Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
999 Challenge Category: New-to-me authors
In this reworking of The Wizard of Oz, Maguire tells the history of Elphaba from birth to death. In between, we see her growing up years, school and friendship with Galinda, and her strong feelings about injustices in the world. The cast of characters includes a smorgasbord of humans, Animals (including a Goat who teaches at the school), and animals, as well as familiar characters like Dorothy, the Wicked Witches, and the Good Witch, each with a new twist. Maguire mixes serious moments, such as discussions about the existence of a soul or the nature of evil, and purely weird fantastical elements that left me wondering if this was something I really wanted to read.
I still don't know if I like the book, which is making it extremely hard to review. The tale is definitely unique, and includes moments that I liked and others I didn't. I'm not planning on reading this book again, but I'd try another book by this author. So, I'm giving it a rather ambivalent rating of 3 stars.
Cross posted on the 999 Challenge.
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