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Title: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction)
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Manufacturer: Harper
List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $3.78
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) by Harper I loved it. | | I think the author puts a great set of twists on the original storyline. I enjoyed this book. Different but refreshingly so. | | Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) by Harper Wicked: The Disjointed, Long Winded Saga of the Wicked Witch | | I was very excited to receive my copy of "Wicked..." in the mail. But, once I started reading, I became quickly disappointed. I am an unsually speedy reader and found myself dragging through this extremely cumbersome text. The story is interesting, but it is bogged down with too many details and disjointed ramblings. | | Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) by Harper Not what I expected | | This book was extremely difficult to get through. It's dark, demented, and twisted. I chose it for the Book Club I'm hosting this time around and none of the other members liked it either. I have one word for this book....disappointing. | | Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) by Harper A huge disappointment | I had heard of the musical version of Wicked and listened to the songs, which are peppy and fun. I turned to this book expecting to see a believable way that a person who started out good (or neutral) could turn into the evil, vengeful Wicked Witch of the West in the popular children's movie. If anyone reading this is looking for the same thing, you will be sorely disappointed by this book.
The story is dull, the characters lifeless, and the writing is painful to wade through. I would have expected many opportunites for laughs (the musical has plenty), but this book is utterly humorless. The good-to-evil metamorphosis never occurs. This witch doesn't do any of the villanous things in the familiar land of Oz, so there never is the angle of seeing a justified side of her "evil". Late in the book there is an attempt at discussing the nature of evil, which is actually just a list of disconnected statements made by people at a dinner table. It was pointless and struck me as pretentious -- the writer seems to think he's "deep" by talking about evil, but offers no insight or conclusions about it.
Some people have criticized the musical for departing too radically from the book, but that was the best thing they could have done. The musical is popular and enjoyable. I think the author has only made a lot of money on this book because people think the premise sounds cool, and then after being disappointed they can't return the book.
| | Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) by Harper Ozmazing.... | | I have never seen the musical "Wicked" nor have I heard the music from it. The only thing I've ever seen of the musical was the minute or so clip from it on "Ugly Betty" last season. I have, however, read the classic "Wizard of OZ" and seen (numerous times) and loved the MGM movie. Seeing the book on every bookshelf from Borders to Wal-Mart to Walgreens finally peaked my interest enought to purchase the book. I went into this with ABSOLUTELY no expectations whatsoever. I was hooked immediately into the story with the birth of Elphaba, the little green baby with sharp teeth who later became the Wicked Witch of the West. The baby Elphaba was literally a monster when she was born but as she aged Elphie became a normal young woman. Or as normal as she could be, what with her green skin and all. We follow Ephaba as she leaves home and goes a woman's boarding school/college. There she becomes roomates with Galinda, a snotty thing. Galinda of course later becomes Glinda, the Good Witch. From this point on we follow Elphaba's life and slowly witness the events that later change this intelligent woman into a wicked witch. This story isn't for children, or the easily offended. If someone is completely obsessed with the movie Wizard of Oz, and you don't want that image tarnished, skip this one. We definately see a side of Oz, Frank never intended us to see. Maguire's Oz makes a lot of sense. It is apparent the author truly knows his "Wizard of Oz" from the book to the movie. I found that a lot of blanks were filled in for me here, while also allowing me at least a degree of empathy for the Wicked Witch. Only the last fifth of the book or so, brings in Dorothy and her motley crew, the scarecrow, lion, tinman, and Toto. Maguire follows this part of the story fairly closely. The only things that really stood out to me was the fact that Elphaba wasn't present to see her sister lying dead beneath Dorothy's house, and the Wizard of Oz is truly the evil party here. There was no kind man behind the face of the Wizard here. This guy comes off like a fictionalized Hitler. There was also no scene involving Dorothy and crew getting their desires and learning they already had them all along. Again, this isn't your normal fairy tale. And it defenately isn't a book for your kids. There is plenty of sex here, far more than should have been in my opinion. Of course I've read worse, but that part just feels odd in Oz. The lion talking about castration made me balk a little...but maybe that's one of the intents in "Wicked". I found myself thinking about this book awhile after I finished it. Tracing back how Elphaba drifted down the path of wickedness. I think the seed was always there and she fought to be normal, and then it just became to much for her. I'm babbling here too much. This book was amazing, far more than I ever intended. I did a little research into the musical "Wicked" and I can say it appears to be very different and a lot more kid friendly. I can't say that those changes will sit well with me because I truly love this story as it stands. | | Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) by Harper Product Description | When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil? Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil. |
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