Rating: 
Summary: Elpheba, Galinda and Nessarose-- oh my!
Review: I've long been a huge fan of the Oz books and (to a lesser degree) of the film. I have to admit that despite all the enthusiastic reviews, I was a little bit dubious about reading Wicked. There have been other attempts to retell the Oz books in the past, and none of them have been terribly successful.I have to say that I liked Wicked far more than I had ever expected. I found it rich and full smart, sharp moments. I liked the way that the Baum details shone through and were reworked into this new, more realistic world. It managed to be satirical without hitting the reader over the head and moving without being cheap, at least most of the time. My only real quarrel was that I felt like it started to drag after Nessarose and Elpheba are reunited. I never really bought Elpheba's character changes towards the end, although I understood (I think) why they were necessary. This said, these were pretty minor flaws and should not dissuade the prospective reader.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie will never be the same!
Review: I found this delightful book while holiday shopping. A worker at a popular book store talked me into buying this book and said it was one of her favorites. She told me "Did you realize that Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West used to be best friends?" I thought how interesting, I will give it a shot. And am I happy I did! This book gives you a great spin off to the Wizard of Oz movie. The book starts out with the WWofW flying around looking for Dorothy, her companions and the beloved red rubied slippers (prologue). Then Maquire starts telling you how Elphalba (WW of the West) came into life and what her parents were like. He slowly takes you through the life of Elphalba and all the important people in her life. In the end of the book, you end up with the famous face-off between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West. How does the book end? Will it be the same as the movie? But what is so important about those slippers? What was her sister like, the Wicked Witch of the East? How did all the "witches" meet and what twisted their destiny so that they all ended up the way they did? Was the Wizard really a powerful wizard or something else? Was Elphalba really wicked or just misunderstood? Did the Wicked Witch of the West have a child? Was she the famous Kumbricia witch? Was she really a powerful, magic weilding witch as portrayed in the movie? And finally...what is up with her green skin and being scared of water? This book will answer all these questions plus leave some questions unanswered. I am thinking about rereading the book to see if I can answer some of my unanswered questions. It's definitely a great read and I will never be able to watch the movie again without thinking about the book.
Rating:
Summary: Wicked Good Book
Review: Gregory Maguire fashioned the name of Elphaba (pronounced EL-fa-ba) from the intiials of the author of The Wizard of Oz, Lyman Frank Baum-- L F B --Elphaba. Wicked derives some of its power from the popularity of its source material. Does meeting up with familiar characters and famous fictional situations require more patience and effort on the part of the reader or less? This is a very good Question. I am thrilled that he did what he did with the name. Mr. Baum is a master of the imagination, and he deserved much credit. For me, it took more patience to read for a few reasons. A. Knowing Oz as well as I feel I do (I am obsessed, so sue me), I have certain ideas about the place and its inhabitants. In order to enjoy this book, I had to give up my fantasy Oz and try to see it as the very modern world type of place Maguire depicted. I have my favorite characters, and some of them were made to do things I wouldn't see them doing. I had to pretend Glinda was different, b/c the later Oz books make her so powerful and perfect. I don't want to see her as the least bit petty, ever. B. I kept trying to guess what was next by following the storyline presented my Baum. However, this story is very different. In order to not get angry about the changes to my favorite world, I had to accept this as another side of the story. --------------------------------------------------- All in all, it was a good read. The story gripped me from beginning to end, and I hated to lay it aside. It brought up very good questions about the definition of evil and what segregation is all about, and it also reminded me that there are two sides to every story (at least 2 sides). I began to think ... "Is it possible the wizard WAS the wicked one?" I especially liked that Nessarose (Wicked Witch of the East) was a religious nut. It is a reminder to watch how we are percieved as Christians. Are we known by our love or our legalism? Do we rationalize our own sin to justify the actions we take and allow those around us to take in our names? The way people looked at Elphaba was also a reminder that we are all made in God's image. We tend to forget that those who are different than us are also made in the image of God. I like tp pick out pieces of people that remind me of the character of God. It is easier to accept others for who they are, when we realize whose image they reflect.
Rating:
Summary: Close to Greatness, Two Thumbs Up
Review: My wife and I would be hard pressed to come up with a title we enjoyed as much SECRET LIFE OF BEES, MY FRACTURED LIFE, or THE DA VINCI CODE. Yet WICKED makes a good run for the money as the story of Oz from the Witch's prospective. My wife and I both agree that the writer shows a great gift for character and uniquely creative prospective on traditional ideas. On a scale of greatness WICKED comes as close to our three standards of greatness without quite making the list.
Rating:
Summary: Gregory MaGuires' "Wicked"
Review: I have read every adult novel written by Gregory MaGuire and this book is easily his best. I first read this book when I was 15 and then told my friends about it. Many liked it and many quit after the first chapter. I had some trouble following this book at first, and often put it down to read a "less thoughtful" novel. Honestly, the reading is slow and action is scarce, but in the end you will come out of it feeling like this book made a difference. This books finds ways to address issues we deal with in every day life disguised in a imaginative land. In the end this book leaves you feeling fulfilled. When the book is finally done you may say "Thank God," But I assure you you will find yourself revisiting this story again and again. Now here is a warning...if you have not read the book you may not want to read the following sentence. Maybe the Wicked Which wasn't all evil, maybe she was just like us.
Rating: 
Summary: If you've seen the play, don't bother with the book.
Review: I got the book after having seen the play while in NYC. Big mistake! The book takes a long time to get rolling reading it took a lot of effort. I love to read, averaging a book a week with a family and a full-time job, but these 400 pages were really tough sledding. The book moves at a slow pace and it lacks energy and drama. I rate it 3 stars because the author does have a very clever premise and does a good job of integrating the story with the key features of the Wizard of Oz. Bottom line: I thought he play was a much better value than the book, even at nearly 10 times the cost of the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting viewpoint
Review: I also asked for this book as a gift, wanting to read it before seeing the play next year. I def. agree with another reviewer when they say read this book within uniteruppted time. It's hard going back once the book is put down & I often had to re-read sections. It is also quite involved - no skimming is allowed! It is wonderful when a book like this emerges & skews our whole perspective on things, and the great reviews shows our willingness to accept the other side of the story.
And to the reviewer who was offended by the "gratuitous" sex, but is not a young teenager: since this book was purchased in the adult section, your parents should have expected adult writing and so should you. Your review was extremely naive -what did you expect - a fairy tale with a happy ending?????
Rating:
Summary: Beware
Review: Although I find this book to be a very interesting one and am compelled to read it to the end because it is so different from the books I am used to I am forced to inform the general public of a few facts. I asked my parents for this book for christmas because I loved the idea of delving deeper into the seemingly half-cazed mind of the Wicked Witch of the West, however I only read some of the reviews, the short descriptions of the contents and some of the exerpt. If I had known the extent of the disgusting sexuality in this fantasy's contents I would not have read it first without my parents first perusing it and then warning me which pages to skip over. I am not a very young teenager, however I have strong values, and while reading what I thought was a very interesting book I was actually almost physically sick at one point and had to shut the book in disgust. I do like most of the book's deeper portrayal of the characters you think you know, but when reading certain passages, especially toward the center of the text I could not set my mind at ease until I had warned those others looking to read this book who are not fully prepared for its flagrent use of sexual inuendos and sensual situations to draw a very different kind of audience.
On the whole, the book possesses clever wit and amazingly interesting personalities and characters that both surprise you and intrigue you. I fell in love instantly with the green terror that is the Witch, and was happy with some changes that key characters took on. However I seriously hope that the next time Gregory Maguire writes a novel like this one, for I asume from what others have told me since I began reading this book that the others are similar in their use of sexuality, that the person or people who write the reviews or the brief descriptions of what the story contains tell the possible reader how much sex is involved and exacly how detailed the descriptions of it are.
Rating:
Summary: Wicked awesome
Review: This book is amazing. I started reading it because I love anything having to do with The Wicked Witch of the West. After reading a few pages I was hooked. READ THIS BOOK. It's incredible. And now it's been made into a musical starring Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. The Wicked Witch lives.
Rating:
Summary: Imagination and an open mind
Review: I have not even gotten half way through the book, and I think it is great. I have been reading the reviews, and I must say, If you have an imagination at all, If you love new ideas, and if you believe anything is possible in the world of imagination, then this is the book for you. It is fun and interesting, surprising, and strange. There are characters from Both the first Wizard of Oz movie, and the second, which most people never saw, but I thought was fun in a strange way.
If you want a book that doesn't stretch the limits of your imagination, or you are closeminded, boring and spend most of your time scoffing at anything new, I don't recomend this book.
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