Rating: 
Summary: Great reading of a GREAT BOOK !
Review: It's fantastic to find such a wonderful reading of this interesting and innovative book available on cassette. It's so often that books are 'squashed up' for cassette format and, consequently, don't seem to have the same rhythm and flow as the original stories. This is an unabridged version, the full, complete fantastic story ! This cassette edition is great, the voices are well done and it does justice to Gregory Maguire's wonderful tale of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch. One of my very favourite novels has now become one of my favourite audio books. I highly recommend it !
Rating:
Summary: A Tale from the Flip (Dark) Side...
Review: This is an adult version of the children's classic. In addition to being a well-told story, it is thought provoking about real-world issues in a completely fantastical context. For example, the entire concept for the story--the Wizard of Oz from the witch's point of view, highlights the importance of getting information from different sources, that things are not always what they seem. This is a far cry from the simple, light, good vs. evil children's story written by Frank Baum. Complex issues such as discrimination, genocide, religion and fanatacism are all addressed (and not with positive outcomes) in this well-written story.The book loses its way in the desert while working up to the "Dorothy" conclusion, but is nevertheless a great read. And for those who love the Oz stories, this version adds a new dimension, and makes you think about the old stories in new ways. One of my favorite books!
Rating: 
Summary: Wicked?
Review: An amazing novel by Gregory Maguire, a little wordy, I'll admit. But, I loved it. I was always a fan of the Wizard of Oz, especially of the Wicked Witch. What a great book. Loss of one star because of how ornate it was. Great idea though, Gregory.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: "Well, the child introduced herself as Dorothy from Kansa. I didn't know the place, and said as much. She appeared as much surprised as anyone else about what had happened, and she had a nasty little pooch yapping about her heels. Tata or Toto or something. Toto. So this Dorothy as in some state of shock, I can tell you. A fairly homely little girl with little fashion sense, but I suppose that comes later in life for some than others." Ever heard of the book or movie called, "The Wizard of Oz"? That quote above was an excerpt from the book, "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West", a new book about the point of view of the wicked witch of the west! I personally loved how the book portrayed Elphaba (The Wicked Witch of the West), and the humor in the book.
In the "Wizard of Oz" they wrote the book in Dorothy's point of view, but in this book, they wrote the book in the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view. In the very beginning, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) is born to a Minister and his wife, a royalty in Munchkinland. To their surprise, Elphaba turns out to be green, and no one in the family has ever been green! Elphaba grows up quickly and goes to a University called Shiz. She meets a rich young lady named Glinda and they become friends. They have a teacher named Doctor Dillamond who is a goat. With his help, Elphaba gets interested in the treating of Animals, animals that can talk.
I won't give away anything, but I thought this was a wonderful book, and you should read it! I couldn't put it down! You will be entranced by Elphaba!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Read!
Review: I loved this book! It was so interesting how the author took the Wizard of Oz and gave the characters' a new twist. I can't look at Glinda and The Wicked Witch of the West the same as I used to. Glinda seems so sweet and loving in the original book, but in Wicked, she seems like this spoiled selfish brat. The exact opposite the feeling the The Wizard of Oz gives you.
Maguire's desciptions are amazing. I could easily visualize it. This story is so imaginative. I love it! It was awesome how he wrote the story and he'd stop and skip a few years ahead. First he would talk about her as a baby and how her family reacts to her green skin and then skips to her school years and how she is criticized for being different. I really liked this story and I really recommend reading it, especially if you liked the Wizard of Oz! You're in for a surprise!
Rating: 
Summary: good idea -- terrible execution
Review: The author needs a better editor to cull down this pointlessly long novel. It is a shame because the essential ideas are great. You get answers to the questions like the origin of the flying monkeys, and why the witch has a green face. But the imaginative bits are swallowed whole by the uninspired dialogue and the uber-pretentious "theme" of evil. Apparently unloved people are seen by others as evil, but they are not really evil. hogwash. Read something else!
Rating:
Summary: The Nature of Evil
Review: I thought that Maguire did a fantastic job of fleshing out Elphaba, the "Wicked Witch of the West," and the world in which she lived. The detail of the political and religious structure of Oz was amazing. Through the setting he describes, he manages to cast reasonable doubt as to how evil the "witch" really was. In fact, according to Maguire's telling of things, it can be argued that she wasn't evil at all. He indicates that Elphaba was a political activist and an outcast. She may have been a pawn, manipulated by powers beyond her comprehension. At the very least, she was a woman who never found happiness for herself and was greatly pained by the treatment of other "outcasts" like herself. Maguire masterfully demonstrated the power of public opinion. Elphaba receives the title of "Wicked Witch of the West" more by association with her sister than by any actions of her own. He also makes some powerful arguments about the nature of good and evil. Any harm that Elphaba did was no worse than the harm caused by her sister in the name of the "Unnamed God" or by Glinda in her self-absorbed passivity. I think Maguire did a great job of adapting elements of the original tale into his story. Though he changes some of the details, such as the item that Dorothy presents to the Wizard to prove that the Witch is dead, all of the changes make the story he is telling more powerful and can easily be explained as variations of a myth. I was deeply moved by the final chapters of the book and they would not have had the same effect if he had parroted the details from the Wizard of Oz. Purists might be disappointed, but I thought the changes worked. In my opinion, Maguire is very respectful of the original and just adds a new dimension to the classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Zero stars, actually
Review: Self-important, pretentious and unnecessary. I struggled mightily to reach the end and almost lost it when I got to the 14 "Reader's Group Guide" questions. It's not bad enough that I lost all those hours of my life reading this book? There are people that waste even more hours discussing the "nature and roots of evil" and the "Shakespearean or Greek tragedy" elements of this book? I'll admit, the premise is intriguing, but the execution is very disappointing. I finally threw a bucket of water on the thing, hoping it would dissolve.
Rating:
Summary: Making Sense Of Oz
Review: Year after year we all watch the Wizard of Oz on television and before Gregory Maguire, never did we wonder the how and why behind the Lyman Frank Baum classic. Why was the witch green? What are the signifigance of the ruby red shoes? Why can the Lion talk? These questions are all answered and the politics of the amazingly complicated land of Oz is spelled out in Wicked and in the end was it the Witch of the West the wicked one??? Yes, Maguire has written one of the best stories of intrigue, anguish and suffering in overcoming the evil that is OZ and you will walk away with a fresh and interesting perspective of the Baum children's novel and the movie. Not light reading, requiring a good deal of concentration and attention to details but exciting as live the toils of Elphaba (the Witch of the West) as she lives her tragic life in a role she never wanted in the first place. This a great effort in the art of revisionist novel writing. Take time to read Wicked and enjoy the Broadway show opening on Oct 30, 2003 in NYC!
Rating:
Summary: Great Idea, Dull Book
Review: If only a really special and interesting author had had the idea that Gregory Maguire had, to write a novel about the early years of the Wicked Witch of the West. Alas, the idea was had by Gregory Maguire, who seems to have a lot of really good ideas but no real idea of what to do with them. There are a lot of interesting ideas in Wicked, from recasting the Wizard of Oz as a Hitlerian Machiavellian political schemer and tyrant to having Glinda and the Wicked Witch be childhood pals. Unfortunately, the ideas remain ideas, and Maguire never makes the book take off into anything special or memorable. If Angela Carter had written this, it would have been an unforgettable adventure into fantasy, terrible and beautiful. Gregory Maguire takes a dazzling idea and makes it dull as dishwater. Quite simply, an ordinary novel about extraordinary events and characters.
| 
