Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
It was awesome. Now I want to watch Wizard of Oz again. I had actually started Wicked a few years ago. I made it over halfway through the book, but I wasn't in the mood to read a book like it. I know that might sound crazy, but sometimes I just need to read something fluffy and easy and Wicked is neither. So I put it on my shelf and promised I would go back to it. When I started this project it was one of the first five books on the list. In fact it was the second book I started, but somehow I finished listening to Water for Elephants before I made it all the way through Wicked.
If you somehow have not heard of this book (all you under rock dwellers), It is the story of the "Wicked" Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. There are two sides to every story and I like Elphaba's side better. Maguire takes us into an Oz that Dorothy never saw. Into a world where it is not easy to see who is good and who is evil, or for individuals to figure where they fit into the picture themselves. There is much to be discovered in this novel. About a world we thought we knew, and its parallels to our own world. It is not only worth a read, but several.
Well said, Patty. The story, or multiple stories taking place within the story, are a reflection of the events that can be taking place with any number of us a given time.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many choices in life; there are things we have control over and things we don't. There is always more than one side to a story.
WICKED is an exquisite weaving together of lives and events, giving shape to an altogether different history of Oz, Dorothy, and the "wicked" witch (Elphaba). In "WICKED", Maquire fills in the many blanks we find in "The Wizard of Oz", if we would take time to consider the possibility of the original story to be told at such a one-sided slant.
Just as history must be read with differing viewpoints in order to be more completely understood, WICKED renders greater appreciation of The Wizard of Oz as a more complete story.
Thanks to WIDKED, I'm really looking forward to reading the account of Elphaba's son, Liir, in "Son of A Witch".
Sorry my comment was so long...
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