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

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Overview
Editorial Reviews
What People Are Saying
Product Details
Meet the Author
Read an Excerpt
Table of Contents
First Chapter
Reading Group Guide

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Overview

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

What People Are Saying

Lloyd Alexander

Starting with the Wizard of Oz material, Gregory Maguire has added greater depth and different facets, creating something altogether different and unique. A magnificent work, a genuine tour de force.
(Lloyd Alexander, author of The Chronicles of Prydain)

Jane Langton

This book is a glorious frolic, a feast of language, a study of good and evil, and a massive history of the fabulous land of Oz.
— (Jane Langton, author of The Diamond in the Window)

Jill Paton Walsh

Gregory Maguire's donnes in Wicked are from Baum's land of Oz; but everything here has been recut to sparkle fresh and new, with illuminations shining in unexpected directions. Funny and serious, pulsing with imaginative energy, encompassing political thriller and moral reflection, this is truly a fabulous novel.
— (Jill Paton Walsh, author of Knowledge of Angels)

John Rowe Townsend

Here is a story that is at once a page-turner and a powerful stimulus to thought.
— (John Rowe Townsend, author of The Islanders)

Wally Lamb

I fell quickly and totally under the spell of this remarkable, wry, and fully realized story. Maguire's adult fable examines some of literature's major themes: moral ambiguity, the nature of evil, the bittersweet dividends of power, the high costs of love. Elphaba — the Wicked Witch of the West — is as scary as ever, but this time in a different way: She's undeniably human, She's us.
— (Wally Lamb, author of She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True

Editorial Reviews

Commercial Appeal

It is to [Maguire's] everlasting credit that he has succeeded so admirably that his book stands as an independent and inspired whole; it is also very close to being an instant classic.... Maguire has hit a home run his first time at bat. That Wicked is a first novel is remarkable because it is so fully realized, so rich and involving. It is the most seamless interweaving of fantasy and reality since John Crowley's peerless Little, Big, written in poetic language as graceful as a Ray Boldger tap-dance.

Lloyd Alexander

A magnificent work, a genuine tour de force.

More Reviews (12) Fewer Reviews

Los Angeles Times

It's a staggering feat of wordcraft, made no less so by the fact that its boundaries were set decades ago by somebody else. Maguire's larger triumph here is twofold: First, in Elphaba, he has created (re-created? renovated?) one of the great heroines in fantasy literature: a fiery, passionate, unforgettable and ultimately tragic figure. Second, Wicked is the best fantasy novel of ideas I've read since Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast or Frank Herbert's Dune. Would that all books with this much innate consumer appeal were also this good. And vice versa.

Newsday

Listen up, Munchkins. Stop your singing, stop the dancing. The Wicked Witch is no longer dead. But not to worry. Gregory Maguire's shrewdly imagined and beautifully written first novel, "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West," not only revives her but re-envisions and redeems her for our times.

Times-Picayune

Children - children of all ages, as Maguire reminds us in this splendid novel - need witches. Gregory Maguire has taken this figure of childhood fantasy and given her a sensual and powerful nature that will stir adult hearts with fear and longing all over again. It's a brilliant trick - and a remarkable treat.

USA Today

An outstanding work of imagination.

Boston Phoenix

Wicked is a punch allegory that alludes to everything from Nazi Germany to Nixon's America. It's delightfully over-the-top at times, mixing serious metafiction with subtle humor and even (gasp) witch sex.

John Updike

Amazing novel.
— The New Yorker

Los Angeles Times

Memphis Commercial Appeal

New Orleans Times-Picayune

Children — children of all ages, as Maguire reminds us in this splendid novel — need witches. Gregory Maguire has taken this figure of childhood fantasy and given her a sensual and powerful nature that will stir adult hearts with fear and longing all over again. It's a brilliant trick — and a remarkable treat.

New York Newsday

Gregory Maguire's shrewdly imagine first novel... is part fantasy thriller, part psychological study, part political cautionary tale. It's all fascinating. And it's impossible to deny the magic of Gregory Maguire's prose.

Publisher's Weekly

Maguire combines puckish humor and bracing pessimism in this fantastical meditation on good and evil, God and free will, which should...captivate devotees of fantasy.

USA Today

An outstanding work of imagination.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780060391447
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 3/28/2004
Edition description: 1st ed
Edition number: 1
Pages: 416
Sales rank: 37,765
Lexile: 0890L (what's this?)
Series: Wicked Years Series , #1
Product dimensions: 6.12 (w) x 9.25 (h) x 1.29 (d)

Meet the Author

Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire is the bestselling author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; Lost; Mirror, Mirror; and the Wicked Years series, including Wicked, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men. Wicked, now a beloved classic, is the basis for the blockbuster Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. Maguire has lectured on art, literature, and culture both at home and abroad. He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.

Biography

Raised in a family of writers (his father was a journalist and his stepmother a poet), Gregory Maguire grew up with a great love of books, especially fairy tales and fantasy fiction. He composed his own stories from an early age and released his first book for children, The Lightning Time, in 1978, just two years after graduating from the State University of New York at Albany.

Several other children's book followed, but major recognition eluded Maguire. Then, in 1995, he published his first adult novel. A bold, revisionist view of Frank L. Baum's classic Oz stories, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West places one of literature's most reviled characters at the center of a dark dystopian fantasy and raises provocative questions about the very nature of good and evil. Purists criticized Maguire for tampering with a beloved juvenile classic, but the book received generally good reviews (John Updike, writing in The New Yorker, proclaimed it "an amazing novel.") and the enthusiasm of readers catapulted it to the top of the bestseller charts. (Maguire's currency increased even further when the book was turned into the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Wicked in 2003.)

In the wake of his breakthrough novel, Maguire has made something of a specialty out of turning classic children's tales on their heads. He retold the legends of Cinderella and Snow White in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (1999) and Mirror, Mirror (2003); he raised the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge in Lost (2001); and, in 2005, he returned to Oz for Son of a Witch, the long-awaited sequel to Wicked. He has reviewed fantasy fiction for the Sunday New York Times Book Review and has contributed his own articles, essays, and stories to publications like Ploughshares, The Boston Review, the Christian Science Monitor, and The Horn Book Magazine.

In addition, Maguire has never lost his interest in -- or enthusiasm for -- children's literature. He is the author of The Hamlet Chronicles, a bestselling seven-book series of high-camp mystery-adventures with silly count-down titles like Seven Spiders Spinning and Three Rotten Eggs. He has taught at the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College and is a founding member of Children's Literature New England (CLNE), a nonprofit organization that focuses attention on the significance of literature in the lives of children.

Good To Know

In our interview, Maguire shared some fun facts with us about his life:

"While I pride myself on trying to be creative in all areas of my life, I have occasionally gone overboard, like the time I decided to bring to a party a salad that I constructed, on a huge rattan platter, to look like a miniature scale model of the Gardens of Babylon. I built terraces with chunks of Monterey jack, had a forest of broccoli florets and a lagoon of Seven Seas salad dressing spooned into a half a honeydew melon. I made reed patches out of scallion tips and walkways out of sesame seeds lined with raisin borders. Driving to the party, I had to brake to avoid a taxi, and by the time the police flagged me down for poor driving skills I was nearly weeping. ‘But Officer, I have a quickly decomposing Hanging Gardens of Babylon to deliver....' Everything had slopped and fallen over and it looked like a tray of vegetable garbage."

"My first job was scooping ice cream at Friendly's in Albany, New York. I hated the work, most of my colleagues, and the uniform, and I more or less lost my taste for ice cream permanently."

"If I hadn't been a writer, I would have tried to be one of the following: An artist (watercolors), a singer/songwriter like Paul Simon (taller but not very much more), an architect (domestic), a teacher. Actually, in one way or another I have done all of the above, but learned pretty quickly that my skills needed more honing for me to charge for my services, and I'd always rather write fiction than hone skills."

"I steal a bit from one of my favorite writers to say, simply, that I enjoy, most of all, old friends and new places. I love to travel. Having small children at home now impedes my efforts a great deal, but I have managed in my time to get to Asia, Africa, most of Europe, and Central America. My wish list of places not yet visited includes India, Denmark, Brazil, and New Zealand, and my wish for friends not yet made includes, in a sense, readers who are about to discover my work, either now or even when I'm no longer among the living. In a sense, in anticipation, I value those friends in a special way."

1. Hometown:
  
  Boston, Massachusetts
1. Date of Birth:
  
  June 9, 1954
2. Place of Birth:
  
  Albany, New York
1. Education:
  
  B.A., SUNY at Albany, 1976; M.A., Simmons College, 1978; Ph.D., Tufts University, 1990
2. Website:
  
  http://www.gregorymaguire.com

Read an Excerpt

Wicked LP
Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Chapter One

The Root of Evil

From the crumpled bed the wife said, "I think today's the day. Look how low I've gone."

"Today? That would be like you, perverse and inconvenient," said her husband, teasing her, standing at the doorway and looking outward, over the lake, the fields, the forested slopes beyond. He could just make out the chimneys of Rush Margins, breakfast fires smoking. "The worst possible moment for my ministry. Naturally."

The wife yawned. "There's not a lot of choice involved. From what I hear. Your body gets this big and it takes over—if you can't accommodate it, sweetheart, you just get out of its way. It's on a track of its own and nothing stops it now." She pushed herself up, trying to see over the rise of her belly. "I feel like a hostage to myself. Or to the baby."

"Exert some self-control." He came to her side and helped her sit up. "Think of it as a spiritual exercise. Custody of the senses. Bodily as well as ethical continence."

"Self-control?" She laughed, inching toward the edge of the bed. "I have no self left. I'm only a host for the parasite. Where's my self, anyway? Where'd I leave that tired old thing?"

"Think of me." His tone had changed; he meant this.

"Frex"—she headed him off—"when the volcano's ready there's no priest in the world can pray it quiet."

"What will my fellow ministers think?"

"They'll get together and say, 'Brother Frexspar, did you allow your wife to deliver your first child when you had a community problem to solve? How inconsiderate of you;it shows a lack of authority. You're fired from the position.'" She was ribbing him now, for there was no one to fire him. The nearest bishop was too distant to pay attention to the particulars of a unionist cleric in the hinterland.

"It's just such terrible timing."

"I do think you bear half the blame for the timing," she said. "I mean, after all, Frex."

"That's how the thinking goes, but I wonder,"

"You wonder?" She laughed, her head going far back. The line from her ear to the hollow below her throat reminded Frex of an elegant silver ladle. Even in morning disarray, with a belly like a scow, she was majestically good-looking. Her hair had the bright lacquered look of wet fallen oak leaves in sunlight. He blamed her for being born to privilege and admired her efforts to overcome it—and all the while he loved her, too.

"You mean you wonder if you're the father"—she grabbed the bedstead; Frex took hold of her other arm and hauled her half-upright—"or do you question the fatherliness of men in general?" She stood, mammoth, an ambulatory island. Moving out the door at a slug's pace, she laughed at such an idea. He could hear her laughing from the outhouse even as he began to dress for the day's battle.

Frex combed his beard and oiled his scalp. He fastened a clasp of bone and rawhide at the nape of his neck, to keep the hair out of his face, because his expressions today had to be readable from a distance: There could be no fuzziness to his meaning. He applied some coal dust to darken his eyebrows, a smear of red wax on his flat cheeks. He shaded his lips, A handsome priest attracted more penitents than a homely one.

In the kitchen yard Melena floated gently, not with the normal gravity of pregnancy but as if inflated, a huge balloon trailing its strings through the dirt. She carried a skillet in one hand and a few eggs and the whiskery tips of autumn chives in the other. She sang to herself, but only in short phrases. Frex wasn't meant to hear her.

His sober gown buttoned tight to the collar, his sandals strapped on over leggings, Frex took from its hiding place—beneath a chest of drawers—the report sent to him from his fellow minister over in the village of Three Dead Trees. He hid the brown pages within his sash. He had been keeping them from his wife, afraid that she would want to come along—to see the fun, if it was amusing, or to suffer the thrill of it if it was terrifying.

As Frex breathed deeply, readying his lungs for a day of oratory, Melena dangled a wooden spoon in the skillet and stirred the eggs. The tinkle of cowbells sounded across the lake. She did not listen; or she listened but to something else, to something inside her. It was sound without melody—like dream music, remembered for its effect but not for its harmonic distresses and recoveries. She imagined it was the child inside her, humming for happiness. She knew he would be a singing child.

Melena heard Frex inside, beginning to extemporize, warming up, calling forth the rolling phrases of his argument, convincing himself again of his righteousness.

How did that proverb go, the one that Nanny singsonged to her, years ago, in the nursery?

Born in the morning,
Woe without warning;
Afternoon child
Woeful and wild;
Born in the evening,
Woe ends in grieving.
Night baby borning
Same as the morning.

But she remembered this as a joke, fondly. Woe is the natural end of life, yet we go on having babies.

No, said Nanny, an echo in Melena's mind (and editorializing as usual): No, no, you pretty little pampered hussy. We don't go on having babies, that's quite apparent. We only have babies when we're young enough not to know how grim life turns out. Once we really get the full measure of it—we're slow learners, we women—we dry up in disgust and sensibly halt production.

But men don't dry up, Melena objected; they can father to the death.

Ah, we're slow learners, Nanny countered. But they can't learn at all.

"Breakfast," said Melena, spooning eggs onto a wooden plate. Her son would not be as dull as most men. She would raise him up to defy the onward progress of woe.

"It is a time of crisis for our society," recited Frex. For a man who condemned worldly pleasures he ate with elegance. She loved to watch the arabesque of fingers and two forks. She suspected that beneath his righteous asceticism he possessed a hidden longing for the easy life.

"Every day is a great crisis for our society." She was being flip, answering him in the terms men use. Dear thick thing, he didn't hear the irony in her voice.

"We stand at a crossroads. Idolatry looms. Traditional values in jeopardy. Truth under siege and virtue abandoned."

Wicked LP
Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Copyright © by Gregory Maguire. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Prologue: On the Yellow Brick Road     1
Munchkinlanders
The Root of Evil     9
The Clock of the Time Dragon     18
The Birth of a Witch     24
Maladies and Remedies     36
The Quadling Glassblower     53
Geographies of the Seen and the Unseen     64
Child's Play     76
Darkness Abroad     89
Gillikin
Galinda     111
Boq     163
The Charmed Circle     229
City of Emeralds     315
In the Vinkus
The Voyage Out     397
The Jasper Gates of Kiamo Ko     432
Uprisings     508
The Murder and Its Afterlife     585

First Chapter

Wicked Musical Tie-in Edition
The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Chapter One

Munchkinlanders

The Root of Evil

From the crumpled bed the wife said, "I think today's the day. Look how low I've gone."

The wife yawned. "There's not a lot of choice involved. From what I hear. Your body gets this big and it takes over--if you can't accommodate it, sweetheart, you just get out of its way. It's on a track of its own and nothing stops it now." She pushed herself up, trying to see over the rise of her belly. "I feel like a hostage to myself. Or to the baby."

"Exert some self-control." He came to her side and helped her sit up. "Think of it as a spiritual exercise. Custody of the senses. Bodily as well as ethical continence."

"Self-control?" She laughed, inching toward the edge of the bed. "I have no self left. I'm only a host for the parasite. Where's my self, anyway? Where'd I leave that tired old thing?"

"Think of me." His tone had changed; he meant this.

"Frex"--she headed him off--"when the volcano's ready there's no priest in the world can pray it quiet."

"What will my fellow ministers think?"

"They'll get together and say, 'Brother Frexspar, did you allow your wife to deliver your first child when you had a community problem to solve? How inconsiderate of you; it shows a lack of authority. You're fired from the position.'" She was ribbing him now, for there was no one to fire him. The nearest bishop was too distant to pay attention to the particulars of a unionist cleric in the hinterland.

"It's just such terrible timing."

"I do think you bear half the blame for the timing," she said. "I mean, after all, Frex."

"That's how the thinking goes, but I wonder,"

"You mean you wonder if you're the father"--she grabbed the bedstead; Frex took hold of her other arm and hauled her half-upright--"or do you question the fatherliness of men in general?" She stood, mammoth, an ambulatory island. Moving out the door at a slug's pace, she laughed at such an idea. He could hear her laughing from the outhouse even as he began to dress for the day's battle.

His sober gown buttoned tight to the collar, his sandals strapped on over leggings, Frex took from its hiding place--beneath a chest of drawers--the report sent to him from his fellow minister over in the village of Three Dead Trees. He hid the brown pages within his sash. He had been keeping them from his wife, afraid that she would want to come along--to see the fun, if it was amusing, or to suffer the thrill of it if it was terrifying.

As Frex breathed deeply, readying his lungs for a day of oratory, Melena dangled a wooden spoon in the skillet and stirred the eggs. The tinkle of cowbells sounded across the lake. She did not listen; or she listened but to something else, to something inside her. It was sound without melody--like dream music, remembered for its effect but not for its harmonic distresses and recoveries. She imagined it was the child inside her, humming for happiness. She knew he would be a singing child.

Melena heard Frex inside, beginning to extemporize, warming up, calling forth the rolling phrases of his argument, convincing himself again of his righteousness.

How did that proverb go, the one that Nanny singsonged to her, years ago, in the nursery?

Born in the morning,
Woe without warning;
Afternoon child
Woeful and wild;
Born in the evening,
Woe ends in grieving.
Night baby borning
Same as the morning.

But she remembered this as a joke, fondly. Woe is the natural end of life, yet we go on having babies.

No, said Nanny, an echo in Melena's mind (and editorializing as usual): No, no, you pretty little pampered hussy. We don't go on having babies, that's quite apparent. We only have babies when we're young enough not to know how grim life turns out. Once we really get the full measure of it--we're slow learners, we women--we dry up in disgust and sensibly halt production.

But men don't dry up, Melena objected; they can father to the death.

Ah, we're slow learners, Nanny countered. But they can't learn at all.

"Breakfast," said Melena, spooning eggs onto a wooden plate. Her son would not be as dull as most men. She would raise him up to defy the onward progress of woe.

"Every day is a great crisis for our society." She was being flip, answering him in the terms men use. Dear thick thing, he didn't hear the irony in her voice.

"We stand at a crossroads. Idolatry looms. Traditional values in jeopardy. Truth under siege and virtue abandoned."

Wicked Musical Tie-in Edition
The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Copyright © by Gregory Maguire. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Reading Group Guide

Our Book Club Recommendation
It's hard to pin down the aspect of Gregory Maguire's Wicked that is likely to fascinate book clubs the most. Is it the detail with which the author reimagines L. Frank Baum's fantasy world of Oz? The care with which Maguire takes the classic work and uses it to explore modern issues like justice and equal rights, superficial notions of beauty and ugliness, ecological concerns and domestic violence? Or, perhaps, is it the sheer delight in watching an immensely gifted writer take a set of familiar characters and imbue them with an entirely new life.

Of course, it is the Wicked Witch of the West herself who dominates this time around: Elphaba, as she is called, is now the complicated centerpiece of a story that once seemed to belong to the relatively simple Dorothy. Brilliant, troubled, passionate, and powerful, Elphaba stands in marked contrast to the girl from Kansas, who, on the whole, takes a backseat to the natives of Oz in this version. Maguire's method with Elphaba's tale is to unpack the simple idea of a "wicked witch" and ask the question, How do you get to be "wicked"? The novel offers the possibility that what from one perspective is a simple case of villainy could be, from another point of view, a life that doesn't resolve into a simple set of "good" or "bad" actions. Book clubs will be particularly interested in following how, as a heroine, Elphaba is a strong, deeply modern woman, whose intelligence is both her great strength and a curse almost as powerful as her more fantastic features, emerald skin and monstrous teeth.

Beyond the issues of moral character raised by Elphaba's story, Wicked provides readers with a host of delights, some of which echo the original Oz books and some of which are completely original. Reading groups will find that Maguire's language, and particularly his facility for making the world of Oz both contemporary yet fairy talelike, provides fertile grounds for conversation about just where the difference between the "fantastic" and the "realistic" can be drawn, a skill which may invite comparisons to writers like Gabriel García Márquez and Salman Rushdie.

Reading groups will perhaps find their greatest pleasure in discussing what Maguire has taken from the original book, and how he has altered or mutated Baum's world. Book clubs may even be interested in comparing the famed film version of The Wizard of Oz with the novel, to see what the author has borrowed from that source. In this sense Wicked is far more than a cleverly twisted tale about good and evil witches, Munchkin society, and talking animals -- it is a book that shows how a children's story can become a larger myth for an entire society. Maguire invites us to think about how and why we read fantasy, what we take from it as children, and what we can see in it as adults. Wicked may be "updating" L. Frank Baum's original work, but it also reveals how the original remains so captivating to generations of readers, young and old. Bill Tipper

Reading Group Materials from the Publisher
Summary

Gregory Maguire fashioned the name of Elphaba (pronounced EL-fa-ba) from the initials of the author of The Wizard of Oz, Lyman Frank Baum-L-F-B-Elphaba. Wicked derives some of its power from the popularity of its source material. Does meeting up with familiar characters and famous fictional situations require more patience and effort on the part of the reader, or less?

Wicked flips the Oz we knew from the classic movie on its head. To what extent does Maguire's vision of Oz contradict the Oz we're familiar with? How have Dorothy and the other characters changed or remained the same? Has Wicked changed your conception of the original? If so, how?

The novel opens with a scene in which the Witch overhears Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and theTin Woodman gossiping about her. She's "possessed by demons," they say. "She was castrated at birth . . . she was an abused child . . . she's a dangerous tyrant." How does this scene set the stage for the story, and what themes does it introduce?

What is the significance of Elphaba's green skin? What are the rewards of being so different, and what are the drawbacks? In Oz -- and in the real world -- what are the meanings associated with the color green, and are any of them pertinent to Elphaba's character?

One of Wicked's key themes is the nature and roots of evil. What are the theories that Maguire sets out? Is Elphaba evil? Are her actions evil? Is there such a thing as evil, a free-floating power in the universe like time or gravity? Or is evil an attribute of the actions of human beings? (Hint: Turn to pages 231 and 370 for scenes that will draw you into the conversation.)

Discuss the importance of the Clock of the Time Dragon. Does the Clock simply reflect events, or does it shape them? Why is it significant that Elphaba was born inside it? That Turtle Heart was killed by it? What revelations does it offer to Elphaba and the reader when she reencounters it at the end of the book?

The first section of the book ends powerfully but enigmatically when the young Elphaba is discovered under the dock, cradled in the paws of a magical beast as if sitting on a throne. How do you interpret this scene, and what do you think it foretells, if anything?

The place of Animals in society is an important theme in Wicked. Why does Elphaba make it her mission to fight for Animal rights? How else does social class define Oz, and why?

[Galinda] reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant, though what she signified, and to whom, was not clear to her yet" (page 65). Discuss the transformation of Galinda, shallow Shiz student, to Glinda the Good Witch. How does she change -- and by how much? What is her eventual "significance," both in Oz and in the story?

Discuss the ways in which Elphaba's determination and willfulness lend purpose and order to her life, and the cost of being such a strong character. Elphaba isn't the only strong female character in Wicked. How do Nessarose, Glinda, and Sarima deal with the issues of power and control? Where do each of them draw strength from? Is the world of Maguire's Oz more or less patriarchal than millennial America?

Wicked is an epic story, built along the lines of a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy, in which the seeds of Elphaba's destiny are all sown early in the novel. How much of Elphaba's career is predestined, and how much choice does she have? Do you think that she was no more than a puppet of the Wizard or Madame Morrible, as she fears?

Early in their unlikely friendship, Galinda catches a glimpse of Elphaba and thinks she "looked like something between an animal and an Animal, like something more than life but not quite Life" (pages 78-79). Discuss the dual, and sometimes contradictory, nature of Elphaba's character. Why does Elphaba insist that she doesn't have a soul?

Who or what is Yackle? Where does she appear in the story, and what role does she serve in Elphaba's life? Is she good or evil -- both or neither?

Was Elphaba's story essentially a tragedy or a triumph? Did she fail at every major endeavor, and thus fail at life; or because she refused to give up or change to suit the opinions of others, was her life a success? Is there a possibility that Dorothy's "baptismal splash" redeemed Elphaba on her deathbed, or was this the final indignity in a life of miserable mistakes?

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bookwormMC

Posted October 10, 2009

unreadable

I am going to see the play so I thought I would read the book first. It seems like such a great concept, but terrible in execution. The book veers between vulgar and boring. I only give one star to books I can't even finish, which is rare. Hope the play is much better than this.

11 out of 17 people found this review helpful.
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Little_Witchy_Issa

Posted December 27, 2009

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Thrillifying!

This book was absolutely amazing and it held my interest throughout (which is hard to do) as soon as i was finished i wanted Son of a Witch so I could continue reading.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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dh60168

Posted December 13, 2009

Wicked

Many people know the Wicked from the musicals playing all over the world. These musicals are based on this book. The book is based on the movie The Wizard of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the West, or Elphaba, travels throughout the land of Oz for various reasons. In her travels she meets many friends which include Glinda, a giddy, popular girl, Boq, a shy Munchkinlander looking for love, and Fiyero, an awkward boy who is nice when he makes friends. Then, towards the end, when the Wicked Witch of the East, or Nessarose, dies, Elphaba goes looking for the shoes that Glinda gave to Dorothy. This is when The movie comes in.
This book had many strengths and weaknesses. This book was very intense at times and it sometimes left you guessing. Its characters are lovable and its settings are amazingly described. This book also has some weaknesses too. At some points in the book it was very confusing. You didn't know where you were and you didn't know who was talking. Also, I think there were too many characters. It was hard to keep track of how many characters were in the scene and how did what. It was just too confusing at times. Overall, this book was an excellent book. Tyler.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Quan-Kun

Posted March 29, 2012

more from this reviewer

Brilliant! Every reader should indulge in it's pages.

I am beside myself with awe at this masterpiece. It's characters classic, yet the story completely raised the bar. I had high hopes for this book and it surpassed them more than I could imagine. I was enthralled before I knew it and could not put it down. Every fiction lover should indulge, and even non-fiction lovers may have a hard time putting this one down. I simply loved it!
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Anonymous

Posted June 16, 2010

Stimulating and Amazing

This was an awesome fantasy read! The Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba is a very deep and intelligent person more than you'd ever expect. I found her and the others very stimulating and amazing--very detailed and political as well. It is a wonderful addition to my library and I'd really plan on rereading it again.
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barb55

Posted April 9, 2010

My daughter just loves the books

My daughter just love the books she has a hard time putting down,were she goes she sits and read her books THANK YOU,for making us both very happy. BARB
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GoldenEye2D

Posted February 9, 2010

I Also Recommend:

Not a great book, but really interested in seeing the Play.

I think the whole idea of this book is wonderful. There is so much that can be done with a story like this. The writer did have many ideas, but they were way out in left field. I felt like the story didn't flow. It jumped from one situation to the next, with not much build up to a climax. I would have liked to see more of the original characters, but they didn't become involved until the very end. The book cover grabbed my attention along with the idea of a history of the Wicked Witch of the West, and what made her Wicked. This book is rich with politics, and scandal. It is very adult, and I dont recommend this book for children, they need their own version. Overall, a very interesting idea, but I was somewhat disappointed.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Emma_Brooks

Posted November 22, 2009

You think you know the whole story of Oz only until you read "Wicked"!

"Wicked" is indeed all about the Wicked Witch of the West. She had her say in the matter of the story of The Wizard of Oz but no one listened to her . . . until now. Who knew that Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) was a kind, loving, normal person who just wanted to great things with her life? Everything starts at school, Shiz University in fact. Galinda(The Good Witch) started out with an animosity towards Elphaba, having to room with her by accident but over time though they see the good in one another and that is where the major theme of the book lays, "Everything is not what is seems". These two friends go from school to The Emerald City to seeing The Wizard in person with each other. If you like "The Wizard of Oz", then you will LOVE "Wicked'! All the missing pieces of the puzzle from Oz find their place in this fairy tale. You discover why Galinda becomes Glinda, why Elphaba's sister is killed (The Wicked Witch of the East), way the monkeys have wings, how the Tinman became heartless, how the Scarecrow became brainless and way the Cowardly Lion has no courage. I absolutely adored this book! It gives so called "outcasts" another way to look at themselves along with a different look on life. Elphaba was shunned by many people but that never once stopped her from living her dreams. The few that learned what a kind heart she had, were changed in ways never imaginable! You have to decide for yourself at the end of the book whether or not you think Elphaba is "Wicked". You will learn in this book that everything happens for a reason and those reasons are based on your decisions and you decisions alone. You must also look at the other side of things. All the events that take place in this novel are very magical and mythical. Readers that have an opened mind will get more of a fulfillment out of Gregory Maguire's writing because he uses such powerful imagrey. His wording does make it a tad more difficult to comprehend but adds so much to the time era that the book is set in. There are many books out there that have the same old story lines or the usual ending that do not distinguish themselves from others but "Wicked" is the exact opposite! Gregory Maguire wrote this timeless classic AFTER The Wizard of Oz and yet was still able to connect with each character like he was the one who created them. I have not yet read other books written by Gregory Maguire but if they are anything like "Wicked" I will not be able to put it down, and neither will you.
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anaisariel

Posted November 19, 2009

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Great book

Great book! I really enjoyed this one a whole lot. If you are interested in knowing the story behind the witches of Oz, then you will surely enjoy this book.
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Anonymous

Posted November 5, 2009

Don't waste your time

I had heard a ton of good stuff about the book but it was not what you expect. I read to the first 100 pages and decided that I couldn't read it anymore. I want to see the play so hopefully that is better.
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Neko_Ichirei

Posted October 6, 2009

more from this reviewer

This is an ASWOME book!!!!!!!!!

When I read the book Wicked I was blown away. I found the character Elphaba to be so amazing. Wicked really changed my view on Elphaba, I remember watching The Wizard of OZ and ducking for cover behind my mom whenever the Wicked Witch of the West came on screen. Now I look back at that and laugh at myself because I now absolutely adore the character of Elphaba. Although I didn't like how Gregory Maguire made Elphaba so violent. Because I was really unsettled when Elphaba pushed Nanny down the stairs.
The character of Galinda or Glinda whatever you want to call her really annoyed me. I found her entirely to self-centered, like how she refused to go out with Bock just because he was a munchkin. People like that, who wont give someone a chance just because of the person's race, just bug the heck out of me. Now the character of Madam Morible was absolutely amazing I loved how she seemed she was working for the wizard but really she was working to get rid of the wizard and take his place. I have always loved those sly, elegant, educated, and power-hungry villains because they aren't just evil they are cleverly evil. This book is totally not a waste of time do not pay attention to those bad reviews they obviously did not read this story and actually put themselves into the character's shoes. Which is what I love about Gregory Maguire's writing style, if I can't put myself in the character's shoes I just can't get into a book, but Wicked is definitely not like those types of books. Every one should read Wicked it was one of the only books that really affected how I look at people and showed me that even if it costs me my friends I should go for whatever goals I have in life.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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CBGN

Posted August 28, 2009

more from this reviewer

A Wicked Disappointment

With the popularity of the musical I thought the book would be better. None of the characters were very likable and the plot went nowhere. The college years were interesting but promised great things that were not to come. The end came too quickly and nothing was resolved. The issues and social injustices that the witch cared so much about when she was younger were basically forgotten. She was not a fighter, not a misunderstood hero, but simply an ineffective, apathetic, and weak character. There is no character development, no lesson learned, no journey to enlightenment. Maguire's Oz is interesting but unpleasant. Who knows why this was chosen to be made into Musical? Maybe the popularity of the familiar characters. I hear the book is nothing like the play.
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katty

Posted August 24, 2009

One of my new all time favorites.

I love the way Gregory Maguire took a story that we are all familiar with and help me to see the characters in a whole new way. This book, unlike the famous musical that in inspired, is for adults. I read the paperback version, and went back to purchase the hardcover for my library.
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strings_r_the_things11

Posted August 4, 2009

more from this reviewer

I Also Recommend:

Wicked: The Life and Time of the Wicked Witch of the West

This was definately one of the best books I have ever read. I only recommend it if you are 15 or 16 and older for the content (and I know there are a ton of little girls who just saw Wicked wanting to read it so parents, say no!) It's very captivating and will have you falling in love with one of the most feared characters of all time, the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire is a brillant author and all the books in the Wicked Years Series are fabulous. I highly recommend the book if you are looking for a good read, a fantasy novel, an allegory, or just want to see the other point of view from Oz. So sit down and journey back to the land of Oz that started the hit musical Wicked.
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Kevin-C

Posted July 21, 2009

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One of my favorite Books

this was an amazing book. The way he brought a new life to the story of the Wicked Witch Of the West. He showed that even in the seemingly most Wicked of Characters that there was still good.
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Patty_Rose

Posted July 20, 2009

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Amazing..totaly unexpected!!!

I didnt think it would be that good. The story captivates you from the begining and keeps you till the end. I was totally hooked!
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Anonymous

Posted June 12, 2009

Very Interesting

This book was amazingly well written. It's dark and made me a little sad for Elpheba* but the way he tells the story is gripping and it wraps itself around you so that you won't want to put it down.
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Anonymous

Posted May 28, 2009

Witches are lovable too.

I can never again watch "The Wizard of Oz" and see it the same way I used to. I just finished reading this book for the second time. I am certain I like it even more after the second reading. The first time I read it I wasn't very keen on the heavy political flavor. I felt like I had to really pay close attention to each political detail in the book in order to understand the story. Upon finishing the book I realized that wasn't the case. Reading it the second time I fully immersed myself in the characters rather than focus on the details. It was a much richer read that way. When you finish this book you will love Elphaba, and crave more. As much as she claims to be evil, it is very apparent that her heart is most likely bigger than any other character in the book.
My suggestion is to not focus too heavily on the political aspect. While there is a lot of politics in the story, a lot of the details aren't crucial (you aren't going to be tested on it). Just enjoy the rich characters and you will have read a great book.
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mnm42

Posted February 19, 2009

Wicked

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire is a unique book and different from any other I have read. It was cleverly and well written by the author and his story line was really atypical for me. He played off of the story, "The Wizard of Oz" and how things came to be in the story. Reading about how the Wicked Witch of the West or Elphaba came from, and what made her the person she is in "The Wizard of Oz". I really fancy the way he wrote the book because he was able to make it seem very close and similar to our reality here and still have the setting in a different world.
Learning about all of the characters and following some of them all the way from child hood and discovering their backgrounds was I liked most of all, especially the individuals that were in "The Wizard of Oz". The main character, Elphaba or the Wicked Witch of the West, was my favorite her past was the most surprising and unexpected to me. I've always imagined her as an evil, scary witch, but now I believe she just has had many misfortunate events in her life and is a strong willed and intelligent person. That particular aspect of the book made it extra pleasurable to read.
There were a few components in the book that I didn't like very much. I particularly disliked how the author started the book because the beginning was confusing at first to me. Some parts of the book were also dull and dark at times that made reading it not that enjoyable.
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GoGreeenGirl

Posted November 6, 2008

more from this reviewer

I Also Recommend:

Oz as you've never imagined it

See Oz from a completely different perspective. See the characters in a whole new light and find yourself cheering for the Witch! Warning: this is NOT a light fluffy read.
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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years Series #1)

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unreadable

Thrillifying!

Wicked

Brilliant! Every reader should indulge in it's pages.

Stimulating and Amazing

My daughter just loves the books

Not a great book, but really interested in seeing the Play.

You think you know the whole story of Oz only until you read "Wicked"!

Great book

Don't waste your time

This is an ASWOME book!!!!!!!!!

A Wicked Disappointment

One of my new all time favorites.

Wicked: The Life and Time of the Wicked Witch of the West

One of my favorite Books

Amazing..totaly unexpected!!!

Very Interesting

Witches are lovable too.

Wicked

Oz as you've never imagined it