Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Book Review

  Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years, #1)Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow! Gregory Maguire is quite the story-teller. Wicked, as the full title clearly states, is the story of Elphaba, known to most as the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic story, The Wizard of Oz. Starting at her birth, and ending in the same spot as the classic tale, Maguire takes you through a journey through Oz, a place that turns out to be quite different than you would expect. Not only do we meet Elphaba, a green-skinned outcast who dislikes the Wizard’s regime, but we also learn more about Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (who may not be as perfect as she seems) and Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the East, tragic victim of Dorothy’s house, sister of Elphaba, and original owner of the infamous ruby slippers. If there is anything that Maguire wants you to understand, it’s that every story has two sides, and things are not always what they seem.

My only confusion was that the story does not seem to tie in exactly with the movie. This is possibly because the movie was changed from the original story, but I will have to read it to find out.

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