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

challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

3.5

I love the musical enough that I wanted to read this. Honestly, you need to read it without expectations. The musical is SOO different. The book has many intriguing political symbolism throughout and lots of heavy themes. I found it difficult to relate to the characters, but I chalk that up to the writing style and the source material. It mirrors the original Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum in the sense that many of the characters are flat or static, but their development happens based on what the other characters observe about them. There is almost a "through the looking glass" effect when it comes to character development, as it doesn't happen from that POV. Generally, I enjoyed the book, but I wouldn't read it again.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, Deportation