by Gregory Maguire 4 Stars
Fantasy
406 Pages
Published in 1995
Ellie's Review
I hold a special place in my heart for the Wicked Witch of the West since I portrayed her in my kindergarten play (unfortunately I wasn't allowed to paint myself green). Then from the front row I saw Wicked on Broadway with Idina Menzel and Joey MacIntyre. After seeing Wicked three additional times, it's still my favorite musical, and my dog is named Elphaba (Elphie for short).
Now that I have fully disclosed my prejudice, I can say that I really liked this book. It is very dark compared to the Broadway show Wicked, but very interesting. This is quite deep and looks at religion and politics, which is something the musical didn't really get into. I thought about it for a long time after reading it, which means the book influenced me in some way (always a good sign). History is always skewed, and each story has multiple versions. You'll definitely never look at The Wizard of Oz the same again! The book contains a couple perverse sex scenes, just to warn you. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book in the series Son of a Witch.
Book Summary
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? Gregory Maguire has created a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again.
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