Wicked (Book Review)

Wicked by Gregory Maguire was written in 1996 to contradict the oh-so-popular story, “The Wizard of Oz.” Pretty much everyone knows the story. But Maguire thinks of the potential behind the common ‘good versus evil’ storylines. How would the story look from the Wicked Witch of the West’s point of view? That right there was enough to grab my attention. I bought this book on one of my trips this year at the airport because I needed something to read on the plane ride back home and I knew that I would be going to see the Broadway musical when it came to Kansas City this spring.
It starts off with the birth of Elphaba, a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West, to a minister and his wife living in a little shack and after she has her emerald colored baby she becomes unfaithful. Then it skips to when Elphaba is older and going to school at Shiz and is roommates with Galinda, the Good Witch. The book follows her through her schooling and dealing with different problems in Oz and the Emerald City. The reader gets to witness how she breaks out of her shell, makes friends, finds love and rebels against that which she believes is wrong, like so many heroes in stories, but Elphaba doesn’t get recognized for what she does. It was really fun to see what might have been going on behind the storyline in this tale that we all know and love.
I really liked this book because it was funny and showed that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover because there could be something great underneath the wrapping. I was confused a lot by some of the stuff that he would talk about, like the difference between ‘animals’ and ‘Animals’ and some of the other issues that went on throughout the book. But the emotions Maguire conveyed, like shame, betrayal, jealousy, accomplishment, happiness, friendship and love, were completely recognizable because we all have felt them before. It was also pretty confusing with some of the words that he made up, but I guess that’s the whole point since it is a make believe place. But besides the confusion and the length of the book I would definitely recommend it to everyone.