Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

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

7 reviews

jerrysaywhaaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I think overall that I enjoyed this story. It could have been trimmed down a bit and I do wish the whole thing more Elphaba’s story since the book is called The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (the first half of the book is mostly about her mother, Glinda, Boq, and Fiyero).

I think that the musical actually improved on the overall story of Wicked, especially for Boq, the Lion, the Tinman, and the Scarecrow. I can only hope that the new movies take more from the novel to improve on the musical (I would love to see the inclusion of Sarima, her sisters, her children, and Liir). 

Will I read the sequels? Maybe eventually, but this was a struggle to get through at parts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Moderate: Child death, Dementia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent

Beastiality, Child Nudity

alexandra_salisbury's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I want to like it more than I did. This was my second attempt after a DNF. While I'm usually one for closed-door books, I could look past the explicit scenes if it wasn't for the blatant *completely unnecessary* sexualization of children which just made the book really sordid. 

There were very interesting things that happened that would bring you right to the precipice of something happening and then *surprise* - time jump, and it didn't happen. Or maybe it did and you missed it. It was disappointing. Someone needs to write a fan fiction of this fan fiction and do it better- although maybe that's what the musical did 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Ableism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Racism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Child abuse, Body shaming, and Animal death

Moderate: Torture, Fatphobia, Slavery, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Dementia, Death, Classism, and Child death

Minor: Sexism

booknerd_therapist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Pregnancy, Death, Animal cruelty, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Animal death, and Murder

Minor: Fatphobia and Cursing

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.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing and Classism

gayghostprince's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, War, Xenophobia, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Colonisation, Dementia, Drug use, Alcohol, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

I never finished this book when I was younger but I was immediately struck by how vile all the adults in this book are upon rereading it. there are no assault scenes, but people do mention r*pe. the descriptions and implications about specific groups in this people are racist and stereotypical, but not often aggressively malicious. a LOT of the treatment of children in this book is upsetting. content warning for family baggage and child neglect. in addition, late in the book a child is pretty relentlessly bullied by his peers. I added a minor homophobia warning because the way people describe the two obviously gay characters is often homophobic. just coincidentally describing them as simpering or whatever. the equivalent of calling a gay man a fairy, you know? the sex scenes in this book are not detailed or graphic but they are also not well written. take that as you will.

kellyhady's review against another edition

adventurous funny slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

shaunaxx's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

The beginning and start of the middle was the most dry and boring thing I’ve ever read the only redeeming thing about it is the later middle. The ending was rushed and character development was all over the place. 
None of this is mentioning that it was NOTHING like the musical which is the sole reason I bought it in the first place but I decided to separate the two as different stories all together around 40% of the way through...it would have been a 1 star otherwise...
The writing was very telling not showing and all the questions of religion and morality and of the soul got old within the first 4 pages let alone the other 500....
Overall wouldn’t recommend or at least would recommend WITH THE KNOWLEDGE ITS NOTHING LIKE THE MUSICAL

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, and Religious bigotry

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