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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.

Average Customer Rating:

Great idea, bad book

Customer Rating:

When I first heard of the premise of this book, I thought, "Wow, what a great idea!" I still think it is a great idea for a book, however, this book was incredibly disappointing! Too many odd names and places which makes it difficult to follow. After reading 1/2 of this book, I took it to a used book store and made $1.50 off of it. I was tired of wasting my time reading it each night hoping the story would hook me. It never happened.

What is the hype??

Customer Rating:

OK, I broke down and bought the book after all the hype. I cannot figure out what was so great about the story. The idea is the Elphaba is the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. But, the catch is she is not really that bad. Yes, she is green, has a temper, and a fear of water. But she is really not that wicked. The story starts out with her mother being a higher up that left the city to marry a preacher and live in the country, which she hates all of it. She does lover her husband but is sleeping with everyone that comes around. She believes that she gives birth to a monster and calls in her nanny to take care of her. The next part is about Elphaba at school. She does not fit in and has strong opinions about the great wizard of oz taking away the rights of Animals, animals that talk and such. You also meet her sister, Nessarose, who is a religion nut. With a turn of events, she leaves school and hides out at the Emerald City and doing basic terrorist activities. From there she has an affair with an old school mate. Guilty she leaves the Emerald City to find the unfortunate wife to beg for forgiveness for the affair. I have to say that it is a good story if it would have been shortened to 300 pages. There was so much detail about everything that I had a hard time sticking with the story. I also got a little confused on the quick change of moods of Elphaba. I could not understand what was the point of sending the flying monkeys after Dorothy, inviting her to dinner, then threatening her with a little broom. She was not a mood swing girl, she was psychotic. I have yet to figure out if it was work keeping or selling or even worth reading the next books in the series.

Truly Bizarre But Impossible to Put Down

Customer Rating:

I suppose that if I was going to take a famous children's story and make an adult novel out of it, I'm not sure I would have chosen something based on the Wizard of Oz. Maybe "Blueberries for Sally," where it turns out that the missing father from the story had been killed in a gangland slaying years before, and the Mom and Sally were now hiding in the Maine countryside as part of the witness protection program. And Sally was actually the daughter of Al Capone, and so on... The Wizard of Oz as adult fiction? Strangely enough, it works. Without changing any of the existing rules, characters, or storylines from the children's stories, Gregory Maguire weaves a story told from the point of view of Elphaba, the much maligned and misnamed Wicked Witch, making her a sympathetic and ultimately pathetic character. In the end, knowing that one day she will encounter a lost girl from Kansas with a bucket of water named Dorothy, we begin to hope against hope that maybe somehow, in this version, she will escape her fate. But just like in the movie Titanic, where we know, no matter what, that the ship is going down, there is no stopping the inevitable. But like Titanic, what makes this story interesting is how Maguire gets us there. We even end up feeling sorry for the flying monkeys. I will not take the time to review the sequel: "Son of a Witch," separately. It was okay - maybe a weak three stars - but nowhere near as good as Wicked. Perhaps Maguire should have quit while he was still ahead, although I understand he is coming out with a third book, focusing on the Cowardly Lion, if it is not already published. Perhaps he may recapture the magic of Wicked in that effort. To summarize, Wicked is worth reading, first because it is a heck of a good story in its own right, and second because to my knowledge nothing like this has ever been done. Maybe we can look forward to George W Bush writing an adult version of "My Pet Goat" in his retirement. Or maybe Lynne Cheney can knock that out for us now that her husband is ostensibly retiring as well, since she has already dabbled in adult fiction. And if you're wondering what I mean by that, and are in need of a good laugh, go read the reviews for Lynne Cheney's first novel, "Sisters," published 20+ years ago, elsewhere on this Amazon site: http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0451112040/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Read a different book!

Customer Rating:

I finally finished the book and I thought giving birth to my children was easier than reading this book. There are plenty of authors who create worlds, civilizations, and characters that are so much more vivid and compelling than the ones created in this book. Was it a comment on politics or religions or WHAT? When I started the book, I thought it was strange, but I kept trying to be open-minded. So I read about the animals, Animals, the Unnamed God, Lurlina, the Kumbric Witch, Tik Tok religion, the Wizard, the Grimmerie, and the shoes. You are probably asking, "What does all of that mean?". Guess what, I am asking the same question and I read the book! I was waiting for all of these pieces and many more to be explained. Sadly,they were not. It felt like I put together a puzzle only to find out that the last few pieces are missing. This book was a HUGE disappointment.

Not Worth the Hype

Customer Rating:

I picked up Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West after hearing great praise from family and friends. What I found was a terrible disappointment. Looking at the book and title you would think it would give you an insight into this previously evil cast character and perhaps shed new light. It does none of the above. The book is a convulted train ride with twists and turns, not to mention missing pieces of track! You'll be reading along at one point in Elephaba's life and suddenly the next chapter jumps five years later, that would not be a problem in most biographies except that we are expected to know everything that happened in that interim! All the book amounted to was a view on politics and extreme crudity simply because it could. From the get-go inappropriate sexual themes are thrown in but instead of being used as necessary devices to enhance the story they are used simply because they can be. I'm told the sequel is far better but after suffering through this book I have no desire at all to read any more of this series.