"Wicked"

"Wicked - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire was my book club's May choice. It was met with mixed reviews by the members of my group and not many that were very positive. One member, who had read it in another book club, felt that group had a higher opinion of Maguire's work. Several members had seen "Wicked" - the musical and said it was not at all like the book and they thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommended attending a performance.

Since I had just started a part-time position, I hadn't had time to read all of the book before we met. I was struggling through the first 62 pages and wasn't sure I wanted to go on until I reached Section II and the setting moved to a school where I felt the plot became a little more interesting and easier to read.

Although the writing is good, I found some of the sexual details irrelevant to the story as a whole. The book begins with the birth of Elphaba (the eventual Wicked Witch of the West) and ends with her death but her life is definitely fleshed out in the interim pages. I didn't find the 406 pages an easy read even after it became more interesting to me but, after our book club discussion, I did decide I wanted to finish it. I can usually read a book in a few days but this one took me at least a month. I found myself falling asleep reading it so that I could only make it through a few pages at a time. Near the end I fell asleep and had a terrible nightmare. So....do I recommend it? -- probably not. When I first read about Maguire's books fleshing out different Oz characters, I found the idea of them intriguing but I doubt I'll try to read any more. In fairness I do have to say I've never been a particular fan of the original "Wizard of Oz" either.

Maguire does write with humor and there is one quote in particular on page 333 of the hard copy that I like: "Everybody needs to grow up and leave home sometimes, but sometimes HOME DOESN'T LIKE IT!" (For understanding you will have to read the book!)

So, if you do decide to read this one or any of Maguire's books, I'd love to hear your take on them.....

pazt