Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

13 reviews

summerb's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Murder, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, War, Kidnapping, and Medical content

bookbelle5_17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Review of Wicked

By: Gregory Maguire

            First, I will say this not for everyone even if you loved the stage show adaptation.  The stage show takes elements of this novel makes a less dark and more bittersweet.  In case you don’t realize this the origin of the Wicked Witch of the West, who is named Elphaba, and what lead her eventually to target Dorothy…. Or did she?  

Maguire’s Oz still has that whimsy and weirdness, but it also reflects real world problems such as injustices of minority groups.  One of Elphaba’s biggest passions is the fight for the rights of Animals, animal-human hybrids such as the cowardly Lion and Dr. Dillamond.  The irony is Elphie isn’t even interested in magic, but she is interested in science.  As a character she is brutally honest to point of sounding mean and doesn’t know how to show love and affection.  She loves in her own way and sees herself as someone with know.  She is frustrating, but charming in her own way.  She easily becomes obsessed to the point of not being unable to see past her own beliefs, but we are seeing from her perspective.  It makes the reader actually consider her side and realize she’s not as wicked as she seems, or there at least there’s a reason behind her wickedness.  The novel not only questions how we see her but how we define “evil”.  Glinda and Elphaba’s relationship is complicated and fascinating to read about it.  It is the opposites attract theory as they have respect and love for each.  At the same time, they don’t always understand each other, but there’s still love between them.  There is quite a bit of mature content like sex and drugs.  There is a scene where characters go to what can only be described as a pleasure den.  The Wizard being the villain gives a new perspective on his lack of power in the original series of books.  He is an illusionist and trickster, but in this story, he uses it for political gain.  This spins a darker and complicated read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing and Classism

itry's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.25

Tw: murder, debauchery, sex, cheating, political intrigue, slavery, torture, pedophelia, rape. The last two being extremely prominent and occuring more than once??? Because why not i guess????
Also general depressing tone cus its a tragedy through and through

Toto i don't think we're in kansas anymore

So..... i read the book because i liked thw musical and was like hey ill like this
Welll
I didnt dislike it but i have no idea how the musical became so different from this
As a book it was interesting but the pacing felt a bit off and the time skips werent handled the best
Otherwise as a guilty pleasure, it was enjoyable
Im not gonna read the sequels though because this was depressing holy moly

Read through audiobook

Update: literally had through dissociation forgotten my dislike for the book and the,,,,,,,, y'all know what parts bothered me if y'all have read it and if y'all haven't read it, don't. Disgusting. Worse than attack on titan the mangas one horrifying scene that i try to actively block out of my head but that memory stays lol

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Sexism, Mental illness, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, War, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Hate crime, Gore, Gaslighting, Genocide, Classism, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Bullying, Animal death, Chronic illness, Child abuse, and Body shaming

Minor: Deportation and Slavery