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

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

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

325 reviews

scarlizziereads's review against another edition

5.0

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

QUOTES:

"It didn't matter how crippled Nessarose was; she would always be more than Elphaba, always. She would always mean more."

"Tribal mothers always tell their children that there are two kinds of anger: hot and cold. Boys and girls experience both; but as they grow up the angers separate according to the sex. Boys need hot anger to survive. They need the inclination to fight, the drive to sink the knife into the flesh, the energy and initiative of fury. It's a requirement of hunting, of defense, of pride. Maybe of sex, too.' [...] 'And girls need cold anger. They need the cold simmer, the ceaseless grudge, the talent to avoid forgiveness, the sidestepping of compromise. They need to know when they say something that they wll never back down, ever, ever. It's the compensation for a more limited scope in the world. Cross a man and you struggle, one of you wins, you adjust and go on - or you lie there dead. Cross a woman and the universe is changed, once again, for cold anger requires an eternal vigilance in all matters of slight and offense.'"

"There was much to hate in this world, and too much to love"

"'If you should see her,' said Glinda lightly, 'tell her I miss her still.'"

"'It wasn't the right place for me anyway, all those silly girls. Although I liked Glinda well enough. How is she anyway?' Elphaba looked annoyed and her back stiffened. 'Only a baronet? Not a baron or a viscount at least? What a disappointment. Her early promise was never to pan out, then' [...] 'Is she a mother?'"

"'How poetic you are,' she said. 'I've a notion that poetry is the highest form of self-deception.'"

"'You know, in another life I'd like to see them all again. And Glinda, dear Glinda.'"

"'Tell them I kidnapped you and made you come here, they'll believe that of me,' said Elphaba. [...] 'But I won't lie to you, my dear. No need to lie.' [...] 'Elphie, get in this cab, don't be a fool,' Glinda cried. 'You'll be all right,' Elphaba said, 'now you're a seasoned traveler [...]' She put her face against Glinda's and kissed her. 'Hold out, if you can,' she murmured, and kissed her again. 'Hold out, my sweet.' [...] Glinda craned her head to see Elphaba drift back into the crowds. [...] Or maybe it was foolish tears blurring Glinda's vision. Elphaba hadn't cried, of course. Her head had turned away quickly as she stepped down, not to hide her tears but to soften the fact of their absence. But the sting, to Glinda, was real."

"In a single lumpy bed, they huddled together for warmth and encouragement and, Glinda told herself, protection. [...] Glinda would start as if from a frightful dream, and nestle in nearer to Elphaba, who seemed at night never to sleep. Daytimes, the long hours spent in poorly sprung carriages, Elphaba would nod off against Glinda's shoulder."

"Elphaba thrust out strong arms and scooped Glinda in mid-collapse. Glinda didn't really lose consciousness but the uncomfortable physical nearness of hawk-faced Elphaba after that undesired act of desire made her want to shiver with revulsion and to purr at the same time. [...] 'Tough, tough skin,' said Elphaba [...] 'Come on, Glinda - you've got better brains - come on! I love you too much, snap out of it, you idiot!' 'Well, really,' she said as Elphaba dumped her on a heap of moldy packing straw. 'No need to be so romantic about it!' But she felt better, as if a wave of illness had just passed."

"He had loved the girl who had loved the glamour in herself, and that girl seemed to have disappeared. But he was happy to have Glinda as a friend. Well, in a nutshell: he had loved Galinda and this now was Glinda. Someonehe could no longer quite figure out. Case closed."

"'Does it mean that much to you?' She smiled wanly. 'Boq, does she really mean that much to you?' 'She is my world,' he answered. 'Your world is too small if she is it.' 'You can't criticise the size of a world. I can't help it and I can't stop it and I can't deny it.' [...] 'She may be lovely, Boq - no, she is lovely,'"

"When Galinda retired that evening, Elphaba was already in bed, blankets pulled up over her head, and a patently theatrical snore issuing forth. Galinda huffed herself into bed with a wump, annoyed that she could feel rejected by the green girl."

"'Oh, put the damn hat on, really,' said Galinda, for whom, where introspection was concerned, enough was enough. Elphaba obliged. [...] On the wrong head it would look ghastly, and Galinda expected to have to bite the inside of her lip to keep from laughing. [...] But Elphaba dropped the whole sugary plate onto her strange pointed head, and looked at Galinda again from underneath the broad brim. She seemed like a rare flower, her skin stemlike in its soft pearlescent sheen, the hat a botanical riot. 'Oh, Miss Elphaba,' said Galinda, 'you terible mean thing, you're pretty.'"

"'You are thinking!' Elphaba cried. Galinda raised herself to her elbows at the enthusiasm in her roomie's voice. 'I am about to sleep, because this is profoundly boring to me,' Galinda said, but Elphaba was grinning from ear to ear."

"'It's an absence of good, that's all. [...] The nature of the world is to be calm, and enhance and support life, and evil is an absence of the inclination of matter to be at peace.' [...] 'Evil is an early or primitive stage of moral development. All children are fiends by nature. The criminals among us are only those who didn't progress...' 'I think it's a presence, not an absence. [...] Evil's an incarnated character, an incubus or a succubus. It's an other. It's not an us.' [...] 'Evil isn't a thing, it's not a person, it's an attribute like beauty...' 'It's a power, like wind...' 'It's an infection...' 'It's metaphysical, essentially: the corruptibility of creation–' 'Blame it on the Unnamed God, then.' 'But did the Unnamed God create evil intentionally, or was it just a mistake in creation?' 'It's not of air and eternity, evil isn't; it's of earth; it's physical, a disjointedness between our bodies and our souls. Evil is inanely corporeal, humans causing one another pain, no more no less-' [...] 'No, you're all wrong, our childhood religion had it right: Evil is moral at its heart - the selection of vice over virtue; you can pretend not to know, you can rationalise, but you know it in your conscience-' 'Evil is an act, not an appetite. [...] Eveyone has the appetite. If you give in to it, that act is evil. The appetite is normal.' [...] 'Maybe evil is an art form.' [...] 'The real thing about evil [...] isn't any of what you said. You figure out one side of it - the human side, say - and the eternal side goes into shadow. Or vice versa. [...] The paradox of this inquiry is that it is the nature of evil to be secret'"

"Maybe the definition of home is the place where you are never forgiven, so you may always belong there, bound by guilt. And maybe the cost of belonging is worth it."

"'You were devoted to Glinda, you were,' said Nanny. 'Everyone knew it.'"

"She is no longer I, she is too long ago, she is only she, impenetrably mysterious and dense"

"Elphaba the girl does not know how to see her father as a broken man. All she knows is that he passes his brokenness on to her. Daily his habits of loathing and self-loathing cripple her. Daily she loves him back because she knows no other way. 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 beneath this unbreakable contract of guilt and blame there is always an older contract that may bind and release in a more salutary way. A more ancient precedent of ransom, that we may not always be tormented by our shame. Neither Dorothy nor young Elphaba can speak of this, but the belief of it is in both our faces..."

"Or was it to snatch back some small shred of Frex's attention, whether she had ever deserved it or not?"

"'What do you want?' 'A little peace and quiet.' 'No, really.' She couldn't say forgiveness, not to Liir. [...] and in the end what came out of her mouth surprised them both. She said, 'A soul-' He blinked at her. 'And you?' she said in a quieter voice. 'What do you want, Liir, if the Wizard could give you anything?' 'A father,' he answered."

"But it was true. There was nothing but straw and air inside the Scarecrow's clothes. No hidden lover returning, no last hope of salvation."

"'You're my soul come scavenging for me, I can feel it,' said the Witch. 'I won't have it, I won't have it. I won't have a soul; with a soul there is everlastingness, and life has tortured me enough.'"

"And Glinda in her gowns, waiting to be good enough to deserve what she gets."

"Lady Glinda had a bad night, a night of shakes and regret and pain; she guessed it was the early signs of gout from her rich diet. But she sat up half the night and lit a candle in a window, for reasons she couldn't articulate. The moon passed overhead in its path from the Vinkus, and she felt its accusatory spotlight, and moved back from the tall windows."

"And of the Witch? In the life of a Witch, there is no after, in the ever after of a Witch, there is no happily; in the story of a Witch, there is no afterword. Of that part is beyond the life story, beyond the story of the life, there is - alas, or perhaps thank mercy - no telling. She was dead, dead and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation for malice."

Content Warnings

shadowcanvas's review against another edition

2.25

adventurous dark tense slow-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

I know I read the one with the movie cover. IT WAS ALL THE LIBRARY HAD.
Plot is fine, the world building is the part I found most interesting. Just the way it's written, and some of the unnecessary (primarily sexual) comments made me put the book down and seriously consider dnf-ing this book. The musical is a more clear, definite retelling of this story. There were parts of this book that I questioned their purpose when reading but only understood when I finished and reflected. I felt that for the message being told, the story drags on longer than it needs to, but you could also argue that it's because it gives Elphaba a more reasonable amount of time for her character arc.

Content Warnings

wrighkat's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional funny reflective sad 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: Yes

Big fan of what was going on in here. Fiyero my beloved 💔

Content Warnings

cmroth's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

emmaegholm's review against another edition

2.75

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

valreadssometimes's review against another edition

2.5

challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was most definitely one of the weirdest I’ve read in a while. I would 100% recommend reading the content warnings before picking it up.
As a whole, the story was pretty interesting and kept me reading, but many of the hard-hitting scenes felt empty due to their sheer ridiculousness.
This is not a book to—despite many of its dark and complex themes—take very seriously. I think if I had been prepared, going into this book, for just how absurd some of the humor was going to be, as well as how political the main conflicts were I might have had a different experience.

Content Warnings

readeratheart98's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark 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

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed the movie so much and constantly heard about how the book helped to give me more details as to the origins of the characters.

Unfortunately, I prefer the movie. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book and reading about Elphaba's childhood, but after that the book seemed to drag on. I would say after reading about Elphaba's time at Shiz, it definitely felt like I was reading the book for completion rather than enjoyment. I also didn't realize how explicit the book would be at times which didn't bother me but it was surprising nonetheless.

I don't think that I'll be reading the rest of this series, because the style of writing was very hard to get through. I did enjoy the different perspective on The Wizard of Oz though and can appreciate the book for that.

Content Warnings