Wicked
1995
- love
- witches
- fiction
- oz (imaginary place)
- brujas
- novela
- oz (lugar imaginario)
- novela fantástica
- spanish language materials
- fiction, fantasy, general
The story
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.
What it’s like
Dense, wry, and lush on the page, with a voice that moves between sly political satire and tender, melancholy interiority. The prose is crowded with invented detail: the smoke of Oz's industrial cities, the cramped hush of a convent school, the damp greenness of the Gillikin countryside, rendered in long, looping sentences that reward slow reading. The mood is bittersweet and reflective, a cozy-melancholy read for a rainy weekend with a pot of tea, though its political undercurrents keep it from ever feeling soft. Pacing is leisurely and digressive, with frequent shifts in time and point of view, so it suits readers who enjoy being absorbed in a world rather than hurried through a plot. Its people are outsiders learning, often painfully, that goodness and cruelty are rarely where they first appear, following a clever, unlovable girl slowly becoming someone the world has already decided to fear. Violence is present but mostly offstage or sudden: there are brutal political killings, a domestic abuse thread that is disturbing without being graphic, and some sexual content and references, all handled with restraint. For adult readers who like morally complicated fantasy, witty social critique, and the reshaping of familiar myths.
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