Wicked. Oh Wicked... I'm going to be 100% honest, I had no idea what I was getting into here. I absolutely adore the musical by extension now the movie. I've heard people talk about how different the book is and so I wanted to find out. The two are worlds apart and I honestly love that. The book is very not child friendly and had some moments (looking at you puppets.... and you tiger) that made me question why and what I was reading. However, I actually really enjoyed the story. I think the book does an amazing job of highlighting so many issues that impact a society. We get a look at politics, race, social class, religion, gender and a myriad of other things. The author does a fabulous job of showcasing these issues while presenting a story of a green girl who constantly has her intentions misjudged.

I am all about retellings and villain origin stories and I think this one is perfect because Elphie really has a good heart even if she's learned to hide herself behind sarcasm to survive in a world that judges her. She quickly picks up the plight of the disenfranchised in Oz and from then on everything just goes awry. I love that we get a different understanding of events from The Wizard of Oz that make you have to examine who the real villain actually is. I think that despite some of the weird and extreme and hidden behind a lot of wordy passages at times the book really has a deep message that can be applied to society today. ( )

If you're a fan of the movie or musical, this might not be for you. Significantly darker and more political. A bit traumatic. I still very much enjoyed it but go into it knowing that it will not be full of showtunes. And this book is definitely not for kids ( )

I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it!
I'm pretty familiar with the Wizard of Oz movie, but I am not familiar with the Wicked Broadway musical at all. I figured I would read the novel that Wicked Broadway musical was based on, after seeing all of the press surrounding the movie musical. I'm now guessing the musical is only LOOSELY based on this novel??
I thought the vibe of the musical is a positive vibe? The novel was this weird, sad and metaphysical tome, mean people galore and full of disappointment after disappointment for poor Elphaba, the so-called Wicked Witch of the West. Racism, classism, cruelty towards children, bullying, animal cruelty, and so on.
It was interesting to see well-known characters in a different light, but left me just feeling a bit sad. ( )

Loved this book in audio!!! I found the book hard to read as the language is very choppy and hard to read. What a great take on our childhood fairy tales! I need to read more of his books. ( )

So instead of reviewing this book traditionally as I do with others, I want to make this review a collective log of all things I would change if I could rewrite the book. And honestly, with the way the book was written and the liberties taken with the canon material, Wicked doesn't even feel like an Oz book. In fact, I would go so far to say that this book is a shameless grab of all Oz movie and book fans to entice people to read Maguire's book. And that is really what ruffles my feathers. If Maguire wanted to write a book about a magical land whose two primary plot points are between the ambiguously moral protagonist and the fine print of sapience, then he should have done so, on his own merit.

Whew.

The Log

♦There was a lull between the magic we experienced between the intro to the Clock and Glinda's entry into the magical studies. Maybe I'm the minority, but that part in between made me completely forget that these girls were going to be witches. More consistent mention of magic and inclusion in everyday life.

♦For the importance Madame Morrible had, it didn't feel like she was prominent in the section. Why is she so darn important that she destines the three girls to become section witches? I just... Maguire is not good with following through plot points and making them prominent. This seems like such a handwave. Make Morrible a more fleshed out character and make her interesting.

♦Why should I care about the philosophy club? It served no purpose other than ~being edgy for the sake of being edgy~. I'm sick of shock porn in books. ( )