Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

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

11 reviews

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

mandi_lea's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, Grief, Death, Infidelity, Murder, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, and Death of parent

recorderkfk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

As someone who loves the musical and the OG Wizard of Oz, I found it rather cold and cruel - it's philosophically  interesting, but plot wise, plodding. Fun to read though as a musical fan. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Body horror, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Ableism, Emotional abuse, and War

monicats's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

I entered it already expecting it to be a departure from the musical (which is fine! I never have a problem separating an original work from the new media iteration, especially if the latter is already not intentionally a “faithful” adaptation). I do wonder about this kind of wall that’s built between us as readers and Elphaba in the first half of the book, which made her POV in the second half a little shaky to me. Can we really understand her intentions from other characters who don’t have a full understanding of her? Maybe that’s the intention! It just also makes me question the love between her and Fiyero - how can she bring herself to love him? How does she allow herself that kind of intimacy when it’s already difficult for even a family member to touch her? How is he shaped into the image of the beloved? Much to think about.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia and Sexual assault

greenrequiem's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault

rebeccafarren's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Ableism, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Animal cruelty

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.

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

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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

oliviamnsnll's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I used to really like this book, and have enjoyed the musical based on it a number of times. Unfortunately during our last read though, my wife and I realised that Maguire hates women. There is not a single woman in this story who is described in remotely sympathetic terms, and the second you get to the area of "Oz" where the African inspired peoples live, it's just full of racism. I recognise that talking animals are a thing in this world, but maybe he didn't have to make the Princess of one of the Tribes in the Vinkus a literal fat elephant. 

I used to like Elphaba, Glinda, Nessarose, and even Morrible, but now I can't help but wonder if this book didn't become "popular" in part due to the unique kind of misogyny prevalent among cis gay men.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Stalking, Toxic relationship, Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia

Minor: Kidnapping, Transphobia, and Sexual assault

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Bullying, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Genocide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, and Death of parent