I am going to see the musical and wanted to read the book. It is about Elphaba starting since she was a baby and how she was an outcast. It has taken a two tries to get through the book and is not about the Wizard of Oz.

posted Aug 8, 2010 at 1:16PM

I am going to see the musical and wanted to read the book. It is about Elphaba starting since she was a baby and how she was an outcast. It has taken a two tries to get through the book and is not about the Wizard of Oz.

posted Aug 8, 2010 at 1:16PM

The Wizard of Oz is a modern fairy tale. Young Dorothy (and her little dog too) run away from home, get caught in a tornado, and are blown far away to a magical land of walking scarecrows, talking lions, wizards, witches, yellow brick roads, and emerald cities. Most readers will know the 1939 Hollywood musical movie starring Judy Garland best, but L. Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its thirteen sequels way back when in the early 1900s. But it is author Gregory Maguire’s Wicked that really blows the lid off this classic. He focuses on the future Wicked Witch of the West, who begins life as a small green girl named Elphaba. Elphie’s Munchkinlander parents are less than thrilled with this strange offspring, and more so when another daughter (normal-colored but armless) is born a couple years later. Still, the sisters survive their difficult childhood and attend university, where Elphie’s roommate is ditzy Glinda (better known as the Good Witch of the North). Elphaba is never wicked or evil; in fact she campaigns against the politically corrupt Wizard of Oz and fights for economic re-growth instead. Elphaba is ultimately an intelligent and out-spoken young woman, but fate and luck are just not on her side. Readers will sympathize with this other side of the Wicked Witch of the West and relish the clever social satire and biting cynicism inherent in this alternate vision of fanciful Oz. Just as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz swept off the page and became the beloved Hollywood movie, Wicked has transcended its original format to become a popular Broadway musical. Maguire has proved something of a visionary with his reimaging of fairy tales and classics—he has most definitely cornered the market with other inventive perspectives like Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Mirror Mirror, and two other entries in his Wicked Years series about the land of Oz, Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men. From the fairy godmother in Cinderella to the evil witch-queen in Snow White to the further adventures of Elphaba, Maguire’s blesses his fairy tale witches with a unique complexity that history has not previously afforded them.

posted Feb 19, 2010 at 6:57PM

Do you really want to start sympathizing with the Wicked Witch???? REALLY??? I just don’t think that’s a very good idea...so...I’m skipping it.

posted Jun 14, 2009 at 1:23PM

Awesome book, but deffinatly for teens!

posted Jun 6, 2009 at 12:22PM

I loved this book ! I lost it on a plane :(

posted Oct 13, 2008 at 12:25PM

I really enjoyed listening to this book on CD. I didn’t want the story to end, so I also went to Son of a Witch as soon as I finished Wicked. Good ideals and points to be made for each. Great to emphasise seeing all points of view and reasoning for the actions.

posted Oct 11, 2008 at 11:48AM

I enjoyed Wicked a lot. I liked hearing things from the witch's side of the story. It did not keep my interest up the whole time, but in the end I fell in love with it.

posted Sep 14, 2005

I loved this book! I've always been a person for the bad guy to win. This book puts a spin on Wizard of Oz, where the Wicked witch of the west isn't wicked... Through misunderstanding by dorthy just trying to get home and the "wicked" wizard trying to take over everything, Elfaba (the wicked witch) is caught in between her family, friends, and saving Oz. This book can really hold your attention and really makes you rethink the "Wizard of Oz" I'll recommend it to anyone.

posted Jul 26, 2004

This book is AMAZING!!! It is completely raunchy but I love the twist that the Wicked Witch of the West was actually good and of how this whole story was switched to the one we all were raised by, the one with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and/or with Michael Jackson easin' on down the road with Diana Ross. Along with reading this book, you should also see the musical. It is hilarious and Idina Menzel (The Wicked Witch) has the most fabulous voice.

posted Jul 7, 2004

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