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Wicked May 25, 2006
Hrm. I'm still not quite sure what I think of this book, which is subtitled "The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West." It's a radical reimaging of Frank Baum's Oz books, focusing on the life and times of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Unlike Baum's Oz books, this most definitely isn't a book for children; it's got sex, violence, politics, religion, and complex moral questions about the nature of evil (or, in this case, wickedness). And it's definitely not as clear-cut as the children's books in terms of who's good and who's bad. The Wicked Witch of the West is presented as a very complex and nuanced character, someone who definitely has faults (she's stubborn, obsessive, arrogant, and even sometimes cruel), but also has admirable traits (she's a deep thinker, passionate about fighting social injustices, willing to protect those weaker than she, and loyal to her friends and family). It's really interesting to see how Maguire takes a caricature like the Witch and turns her into such a complex being.
And it's not just the Witch. While Elphaba was definitely the focus of the novel, it was also fun to see Maguire's take on other icons like Dorothy, Glinda the Good Witch, Munchkins, the Lion, the Wizard, and the world of Oz in general. I especially liked how everyone in the book besides Dorothy thought Toto was "an annoying mutt." So yeah, Wicked transcends fan fiction or schlock like American McGee’s Alice that offer up a crazy reinterpretation for the sake of a crazy reinterpretation. While Maguire's hook is undoubtedly "hey, this is a crazy, postmodern take on something you loved as a kid, wheee!" it's a legitimate novel in its own right.
That being said, it did really drag in places. I guess it's largely unavoidable in this kind of (fake) biographical style, but it really seemed like there was a lot of filler about Elphaba's life that didn't serve much purpose. And other times the plot would lurch forward awkwardly, leaving years and years uncommented upon while major changes in the world and the characters just kind of pop out of nowhere. It was definitely longer than it needed to be, but at least we get the complexities of character development that it brings. It's just that the pacing seemed really off.
So, while I'm not sure I'll run out and pick up the sequel, Son of a Witch, I'd mildly recommend Wicked if the general idea of it sounds even somewhat appealing to you and you don't mind it being pretty dark. It's still oodles better than most fantasy stuff out there, and it's really fun in places.
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Posted by bruce on May 26, 2006 7:43 AM:
I'd skip Son of a Witch. I tried it, but it takes place well after Dorothy et al are gone, so you don't get any of the neat "oh yeah, that's an interesting way of looking at the Scarecrow's motivations," etc. So it's just a piece of fantasy fiction using some of the new characters from Wicked.
But Maquire's other based-on-a-fairy-tale novels are very interesting: "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" and "Mirror, Mirror". Ahh- I see he also has "Leaping Beauty" for kids. I'll go check that out, too.
Posted by Jamie on May 26, 2006 11:48 AM:
Thanks for the heads up. I didn't think that any of the original characters in Wicked were particularly interesting. I didn't even know he had done a bunch of other fairy tale stuff. Interesting.
Posted by Todd on May 26, 2006 12:37 PM:
Yep, I had the same feeling about this book as you when I read it a few years ago. That said, I enjoyed it more than I expected to. If those two thoughts make sense then, well, there you go. (Or something.)
Posted by Todd on May 26, 2006 12:42 PM:
Oh, the thing I forgot: have you read any of the real Oz books?
There was a big piece in the LA Times this week on his 150th birthday and I really had no idea that they were so big at the turn of the century or that there were so many!
Posted by Jamie on May 26, 2006 3:02 PM:
No, I've only seen the movies, though I kind of want to check the books out now. And yeah, I did a bit of reading about them on Wikipedia and there seems to be a ton of them. Baum wrote a bunch, then other writers took up the series after him. I have to wonder how dated they are, though.
Posted by Kevin Hoyt on May 26, 2006 7:12 PM:
I've never read the book, but my wife so liked it that I arranged tickets to the play when it came to town. I really enjoyed the play, which apparently diverges from the book slightly in order to put a happier ending on a neater package. I certainly recommend going to see it if the play comes to your town. The music alone is actually quite popular.