Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

99 reviews

mh_reads's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

'Sir,' she said, 'I think you are a very bad wizard.'
'And you,' he answered, stung, 'are only a caricature of a witch.'

This book is definitely pretty insane but I did know what I was getting into before.

Now I think this is a great story. And I admire the idea to give the "Wicked witch" a voice in this way and using Oz to tell a story about dictatorship, oppression, religion, good vs. evil and resistance from brave people like Elphaba. I loved the look into her thoughts, the way she stayed strong in her morals but also had to deal with disappointment because of it and struggled with herself so much. In the craziness there were so many passages that I found super profound, relevant and often sad.

I also think dialogue was written very entertaining and witty. Elphie talking to people in her cynical but logical way was amazing, didn't matter who she talked to.

While I wouldn't necessarily disapprove of everything grotesque in books and I welcomed some of it - I still found a number of passages problematic. Misogynistic, ableist at times and also unnecessary. Weird because you'd think a political book like this would also reject SA or the sexualisation of women for example instead of upholding it but oh well that's where men draw the line I guess.

I definitely wouldn't look at this and think let's make this material into a kid-friendly musical but I'm very glad someone did. You just can't rly try to look at the book in the same way although I had fun finding connections between the two while reading.

Galinda felt totally different to me which surprised me. Imo she was made much more likeable for the musical (because she also plays a much bigger role in it I guess). In the musical she does also conform to the system for her own benefit but she seems to have the strong will to be "good" and she grows and regrets. Which I honestly didn't find in the book.. probably why I liked her less. Fitting tho, most characters were written more pessimistic in this way, as the whole book is a lot darker ofc. Elphie and her's relationship was still as captivating and heartbreaking as you'd know it tho.

All in all I'd say if you already like and are interested in the whole universe of Oz (but aren't too attached to a childhood fairytale of it haha) definitely read this. I'll probably re-read at least once at some point.

I see myself there: the girl witness, wide-eyed as Dorothy. Staring at a world too horrible to comprehend, believing - by dint of ignorance and innocence - [...] that we may not always be tormented by our shame. Neither Dorothy nor young Elphaba can speak of this, but belief of it is in both our faces...

Content Warnings

lindsayjude's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

cl515's review against another edition

5.0

This book is so much more my speed than a play about frenemies or whatever (haven’t seen either version of the musical).

There’s a lot of political stuff — for example, about the munchkins fighting the yellow brick road because that’s how the wizard/emperor wants to redistribute Oz’s water rights away from the poors and into the Emerald City. And talking Animals having all their civil rights taken away, subject to work & travel restrictions etc. And Elpheba wanting the ruby slippers that Glinda gave to Dorothy because they would have made the rebellion more formidable, but Glinda wants a reunification/pacification that would just put the rebelling munchkins back under wizard/imperial control. So… if you like dark fairy tale reimaginings, this seems like a good one. I started with Elphie, which worked just fine.

Content Warnings

a_sleepy_berry's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

So many thoughts, so much chaos, so much fun, but it took me two months to read

Content Warnings

augie_'s review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

balsbooks's review against another edition

3.0

challenging mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Engrossing but very strange story. Lots of mysteries and questions left open to the readers interpretation. Very odd explicit scenes and mentions/implications of sexual scenes involving children. Reader beware.

Content Warnings

lettricebi's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Un libro interessante dal punto di vista politico e antispecista, con personaggi di cui verrebbe la voglia di sapere di più e un'ambientazione ampia. Ma è anche un romanzo che è stato costruito in modo profondamente strano e poco accessibile.

Avrei davvero voluto che ci fossero meno salti temporali e più attenzione per gli archi narrativi dei personaggi. Ho apprezzato il fatto che i personaggi avessero caratteri e comportamenti complessi, ha dato alla storia un tocco di realismo in più.

Tuttavia, mi sono sentita "truffata". Mi aspettavo una riflessione maggiormente complessa sulla natura del bene e del male, sul modo in cui in particolare le figure femminili e considerate "diverse" vengano vilificate e sul potenziale rivoluzionario dello stare ai margini. Non è colpa di questo libro se avevo tutte queste aspettative a riguardo (se c'è una responsabilità, è di chi me ne ha parlato con questi termini), però la sensazione che mi porto dietro dopo averlo finito è che è stato troppo faticoso arrivare alla fine e qualcunə mi ha preso in giro. Ad ogni modo sono felice di averlo letto. Avrei solo voluto farlo prendendolo in prestito in biblioteca piuttosto che comprare un'edizione costosa - che regalerò alla biblioteca.
Inoltre troppi elementi rimangono avvolti dal mistero rispetto alle scelte e alla vita dei personaggi principali. L'impressione è che l'autore non voglia *davvero* fare partecipare chi legge alla storia.

Se stai pensando di leggerlo perché speri che ci siano contenuti queer, evita.

Gli unici contenuti queer nella storia sono estremamente vaghi e insoddisfacenti. Si tratta di un breve accenno al fatto che Elphaba forse ha passato una notte con Glinda e la rivelazione che i suoi genitori avevano un rapporto poliamoroso a tre, il che suppongo significhi rappresentazione Bi+ (quel che cercavo leggendolo) e poly. Davvero mi domando che cosa si siano bevute le persone che lo definiscono un romanzo queer.

Content Warnings

adiereadsbooks's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

To quote Gregory from his Authors Note: "But my Oz was even more toxic and dangerous than it appears on stage"
When I picked up this book I expected something similar to the play and the recent musical however THE BOOK IS ITS OWN ENTITY. The book begins with the use of graphic details and concepts that was NOT at all expressed in the play. This took me by surprise and as a result I did not enjoy the first half of the book. If you have seen the play/watched the movie, please do yourself a favor and do not compare them to the book. It will make the book much more enjoyable.
By the end of the book, I truly did enjoy the complexity within each part how everything tied together.
HOWEVER during the first roughly 70% of the book I did not feel that way. When I began reading, I felt the book wanted to address real-world complex topics (such as religion, politics, acceptance) at the same time of being a lighthearted fantasy novel. Gregory's tone changed constantly from using excessive and frivolous language to skipping details. The book covers the birth to death of the Wicked Witch of the West leading to gaps within the storyline. Each Part felt like an entire new book in itself (especially considering the change in perspective in each part) until the Final Part ties everything together. Overall I like the premise of the plot, and did enjoy the ending. However each character and part could have gone into more depth, without long winded side tangents to truly grasp everything Gregory was trying to display about Oz and life in general within his novel.
If you made it this far in my rambling, thank you and you will most certainly enjoy the book by the end too.

Content Warnings

melarie's review against another edition

1.0

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I expected to love this, because I love modern reimaginings of classic stories and the musical is so well-loved. From an overarching plot perspective, it was a good concept but it totally fell apart in the execution. The plot was meandering and different POVs were thrown in willy nilly. Some passages felt like reading a fever dream (Philosopher’s Club, wtf?!), you had no idea what was going on and I didn’t feel there was a satisfying reveal or explanation of the mysteries. I found the philosophy muddy and all of the characters unlikable. Such a slog after the first quarter.

Content Warnings

pearls_mahm's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This novel is the inspiration for the widespread pop culture phenomenon Broadway musical and movie, albeit very loosely. If you are familiar with the musical, the book will be very unexpected. As we would describe it as a very dark, gritty fantasy with themes of adultery and other varying types of sexual content, elements of hate crimes, elitism, and other disturbing topics.

That being said it was a fascinating read and characterization of political activism and fantastical origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West. We would recommend brushing up on your Wizard of Oz knowledge prior to jumping into this one.

This is definitely not a read for everyone, but is a stimulatingly challenging read!

Content Warnings

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