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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West | 
 enlarge | Author: Gregory Maguire
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $15.01
You Save: $11.94 (44%)
New (21) Used (20) Collectible (24) from $9.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  1526 reviews
Sales Rank: 4016
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.6
ISBN: 0060391448
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060391447
ASIN: 0060391448
Publication Date: October 31, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081202223058T
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Product Description
Following the traditions of Gabriel GarcIa Marqu,z, John Gardner and J.R.R. Tolkien, Wicked is a richly woven tale that takes us to the other, darker side of the rainbow as novelist Gregory Maguire chronicles the Wicked Witch of the West's odyssey through the complex world of Oz -- where people call you wicked if you tell the truth. Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin -- no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or to overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. But Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters the university in Shiz, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz' most promising young citizens. Elphaba's Oz is no utopia. The Wizard's secret police are everywhere. Animals -- those creatures with voices, souls and minds -- are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals -- even it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Even wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas. In Wicked, Gregory Maguire has taken the largely unknown world of Oz and populated it with the power of his own imagination. Fast-paced, fantastically real and supremely entertaining, this is a novel of vision and re-vision. Oz never will be the same again.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1521 more reviews...
 phew December 2, 2008
This book is one of the rare ones that I find unenjoyable, unreadable and boring. Read about 30 pages and threw it away. Will not recommend it. The transaction was acceptable but the product wasn't.
 Something Wicked this way comes! December 1, 2008
Are we born evil or does our environment/situations create evil? Gregory Maguire's revision of the world of Oz takes a look at the evolution of Elphaba, best known to readers and lovers of the popular film as The Wicked Witch of the West. But was she really wicked or just completely misunderstood? Either way, you'll never think of Dorothy or the Wicked Witch in the same light again!
Maquire takes us to beginning as new parents Frex, a religious man, and Melena, born into a life of privilege, receive into the world a little green skinned daughter. Melena, unsure of what to do with the tiny monster she has given birth to, is helped by her childhood nanny to give little 'Fabala' a better start in life. With a mouth of sharp teeth, green pigmentation and "horrors" being her first words, Elphie is a force to be reckoned with. But Nanny works her magic and we next see Elphaba attending Shiz, the university where she meets Galinda (later to become Glinda, the Good Witch). Glinda is a spoiled young lady whose main concerns are popularity and the right people to be seen with---essentially a spoiled frat girl. Through a hand of fate, she and Elphaba become roommates and so begins a lifelong relationship filled with ups and downs.
It is at Shiz where the genesis of Elphaba's love for animals begins. Eventually she becomes an animal activist and political terrorist to support the rights she is dedicated to. Along the way, she has an affair with a married man, a Prince she met at Shiz, who becomes the love of her life. But her secret, dark life effects her hidden lover and she is soon on her way to become a maunt (a nun).
From birth to her time at the university and beyond, Maguire shows us the gradual evolution of Elphaba and the woman she becomes by the time she meets Dorothy, a young lady from the other world, who's house lands on top of and kills, Elphie's sister, Nessarose. There's a lot of components in Maquire's world of Oz---psychology, fantasy, thriller, romance, politics. There are many touches of dark comedy introduced in the story as well, particularly between Elphaba and Glinda. Maquire gives us a complete world full of political struggles, corruption and denied rights of individual and animals that mirror todays world. In the end, the reader can decide if Elphaba's actions were evil or if she was evil from conception. At any rate, I think readers will enjoy this trip to Oz, even more so than the popular film that everyone recognizes.
 Wicked November 29, 2008
What can I say... this book is... wicked!
I thought the book was great. I thought the quick ending short changed the story, though.
Great *adult* read (too sexy by half) November 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm coming at this rather late (the Wicked wave having crested several years back) but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Wicked is the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West as told from a sympathetic point of view. Greg McGuire has woven a compelling story that , while not contradicting the familiar story lines of "The Wizard of Oz," certainly gives it a new spin. The WWW in "Wicked" is the deformed child of a failed preacher and a lonely mother, whose personality, while as sharp as her prowlike facial features, is more hurt than evil. Accustomed to being shut out, she develops a dislike for authority and finds herself at odds with the Wizard himself, seen through her eyes as a genocidal despot.
"Wicked" gives us the dark side of Oz -- a land of industrial exploitation, racial prejudice, backwardness, religious turmoil and political intrigue. It is populated by talking animals, empty-headed social butterflies and nasty boarding school matrons. In spite of her sharp tongue, rude manners and irreligiosity, Elphaba Throp (WWW's given name) sees too clearly to be a comfortable friend. Knowing that an ordinary life as wife and mother is likely out of her reach due to her green skin, she strokes out in more dangerous directions.
"Wicked" is mostly clever about the way Elphaba gathers the familiar accouterments of her screen namesake. It would spoil the book by telling how, but by the end of the book, the reader will have seen her slow transformation from a scorpion-tongued schoolgirl to the dark robed keeper of magic brooms, looking glasses and flying monkeys.
The book does lag in places, notably a section about the politics of Oz and another related to Elphaba's flight from civilization. In addition, at some point, it becomes fairly clear (from elements) that Elphaba gathers around her) how the familiar Wizard of Oz characters -- like the flying monkeys that terrified me as a child -- will come to be. Other sections were a bit too spicy for me and *way* too sexy for any but the savviest high schoolers. Two sections stand out as quite uncomfortable -- the night at the Philosopher's club (an audience-interactive sex show) and a graphic description of a love affair. Film this movie as written and it would rate a solid R, if not an NC-17. Not the kind of book to give a young person who loved the tamer Broadway show.
"Wicked" is compelling reading, written with wit, humor and sparkling prose. Bravo to Greg McGuire for re-imagining a familiar world and imbuing it for plausible features of our own. Bravo to John McDonough for a terrific narration of the audio book, giving the characters their own voice, and giving Elphaba the rough, petulant and wounded voice of her own.
Great idea, bad book November 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I first heard of the premise of this book, I thought, "Wow, what a great idea!" I still think it is a great idea for a book, however, this book was incredibly disappointing! Too many odd names and places which makes it difficult to follow. After reading 1/2 of this book, I took it to a used book store and made $1.50 off of it. I was tired of wasting my time reading it each night hoping the story would hook me. It never happened.
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