Book Review - Wicked
Our last book club was about Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
There's a lot of interest in this book now since they've made a successful Broadway musical based on it.
One thing that was interesting to me was that so many people I've talked to have tried to read this book and given up. I picked it up years ago and, partly into it, went ugh and put it down. Andrea convinced us to get past the first 60 pages and stay with it and I'm glad she did. This turned out to be a really interesting book. It's the life story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz and, well, she really wasn't all that wicked.
Granted, this was author Gregory Maguire's interpretation, but it did a great job of weaving in L. Frank Baum's original story with some very original political/social/religious commentary. Glinda the Good Witch is pictured as a spoiled socialite who develops a conscience, the Witch is shown as someone who's trying to make the world a better place, the Wizard is a despotic ruler and Dorothy is a rather dense girl. And, everyone hates Toto. It was an intriguing interpretation.
The book also brought back memories of the movie which I haven't seen in years and made me want to read the original book just to see where the flying monkeys, bees and hounds were referenced.
I say try it, and stick with it. You'll enjoy it.
There's a lot of interest in this book now since they've made a successful Broadway musical based on it.
One thing that was interesting to me was that so many people I've talked to have tried to read this book and given up. I picked it up years ago and, partly into it, went ugh and put it down. Andrea convinced us to get past the first 60 pages and stay with it and I'm glad she did. This turned out to be a really interesting book. It's the life story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz and, well, she really wasn't all that wicked.
Granted, this was author Gregory Maguire's interpretation, but it did a great job of weaving in L. Frank Baum's original story with some very original political/social/religious commentary. Glinda the Good Witch is pictured as a spoiled socialite who develops a conscience, the Witch is shown as someone who's trying to make the world a better place, the Wizard is a despotic ruler and Dorothy is a rather dense girl. And, everyone hates Toto. It was an intriguing interpretation.
The book also brought back memories of the movie which I haven't seen in years and made me want to read the original book just to see where the flying monkeys, bees and hounds were referenced.
I say try it, and stick with it. You'll enjoy it.
