Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction)
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) Packed with e-book extras, including the original classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, and the Reader’s Group Guide. When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only one side of the story. Meet Elphaba — a smart, prickly, little green-skinned girl who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil. 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.
Customer Review: Oz Growns Up
How do you describe this book?
You can’t just use one word! This is a literary masterpiece that has inspired a whole generation in more ways than one! With cutting edge description, boiling conflict and a sense of good vs. bad, we get to return to Oz as we never knew it!
Gregory Maguire added a bit of sex and politics to this childlike fantasy world, not only making it a best seller but making a more relatable story for teenagers and young adults. This book is going down as a classic forever.
Customer Review: Dreary and disappointing
I really wanted to like Wicked, and in fact, I assumed I would. I love the premise and expected great things. I was extremely disappointed in it – and worse than that, I was incredibly bored by it. I didn’t care at all about any of the characters, including Elphaba, and since it is episodic rather than plot-driven, unsympathetic characters are fatal. I kept waiting for something to happen, for some narrative arc to unfold, for some conflict to be resolved, for some revelation in Elphaba’s life – nothing. Just dreary little misery after dreary little misery, adding up to nothing much.
The Oz that Maguire creates just didn’t interest me, either. There’s all this allusion to its complicated social and economic history, and it all came off as…boring. I either needed to know more in order to get engaged, or hear about it less. I expected the kind of imaginative reworking in which the original content gets new facets and is revealed to be more complicated, more ambiguous, and more interesting – did I mention I was disappointed?
I could not wait to finish this. I found myself reading it faster and faster, not because I was so caught up in it, but at first because I couldn’t believe it wasn’t going to suddenly get far better, and then because I couldn’t stand it and just wanted it over.
Tags: Literature and Fiction book, Fiction book, Cheap Fiction book, Cheap Literature book, Literature book
