English language
Published 2022 by Headline Publishing Group.
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.
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.
Way better than I thought it would be! I do feel like the story started going downhill in book 5 when it started connecting the the OG plot, but the world building and political intrigue was fascinating.
I'll admit that I finally picked this up because of the movie, which I enjoyed greatly, and wanted to see exactly how different the book was. Despite liking both, I do think the book is my favorite version. That gotten out of the way, I want to avoid discussing the play and film and just discuss the book on it's own merits, of which there are many.
Wicked: The life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is an examination of what evil is, and by extension, good. The book drops us in at the flashpoint events in Elphaba's life and shows how her own ideas about good and evil are changing over time, as well as the evolution of Oz over the reign of the Wizard. The moments the book drops us in are usually the downtime between events, which are relegated to background. Maguire is far …
I'll admit that I finally picked this up because of the movie, which I enjoyed greatly, and wanted to see exactly how different the book was. Despite liking both, I do think the book is my favorite version. That gotten out of the way, I want to avoid discussing the play and film and just discuss the book on it's own merits, of which there are many.
Wicked: The life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is an examination of what evil is, and by extension, good. The book drops us in at the flashpoint events in Elphaba's life and shows how her own ideas about good and evil are changing over time, as well as the evolution of Oz over the reign of the Wizard. The moments the book drops us in are usually the downtime between events, which are relegated to background. Maguire is far more interested in exploring how the characters relate to each other and their discussions about their ideas than about action, and I think that's him playing to his strengths. Maguire is great at having characters discuss philosophy and history in a way that both expands the setting but also works in a real world context. When the characters are critical in-universe about the religion of the Unnamed God, it both works in-universe while also working as a discussion about religion in the real world, without necessarily being on the nose or distracting.
Maguire's Oz in this book is also fascinating. There are a lot of deep-cut Oz references, and a lot of it is putting events from the Baum books into a political and historical framework closer to real life than fairy tales. The Ozma line was deposed by a coup, and remaining remnants are royalists. There are a lot of discussions about the political upheaval and consolidation going on behind the scenes as the Wizard establishes himself, and the wealth extraction and expansionist policies required for the infrastructure projects he's spearheading and human toll this has on the population of Oz. The contradictory origin stories of Oz are different in-universe origin stories to various religions. There are several discussions about the philosophy of magic and how it relates to religion and spectacle, and ironically for most of the book Elphaba has no real use for it or talent at magic because of her distaste for how little it can actually accomplish.
Maguire transforms Oz into a kind of alternate United States, with the political turmoil of the late 19th century reflected in the political turmoil of Oz. Honestly what a lot of it felt like was that, if the original Oz books are usually from a child's perspective, this is the political and cultural details that a kid just doesn't pick up on or know about.
Elphaba is a fascinating character, and I can see why so many people were taken with her. She's troubled, sarcastic, and self-righteous in a way that's entertaining to read. You get the idea that she could have done some real good if the world had let her, but also that her own personal flaws and inability to make any inroads with people, and an obsession with an individualist approach to action, are just as crippling to her as the social stigma she faces. Maguire has turned the Wicked Witch of the West into probably one of the best examples of an American tragic protagonist.
My only criticism's of the book are that it's slow to start and kind of losing itself around the last part of the book. The book only really getting to it's strengths about 100 pages or so in, or roughly around the Shiz part when Elphaba is an actual character. Around the time when the book has to start lining up with The Wizard of Oz is when it loses itself. A lot of that part just doesn't have the same punch to it, and a lot of it is just Elphaba wandering around and feels a bit like filler. I do feel that the conclusion to the book is just as strong as the earlier parts however.
A minor nitpick, but one of favorite parts of the book was how Elphaba is never the viewpoint character for ninety-five percent of the book. She's only ever seen through other people's eyes, which really plays into the books ideas about 'the spectacle' and perception, and how Elphaba is a figure judged for thing's she can't control. However, that gets dropped in the last fourth of the book with several parts told from her perspective. I think that that unceremonious switch is a bit annoying, though I get that large chunks of those there's no real other character to follow her with. But I think it would have made the book stronger if we saved the parts from Elphaba's viewpoint to when she started calling herself The Witch in her own head, keeping us distanced from her and having to draw our own conclusions about her from her actions.
Despite these flaws and my own nitpicks, I do feel that the book is probably one of my favorites, and definitely one I'm going to return to later.
Very interesting seeing the differences between this and the musical. Not at all for kids!
Empecé a leerlo porque quería ver el musical, y había oído por ahí que al basarse en el libro, me iba a comer spoilers como panes.
Me he encariñado muchísimo con el personaje de Elphaba. Se podría decir que fue un flechazo. Incluso, en varias ocasiones, me he sentido identificada con ella. Su caracter, sus fracasos, sus puntos de vista y opiniones. Su carisma se come el libro de principio hasta... casi el final. Porque al final, todo lo que ha acontecido en sus páginas le pasa factura para mal. Es bastante caótico y me he perdido bastante entre tanta simbología. No sé hasta que punto hace falta una relectura para comprenderlo todo. No digamos ya tener presente los acontecimientos del clásico "Mago de Oz", del cual no recuerdo nada. Ni siquiera si lo he visto o leído anteriormente.
En cuanto a la trama... bueno, es más biopic que otra …
Empecé a leerlo porque quería ver el musical, y había oído por ahí que al basarse en el libro, me iba a comer spoilers como panes.
Me he encariñado muchísimo con el personaje de Elphaba. Se podría decir que fue un flechazo. Incluso, en varias ocasiones, me he sentido identificada con ella. Su caracter, sus fracasos, sus puntos de vista y opiniones. Su carisma se come el libro de principio hasta... casi el final. Porque al final, todo lo que ha acontecido en sus páginas le pasa factura para mal. Es bastante caótico y me he perdido bastante entre tanta simbología. No sé hasta que punto hace falta una relectura para comprenderlo todo. No digamos ya tener presente los acontecimientos del clásico "Mago de Oz", del cual no recuerdo nada. Ni siquiera si lo he visto o leído anteriormente.
En cuanto a la trama... bueno, es más biopic que otra cosa. Si, a veces salen a la luz los acontecimientos que mantienen a Oz en la miseria, y se asienta mucho en la religión y la política. Pero cuando llega la hora de la verdad, no se adentran en detalles y eso ha hecho que me perdiera cosas que considero importantes. Por ejemplo:
Spoiler¿De quién era la sangre en las manos de Elphaba cuando llegó a las mónacas? Porque no me ha quedado muy claro, la verdad
Un final muy agrio con un toque dulce de ese diálogo de la últimisima página. Recomiendo su lectura. En breve intentaré hacer una actualización para confirmaros si es buena idea leerlo antes de ver dicho musical.
