Rating: 
Summary: Maguire just doesn't get it.
Review: Having finished Wicked about 3 days ago, I just read the synopsis of the musical and (even though I own and have practically memorized the album) I discovered that they couldn't be more different.I started and put down the book months ago, but picked it up again after being inspired by the fantastic musical score. I was anxious to fill in the holes between the songs, which seemed to be quite interesting. While the book was fascinating, the hard truth is that the musical story seemed to be twisted for all the right reasons. Maguire, while writing a richly detailed account of Elphaba, who is only somewhat likable, lacks the romantic flair and suspense that the story is aching for. For instance, in the show, Elphaba loses the battle for Fiyero early on to Glinda, so a lot of tension has built up, and the payoff comes near the end, when Fiyero finally falls for Elphie. In the book, well, you'll see. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. What Maguire seems to fail to realize is the old adage, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." It is my belief that the feeling of being ugly or disfigured along with being unlucky in love can create genuine fury in women. Yet, Elphaba (and ESPECIALLY Nessarose) make unwise and slightly evil decisions based on nothing but politics and religion. Plus, the rivalry with the seemingly perfect Galinda could have been so much stronger. I read the whole book waiting for the real oomph to kick in, and it never came. This could have been so much more.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Idea, Excellent Story!
Review: I am a big fan of stories retold from the viewpoint of another character, and this one lives up to its praise. Gregory Maguire does a wonderful job of exploring the nature of good and evil and the idea that there are always two sides to a story. Fans of The Wizard of Oz, both the Baum story and the MGM production, will enjoy this twist on a treasured tale.
Rating: 
Summary: More "HUH?" than "HMM."
Review: As my title implies, this book had me alternately wondering what the heck the author was thinking (or not, as the case may be), and coming across a line or two I found mildly interesting or amusing. The premise is a great one, but the execution leaves much to be desired. First of all, fans of the classic Oz series need to know that this is not fairy-tale material. I would not recommend this to a young audience, as alluring as the prospect of Oz stories may be. Maguire includes a lot of sexually explicit material and gore in this book (most of which is totally unnecessary to the plot, creating annoying interruptions). Hey, sex is fine with me, but in literature I prefer when it actually flows with everything else going on. So, with the R-rating warning out of the way, I can go on to my other complaints. Maguire seems unable to make up his mind as to what he wants to do with this story. Is it a political statement? Is it some (rather lame) attempt to address the source of evil in the world? Are we focusing on trying to implement elements of classic Oz? Is this a morality play? Is it just an opportunity to write about bizarre sexual encounters with animals? Or to reiterate one more time that Elphaba is, indeed, green? More flying monkeys would have been an improvement. Maguire has his moments when he does say something interesting in this book (hence two stars, instead of one). Generally, these are few and far between, and you have to recover first from the rest of the utter nonsense and sensationalism he fills this book with. I came to the end wondering why I had wasted so much time. I suppose I was hoping for a grand finale that would bring some insight into why I had read the last several hundred pages - needless to say, it never came.
Rating:
Summary: It lacks a ball of fire
Review: After reading so many rave reviews, I found this book to be a tedious, clicheed and ponderously slow moving dissapointment. It's loaded with ponderous and clunky social commentary; even though I agreed with his opinions, I found the language and dialogue difficult to swallow. And while the Frank L. Baum books and the classic movie are enchanting, this book is a bore.
Rating:
Summary: An Unexpected Heroine
Review: I've loved the land of Oz since I was a young child, and have read every Oz book. Of course anyone who has read "The Wizard of Oz", or seen the movie, knows that the Wicked Witch of the West is a woman to be hated and feared - until now. Born different than everyone else (even in Oz, green skin and pointy teeth is considered strange), and ostracized for most of her life, we see the Wicked witch's growth from a shy, shunned, young child to feared, strong woman, fighting for her beliefs in a corrupted country. I was totally drawn into this book, and didn't want the end to come. The Wicked Witch of the West is an amazing heroine.
Rating: 
Summary: New Impression of the Wicked Witch of the West
Review: This book has truly impressed me as has Elphaba. The future 'green meanie' known to us all in The Wizard of Oz. "Fabala", "Elphie", "Faye", as she is known by her family, friends and lover, is truly captivating and someone you just may want to know yourself. She is smart, compassionate, and simply misunderstood! I have been recommending this book to everyone I speak with these days and its been touch to put it down. Bonus: Did you know that "Elphie" and Galinda, aka: Glinda went to college together? Or that "Elphie" had a son? Get reading!
Rating:
Summary: A Wicked Idea, A Timid Execution
Review: I grew up reading L. Frank Baum's Oz novels and have also always loved villain-centered stories, whether it was "Grendel" or the Flashman novels. So when I spotted "Wicked" in my local bookstore, it looked like this novel was written just for me. The map inside and the first few pages made it clear that, while author Gregory Maguire might be taking some liberties with what readers think they know about Oz, he was doing so within the context of the Oz lore that Baum set forth a century ago. In other words, this was to be an Oz novel for adults. Unfortunately, that's not what was actually delivered. "Wicked" is an Oz novel, but it's a novel intended to impress people like John Updike and the "New Yorker" editors. It's one thing to have literary ambitions - frankly, too few American writers bother with writing works of substance or quality in this blockbuster-minded world - but it's another to sabotage your own storytelling for the sake of lending the appearance of extra literary weight to a novel already sufficiently weighty; it's gilding the lily, and slowing the novel needlessly. The story of Elphaba and the (mostly) bloodless political and cultural revolutions Oz is going through leading up to "The Wizard of Oz" is one rich with ideas, social, political and religious. But first time novelist Maguire appears afraid to leave all this out in the open, in the milieu of a fantasy or children's novel. Instead, he approaches everything in a roundabout fashion, hinting at things, obscuring characters' intentions and behavior, and even making the main plot thread difficult to puzzle out at times. I don't dislike such things normally: Franz Kafka's "The Castle," Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" are all favorite stories, and all use the technique to stunning effect. But in those cases, the obfuscation was an integral part of the work, whether it be the (probable) madness of the latter two or the baffling and mysterious bureaucracy of the former. But here, Maguire's elliptical writing style is, with one exception, something thrust upon fairly straightforward events, not a natural consequence of them. (The single exception is a mysterious encounter at Shiz, the school where the future witches of the east, west and north are all students - their possible indoctrination as sleeper agents of someone attempting to manipulate the course of Ozian politics is creepy and effective, and the girls being put under a spell and/or hypnotized makes the vagueness of this passage work to great effect.) This is all especially frustrating as Maguire's storytelling - when he gets out of his own way - is excellent, and the basic framework of the novel is currently the toast of Broadway, in the Grammy-nominated musical version of "Wicked." While that production is arguably too dumbed-down (Elphaba wanting the Wizard to de-green her may work as a nice parallel to the characters in "The Wizard of Oz," but it strikes a discordant note for a character with steel for a backbone), it does point to the fact that the story works as a story quite well without needing the self-consciously literary flourishes with which Maguire gilds his story. In many ways, it would have been nicer if "Wicked" were Maguire's second novel, not his first: The glimpses of brilliance that fans respond to in the novel might well have been unobscured if he was confident enough in his vision to not have tried to stack the deck and guaranteed the approval of sober-minded literary critics for someone daring to examine modern life through the lens of a classic children's story. Recommended for adult fans of the Oz novels or movies willing to wade through a novel not as good as it ought to have been. Those who get discouraged with the sometimes glacial pace and obscure writing style are advised to pick up the "Wicked" musical soundtrack instead, which has full lyrics in the liner notes, and is also available from Amazon.
Rating:
Summary: WICKED
Review: heartbreakingingly beautiful,lovely use of language,the casual and abrupt nature of violence is breathtaking and too real - i wanted so much for these characters to have more happiness than they did,though i know they could not...i want to know how it truly ends for Liir, Nor, and Fiyero(i think he's still alive...i hope so...) i'm told there is a sequel and a film but can't find it -if there is please let me know
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly surprised!!!
Review: I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who grew up watching the "Wizard of Oz" on TV. What a wonderful twist to the story. I can't wait to read Gregory Maguire's other books.
Rating:
Summary: Truly unique! A masterpiece...
Review: Wicked was a wonderful surprise. This was the first Gregory Maguire novel I've read, and I had little knowledge of his work. Maguire delivers a rich, textured story without attempting to detail the how, why, where of the land of OZ, but rather provides us a glimpse into a land that "simply exists."
Dorothy is just a blip on the radar screen, and rightly so; this is the "Life and times" of the Wicked Witch of the West, not the life and times of Dorothy. Some may feel cheated by the fact that Dorothy and her companions are late in coming, and have little to do with the plot. For those who are in this camp, I suggest renting the "Wizard of Oz," and you'll learn all you need to know about Dorothy. Without going out on a limb, I will say that Maguire creates a land, not entirely unlike Tolkien's Middle Earth, which was there long before Dorothy, and the impact she makes is but a ripple which has little effect on it's future. This land is every bit as real as our own, just different. Magic is a course of study at University. Animal Rights takes on a very different meaning than we are familiar with in our world. Prejudicial treatment is quite real, as well as fascist leaders...although the Big Cheeze (Mr Wizard, himself) is a product of OUR world. I enjoyed the story of Elphaba's childhood years, and found her sarcastic wit refreshing. Many "outcasts by choice" in our world will probably empathise with her plight. The reader will soon realise how misunderstood and tragic her life is. Looking through the eyes of Dorothy at such a complex and adult world is much the same as viewing our world through the eyes of any modern day, naive preteen. The "Wizard of Oz" gave us this view. Wicked gives us the "True" story, with all it's grit, sex, conspiracy, war, and tragity. This isn't a light read, and those looking to make comparisons between what they remember from a childhood movie, and "Wicked" may find themselves very disappointed.
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