read the book. It wasn't till recently that I finally did. The book is very well done. The book took the tale classic tale, showing before and how Elphie became the "wicked witch". Elphie's tale makes you wonder was she really wicked and evil or just a girl who's life took turns giving people other ideas about her?
I can't wait to read the follow up books to the "Wicked" series but i bet they will be just as great as this one.
All and all wicked is just a great read and should defiantly be added to your collection.8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 20, 2008
I adore Elphaba
The book and movie Wizard of Oz, gave you more in site of Dorthy and her life.Where as the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West was a book that gave you more background of the witch Elphaba(whose skin was green) and her sister Nessarose the Wicked Witch of the east(whose ruby shiny shoes started all the controversy in the beginning).Elphaba's college roommate,Glinda (who is known as the Good Witch of the North).The book opens up with some detail of her mother and father life.It also goes on to tell of her childhood, her life in college,her L.O.V.E life, her break ups, her lost,her motherhood and most of all her revenge.This is book is a must read. It not only tells of the Wicked Witch of the West, but it also re-tells the whole story. I enjoyed it from front to cover. I cant wait to read Son of a Witch. Which tells more in the life of Elphaba son Liir.But Elphaba I have absolutely fell in L.O.V.E with The Wicked Witch of the West. It was nice to reading the very precise detail of the new age fairy tale. I enjoyed this book. Elphaba remind me so much of me!!!L.O.L But if you haven't read this book yet, your missing out on the best re-made fairy tell ever!!!!!!
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted October 6, 2009
Painfully boring
Not worth your time or money. We were going to see the musical Wicked and bought the book on CD in preparation. We listened to it on a road trip and found it very boring, extremely wordy and vulgar. There were several parts of the book that were so very disgusting and disturbing that we had to forward through. And there were so many parts of the book where the author chose to be so very unnecessarily vulgar that it left you wondering about his character. Don't waste your time or money on the book. If you are at all curious about it's contents - go see the Musical which makes better sense and is a delight.
5 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted November 5, 2008
I Also Recommend:
Wicked.
This was a great book in my opinion. Gregory Maguire has a unique writing style and he took L. Frank Baum's characters and made them his own. I am 15 and I found the book to be themed for more mature audiences because of the content. It is a good book for let's say ages 15+. If you want a good adventure and book, read it.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed by K. Osborn Sullivan for TeensReadToo.com
Have you ever read a popular book and wondered why it was so popular? That's exactly how I felt as I worked my way through WICKED. Actually, that's not entirely true. I know why it's a New York Times Bestseller. Part of it has to do with the reason I picked the book up in the first place. I expected a light, fairy tale-like story. It's based on a children's book. There's a Broadway musical about it. Sounds like it should be fun, right? Uh, not quite. I get the feeling, though, that a lot of people thought as I did and bought WICKED looking for an easy-to-read lead-up to THE WIZARD OF OZ. I wonder how many of them finished reading the book when they figured out the truth?
Although to be fair, WICKED doubtless also owes some of its popularity to the fact that it's a well-written, literary novel that can be appreciated by well-read, literary-type people. Unfortunately, I'm really not one of those. Giving me a piece of deep, meaningful literature is like giving a copy of Hemingway's THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA to a manatee. In other words, I was disappointed. My disappointment was partly in the book for not fulfilling my expectations, and partly in myself for not being able to appreciate a quality literary effort.
In case you've been living in a hollowed out tree for the last couple of years and haven't heard about the play, WICKED is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and how she became the Wicked Witch of the West. The book delves far deeper into the witch's life and times than any musical could in only two hours, however. In the book version of WICKED, readers are introduced to the witch, whose real name is Elphaba, when she is first born. She's green and has dangerous, pointy teeth. Needless to say, she's not too popular with the other children. Even her parents aren't too sure about her.
As the story progresses, we see Elphaba at college. She falls in with a number of fellow students, some of whom are more and others less accepting of the strange green girl. It's not just her skin color that's different, though. Elphaba thinks and acts differently than other people. And she has this aversion to water.... Well, we all know how that turns out for her.
The book is an interesting departure from the Oz books, including such details as why the Cowardly Lion is able to talk, and the fact that everyone in Oz thought Dorothy's dog, Toto, was the most irritating thing to ever draw breath. I wish, however, that I could have liked some of the characters. No one was particularly likeable, as far as I was concerned. Even Elphaba, who readers should have had some sympathy for, seemed odd to me, and I never understood her motivation for anything she did. In other words, I could have gotten over the fact that she was green, but it really bothered me that she didn't act normal. Also, a word of warning: Even though these are essentially fairy tale characters, this book treats them like adults, complete with sex, swearing, and the occasional murder. Younger readers should steer clear, and older readers should be aware of what's in store here.
In general, I recommend this book for OLDER readers who are huge fans of the Oz books or the Wicked play and want to go deeper. According to my husband, who is capable of appreciating fine literature, it also has literary merit. But for those of us who want to keep our memories of the Oz stories as sweet as the old Judy Garland film was, those readers might want to be careful around WICKED.5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Uggh! Worst read of my life!!
This book was something that I had been looking forward to for weeks after i had obsessed over the musical and everything about it. I got the book went home to read it and i almost barfed. This book was so bad that i felt like dying. Sure the writer is good, but the book is terrible. First of all, the plot is a doozy to follow. It is really difficult to understand. Second of all there are too many curse words used for my liking. And third, there are really gross scenes in this book. GROSS!!! The musical was 1 million percent better. My sister even threw the book away!!
4 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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The best book ever :)
This book was and still is my all time favorite book, I have no complaints. This book takes you to a different land, a whole new world. It was my escape. The best book I ever read.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 25, 2008
Don't Waste Your Money or Your Time
I was actually excited when I picked this book up. My first thoughts were about the unique plot idea, and the fact that everyone had seemed to recommend it. However, Gregory Maguire sorely disapointed. The writing style was enough to make me seriously consider calling up the publisher that let Wicked pass along their desk and into book stores. Not to mention the horrible charaters who were either too revolved around sex to function or so incredibly unrealistic that the story evaporated. Plus the events of the story sounded more like something I would see on a soap opera than in a book 'other than a cheap romance novel'. I'm really mad that I wasting time reading this book and money to buy this book.
3 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 15, 2008
Frank Baum would be appalled by what Maguire did to Oz
Frank Baum's original tales of Oz were charming in their innocence as a naive farmgirl triumphed over evil through simple means. Wicked strips Oz of all of its delight by recreating Oz as a realm full of moral depravity. The opening scene in the book includes a reference to an adulterous menage a trois between a farmer, his neighbor, and her daughter. Gregory Maguire then goes into detail about a mother who whores about when her husband is absent. Meanwhile, Maguire ridicules organized religious belief systems by creating a ministerial character who secretly seeks homosexual liaisons, including with his wife's adulterous lover. Maguire consistently forgoes continuing plot lines and characters so he can return to the turpitude in which he revels. The second part of the book climaxes in a bestial orgy wherein one of the male characters is sexually bound to a tiger that is simultaneously ravishing a woman. There are no redeeming points to this book, as the writing is sluggish and the plot merely meanders through a series of sexual escapades. This book is not suitable for children. Only adults with a penchant for depravity would enjoy this grossly iniquitous read. By writing this book, Maguire has stolen everything laudable from Frank Baum's original masterpiece and rendered it as filth fit only to be discarded in the nearest cesspool.
3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted January 3, 2012
The Play- dazzling; The Book- amazing
I have watched the play before reading the book which is ok because the book is different then the family oriented show we have see. The book is one of the greatest hits the world has ever known. A back story to OZ, genius!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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HopelessRomantic89
Posted January 2, 2012
I Also Recommend:
FAVORITE BOOK
Growing up I always loved the wizard of oz and even now it is an obsession of mine. I bought this book when it first came out and fell in love this is by far my favorite book and if you like the wizard of oz even a little you can't afford to miss it! It puts a whole different spin on the way things look in the movie. Read it you'll love it! it's been made into a broadway musical and the music is unbeatable !!!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted December 26, 2011
Lovely
A true case of things aren't always as they seem. A must read.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
I read this book awhile ago, shortly after it was released in hardcover, and decided to read it again before I picked up the rest of the series. In Wicked, we read about the life of Elphaba, eventually known as the wicked witch of the west. We visit the shocking circumstances of her birth - the first green child ever seen. We follow her as she grows up, a fairly normal childhood, and then leaves for school. While at school she meets the rest of our cast of characters and becomes very politically active. Here is where the book really becomes interesting so I won't say too much more and risk giving too much away.
I actually loved the young Elphaba and enjoyed seeing her grow up and learn. Maguire shows us a side of her story that does not stray from the facts of the original Wizard of Oz, but gives us an alternate viewpoint where evil may not really be so evil. Elphaba is just like any other person in the land of Oz, but gets a bad reputation by standing up to the Wizard and the things he does that she feels are wrong.
Wicked is a quick read with enjoyable characters throughout. While the story is familiar, it is told in a way that makes it seem brand new. I hope to start Son of a Witch soon.
4/52 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Serinde24
Posted April 28, 2012
If you want to read a book about murder, politics, espionage, an
If you want to read a book about murder, politics, espionage, and a journey of self awareness, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is your book. Wicked is the story of the witch from the story of Oz. Gregory Maguire describes an Oz that has a much deeper and richer landscape and history than just watching the movie would lead one to believe. Oz is a land full of political intrigue, espionage, murder, faith and of course magic. Maguire did not write a fluffy version of the Wizard of Oz from the Witch’s point of view. Wicked is full of social and moral commentary. Maguire addresses religion, ethnic suppression/genocide, slavery, tyranny, and the idea of good vs. evil in a way that makes the reader think not only about Oz’s landscape and political environment, but about the state of the world around us as well.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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NickyDuvyrda
Posted March 5, 2012
Another great story is ruined by unneeded filth. I was drawn in
Another great story is ruined by unneeded filth. I was drawn in by the idea of the Wicked Witch's story. The first large section of the book is filled with sex scenes that are detailed. There is also another scene towards the end of the college years that is also too detailed. Neither of these parts add to the story. I won't begin on the Witch's relationship with her lover. The story could have been told just as well without these details. Skip over these parts and you have a rich intriguing story of the Wicked Witch and Oz from a completely different point of view. This is the reason I am giving it three stars. Gregory Maguire fell into a trap of "sex sells" and it's the only way to tell a story. This story could have held on its own. This book is not family friendly and I wouldn't recommend it. Save your money and go see the Broadway play.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted January 31, 2012
Almost through it part one
At about page 160 it gets quite unreadable. I think i will have to force my eyes open with paper clips and somehow keep them from watching the paint dry. Not only does it ge tboring, but it salso extremely confusing. As if the author doesnt care at all if the reader is following and enjoying the story.. as a previous reveiw mentioned, its as if the author is writing to show off how clever he is at making a story, an djust lose sthe story completely, HOWEVER, im not finished the book. I will write a part two when im done.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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