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

When Dorothy Gale faced the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we only knew Dorothy's side of the story. But what about the mysterious green-skinned witch? Where did she come from? What's the deal with those shoes?

In Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that the reader will never look at Oz the same way again. There is political turmoil. There is aggression and fear everywhere and no one can be sure as to whom they can trust. There is class warfare and societal oppression. The world of Oz is definitely not that technicolor dream that most people are familiar with.  

Then, of course, there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who grows up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. Elphaba proves to be a smart yet misunderstood girl who constantly challenges the fast-held beliefs regarding the nature of good and evil. The reader learns of the events surrounding her birth, her not-so-nurturing family life and early beginnings, and her personal journey of figuring out who she is. Is Elphaba truly wicked? Or is she misguided and misunderstood? 

The reader is also introduced to the early life of Elphaba's "good half", Glinda, who would later become known as the "Good Witch of the North". Glinda (or previously known as Galinda, before a professor refused to say her name correctly) winds up being Elphaba's roommate when the two attend a prestigious university. Glinda chooses to study sorcery while Elphaba decided to study natural sciences. The two are an unlikely pair and clash throughout the novel. Glinda is presented as a snobbish, upper-class, superficial girl who absolutely abhors Elphaba simply on the basis that she looks and acts different than her. What is interesting in this novel is that the author presents the notoriously "good witch" Glinda as terribly unlikable and cruel. Glinda is essentially a "mean girl". Elphaba, the infamous "bad witch", is actually...not so bad. She openly cares about the rights of others and later becomes heavily involved with a activist movement to bring civil rights to a class known as Animals. While she may do things that are questionable in motive and nature, she overall isn't that bad of a person. Just because she has grin skin and isn't totally socially adept, she is labeled negatively. Overall, if I had to sum these characters up, Glinda would be that annoying rich mean girl you knew in high school. You know the kind that wears all pink and hangs out with girls who are equally conceited and shallow. Elphaba would be that goth kid who yells at people for not being a vegetarian, but secretly makes out with the king football jock under the bleachers after school. 

I found the book itself not too enjoyable. I found it long-winded and dull at many, many parts and often skipped through pages and realized that I missed nothing by skipping through them. The parts that were interesting slowly became dull as situations became drawn out to where you didn't care what happened anymore. Often times, I feel like the author tried a little too hard to establish a parallel between Oz and our modern society. There were times when it seemed that there was no plot and nothing going on, but the author tried desperately to make it sound good, as the language used is often pretentious and flowery. There would be side stories that contributed nothing to the main conflict and sometimes too many characters thrown into a situation that it made it hard to keep track of who was who and why they were there. The odd, outlandish names didn't help the situation either...

When deciding to finally read this novel, I will admit that I was intrigued by the premise of the story. I thought the author to be quite clever, perhaps even ingenious, to explore the idea that the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't all that wicked to begin with. With the sky-rocketing popularity of the musical Wicked, I believed that there must be a strong story to cause such an obsession with the musical fan girls and boys out there. I unfortunately misjudged the situation and was very much disappointed with this book choice. I know there are a lot of people who did enjoy the book; people who found it enchanting though dark. In ways, I can see this novel as a story of friendship (or lack thereof) and in some senses "nature versus nurture: why do we do the things we do?". If Elphaba had a different home life, would she have turned out differently? Or was she born to become who she ultimately became? It was at times entertaining to see events unfold that would shape her into the Wicked Witch. But perhaps the book was a little too slow to explain. The author could have cut a lot of things out of the book and there might have still been a decent story to tell. The length of the book wouldn't be an issue if it were able to capture the imagination of the reader until the story's conclusion. However, it failed to do so for me and I found myself struggling to finish it, which is a rarity for me. 

Overall, interesting concept. Wickedly bad execution.

At least I now understand the deal with the shoes!

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory McGuire is available on Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, and retail booksellers. It is available on the Kindle, Nook, and audio book. 

(I've been told the Broadway musical is much more tolerable....)