Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West-Gregory Maguire

How I found this book: God, his uncle, his pet dog, and the divine dust bunny told me I should read this…oh and everyone else too. The way people carried on, I assumed I’d have to be stupid not to read it.

Setting: L. Frank Baum’s fantasy world of Oz, in the period before Dorothy’s arrival from Kansas.

Main Characters:

Elphaba: The Wicked Witch of the West from the original book series, she is a little green girl, who is awkward, strange, and allergic to water. She is bright, opinionated, and has a keen sense of what is right and wrong in the world. Though she studies natural science at the University of Shiz, she later studies sorcery, becoming a witch. She grows up to be a revolutionary, standing against the tyrannical rule of the Wizard of Oz.

Galinda/Glinda: A pampered, upper class girl who is Elphaba’s roommate at the University of Shiz. She is at first contemptuous of Elphaba, but eventually comes to befriend the strange green girl and to become empathetic with her cause. She studies sorcery, and will later be known to readers of the original story as the Good Witch of the North.

Nessarose: Elphaba’s half-sister, she is as charming and enigmatic as her sister is not, despite being born with no arms. She too ends up studying sorcery, and inherits the title that was rightly her sisters as that of the Eminent Thropp. She also owns the magical slippers, first created by her father, then enchanted by Glinda to allow her to walk normally as her lack of arms affects her balance. She is known to readers of the original stories as the Wicked Witch of the East, and is killed accidentally by Dorothy when the tornado dumps Dorothy’s house on her.

Fiyero: A Winkie Prince who attended university with Elphaba. Though married to another, he later has an affair with Elphaba, but is murdered by the Wizard’s secret police. His death will send Elphaba into deep despondency and affect her outlook on life.

Doctor Dillamond: An Animal professor at the University of Shiz, (he happens to be a Goat), he is keen on proving that there is no difference between Animals and Humans, and is looking for a scientific basis for Animal rights. He is brutally murdered, thus starting Elphaba’s long journey towards justice for Animals and others in Oz.

Madame Morrible: The head of Crage Hall, where the girls attend school, she is quite openly both a supporter of the Wizard and his anti-Animal sentiment. She has some sort of mysterious role in the lives of the girls, but it isn’t made particularly clear. She dies of natural causes before Elphaba has a chance to kill her for the murder of Doctor Dillamond

Plot: Elphaba is a little green girl, raised by a religious zealot father, and her dead mother’s nurse. In a time of great turmoil in Oz, Elphaba grows up to attend university, meeting the pretty and socially mobile Galinda, who is studying to become a witch. Though the awkward Elphaba and the self-centered Galinda do not initially get along, Elphaba’s independence and her since of justice bring Galinda around, especially when the pretty girl’s own life is effected by the social injustices instigated by the Wizard of Oz. The girl’s go to the Emerald City to try and attempt to confront the Wizard on what they have seen, but when they meet with resistance, Elphaba decides to rebel. Leaving Glinda, (she’s now changed her name), she takes to the life of a revolutionary. Years later, while living in secret in the Emerald City, she crosses paths with her old university friend, Fiyero. The two embark on an affair, (Fiyero is married), and for a time Elphaba is happy. But it is cut short when the Wizard’s secret police, searching for Elphaba, murder Fiyero. Grief-stricken, she flees, first to a mauntuary, (a nunnery), then to Fiyero’s family compound, Elphaba struggles to both find herself again and to find her purpose. While she never stops standing against the Wizard, and takes up the cause of Animal rights, the book ends with her predictable death ‘accidentally’ at the hands of Dorothy.

Themes:

Persecution and Justice: Elphaba is a girl who sees much persecution because of the color of her skin. Because of this, she is stoutly against such behavior in others, and takes to the cause of saving the Animals, the talking beasts of Oz. They are persecuted more and more under the rule of the mysterious and cruel Wizard, (ironically who was himself persecuted in our world). Elphaba’s cause becomes the ruling passion of her life, to remove the evil rule of the Wizard and to bring about what is right.

Good and Evil: One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Maguire questions the roots of evil. Is evil based on the perspective and perceptions of the storyteller? Is evil something that’s inherent at birth, that one must struggle against or overcome? Is performing an act of great evil in the course of seeking justice outweighed by the fact that it serves the greater good? Is anyone ever really evil, or are they just ‘misunderstood’. Though these questions aren’t ever satisfactorily answered in the book, (and nor do I think they were meant to be), they are essential questions everyone brings up and discusses. The nature of the book is questioning ‘what is evil’?


Every book sucks somewhere: Personally, I found this one of the more difficult books for me to read and engage in, which disappointed me greatly as everyone has been so ga-ga over it for so long. I had perhaps a case of over-hype, because I was really looking forward to reading it, and was upset that it wasn’t nearly as good as everyone led me to believe.

I think my first sucky point is that to really get what is going on here, you have to have an extensive pre-knowledge of the world of Oz. Maguire spends no time going back and setting the stage for you because he’s working on the premise of another man’s world. That’s fine, but I haven’t read the Oz books since I was a small child. Twenty years means I’ve forgotten most of it. Much of the socio-political setting he cleverly creates, (and I will admit it’s quite good), is only understandable if you’ve read all the books and know them well. And frankly, I found that far too distracting.

Maguire’s writing style leaves a lot to be desires, neither fanciful like Baum’s, nor completely cutting and realistic, it lies somewhere in between, and it makes it difficult for me to settle on which. At times I get into the fanciful nature of it, at times the bite, but when they switch abruptly, it’s hard for me to remain interested. His dialogue tends to be rather stilted in many places, his conversations awkward and often disjointed. They lack the natural flow that helps you follow exactly what is going on.

What did I like: I liked the creative approach to the story, the unique twist that Maguire takes with a very traditional child’s tale. I think it’s a brilliant idea if nothing else.

Rate this wormy book: I rate this book as a LITTLE WORM. If you are a huge fan of Oz, can get past Maguire’s writing style, and get over the disjointed flow of the book, give it a read. But if you just want to read it because it’s popular right now, save yourself the effort. Spend a little extra money and go see the wildly popular musical that’s based on it. I hear that the musical is better and a lot of fun. Get the soundtrack of the original cast...only cause I love Kristin Chenoweth's voice and highly recommend her to everyone.

I'd kill to see the shows with Taye Diggs as Fiyero, not only because he's really married to the actress who was playing Elphaba at the time, but God...he's hot!