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A review by ciaraohara
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
2.25
Uhhh ?? Sooooooo not what I was expecting. I was aware that the musical is only loosely based on the book but the vibe is sooooo different, I thought there would be more similarities ?
The tone really started from me at the very beginningwith the Clock of the Time Dragon, and specifically the first puppet show (with the mother and daughter and the ….. yeah). I did not at all expect it to be so explicit? This really continued after Elphaba goes underground in the Emerald City. The musical is definitely more PG and suited to a wider audience.
Iwas also extremely surprised at how little Shiz University actually featured in the book. I suppose in the musical it takes up a much larger chunk of the setting, but the book takes place over a wayyyy longer period of time (again, something I did not know) . I did think that this added a really interesting depth to the book as it really highlighted what kind of place Oz is. I knew that in Baum’s original Oz books, Oz was a pretty morbid place. So it lived up to that expectation at least.
I also fully did expect Elphaba to survive, as in the musical. I really feel unsure about the ending because, on one hand, her death made a lot of sense for the plot and the political turmoil raging in Oz throughout and at the end of the book. On the other hand, the execution felt uncertain, and as though Maguire was trying to tell a whole story before fitting the same ending as the movie. However, I enjoyed that the ending for the Wizard further shows a more complex political environment than shown in the movie or the musical.
Overall I just feel a bit taken aback. If you’re going to read the book and already know the movie/musical well, try to go in with no expectations. It’s not the same. At all. I prefer the musical as at least the character motivations and some of the points of political tension actually go somewhere and we get a more complete ending to them. I didn’t feel that every point in the book was executed well. But it was still a fairly interesting read?
The tone really started from me at the very beginning
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Overall I just feel a bit taken aback. If you’re going to read the book and already know the movie/musical well, try to go in with no expectations. It’s not the same. At all. I prefer the musical as at least the character motivations and some of the points of political tension actually go somewhere and we get a more complete ending to them. I didn’t feel that every point in the book was executed well. But it was still a fairly interesting read?