Rating: 
Summary: The movie was okay, but the book...
Review: I never have completely favored the wizard of Oz. It was a pretty good movie. I think the book is okay, but worse than the movie. The crudity and detailed descriptions of sex make me want to throw up on the book and chunck it down a industrial strength diposal. Really why don't they just label the book as perverted, and title it 'how many ways can a witch do it'. This is not a book I would give to my friends!
Rating: 
Summary: spellbinding!
Review: It gave me a new outlook on good and evil, and showed me that you have to know both sides of a story to evaluate it properly.
Rating:
Summary: A well written story
Review: I found Macguire's "Wicked" to be a thought-provoking and rewarding book. The questions and arguments on human beings (or perhaps I should say sentient beings) and their nature put forward by the story are well posed and presented. There is certainly enough substance in the book that I will probably be picking it up to read again some time in the future without fear of boredom. One piece of advice I would give to a reader is to try not to fit this story in with the movie until the book is finished. I tended to do this time and again and found it rather distracting.
Rating:
Summary: Allegorical fable of prejudice and judgement
Review: "Wicked" tells the story of Elphaba, Wicked Witch of the West first introduced in L. Frank Baums' "Wizard of Oz" series. McGuire expands on Baum's vision, giving depth both to the land and it's inhabitants. Elphaba is green-skinned, overshadowed by her crippled sister and determined to make a name for herself. What she lacks in appearance, she compensates with intelligence and heart. Far from wicked, Elpaba is purely human and filled with good intentions. Her quest for animal rights eventually isolates her from society, and forces her to live out a destiny she was handed. Jeffrey McGuire allow the reader to understand the characters and make their own judgements. Oz becomes a parallel universe for the world we currently inhabit. Elphaba's struggles are an allegory for mankind's attempt to refrain from judgement and stereotypes.
Rating:
Summary: Too much!
Review: I'm only half-way through this stunner (which, to be perfectly honest, has been languishing on my bookshelf, unread, for almost three years!), and I can promise that I (as well as any other readers, I suspect) will never perceive the Judy Garland version of "The Wizard of Oz" in exactly the same way as I did before reading "Wicked." The "Hollywood" version is now inextricably -- and deliciously -- "tainted" for me thanks to Mr. Maguire's fantastic imaginings of the events prior to Dorothy's little "visit." "Wicked" adds an unexpected, but an entirely "credible" depth and breadth to the fabulous "Wizard of Oz" legend. (It also give the reader "pause" as he or she helplessly "casts" Judy, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, and the rest of that fabulous 1939 movie "cast of characters" in the same roles in the book!) "Wicked" is not! only marvelous story-telling in its own right, but it enriches all of the "Oz" tales enormously.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm still in shock...
Review: I bought this book because I thought it would be an amusing way to pass the time this summer. Instead I found myself enthralled and more taken into Oz than I have ever been before <the movie or the Baum books>. Who hasn't felt the pain of growing up different? Who would have guessed that the subtext of Oz would be so full of current issues that plague the real world? One of the strongest indicators of how powerful this book is to me is that I finished it a week ago and it's still all I can think about. I find it cropping in my thoughts, my dreams and my daydreams. MaGuire has taken the shine of the city of Oz and shown us that even beyond the rainbow, problems can still exist. I can't wait for my wife to finish it so I can read it again. I have a feeling that every time I read this book, I will discover something new.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: Just a couple of words, and I'll shut up and get back to the book. I haven't even finished it yet, but I had to come here and see what everyone else thought about it. What an incredible work of art. One of those rare examples of pop fiction that makes you scratch your head and ask, "How'd he come up with all this stuff?" I hope for a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: There is always another side to the story....
Review: I knew this was an outstanding book when I caught myself dreaming about it. I woke in the middle of the night, sure I had just returned from Oz... though the foundation of the house looked undisturbed, and I was not wearing the ruby slippers. I fell asleep again, only to return to this tale first thing in the morning.Gregory Maguire hit a home run with this book. Taking most of the elements of the story we all know - the house, the broom, the shoes, the Witch, a talking Lion, a fear of water - he weaves a wonderful tale of politics, intrigue, and the condition of humanity. What is a soul? What is the nature of evil? Is it evil to commit a bad act in the name of Justice? This book will compell you to ponder the imponderables. Who knew the Witch had a name? Who knew she was ultimately a sympathetic character and a hero?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent writing and characterization
Review: I loved "Wicked" until the ending (I felt the ending was clumsy). Despite that, I know I'll re-read the book and recommend it to friends as well. It left me with a lot of unanswered questions but that is OK, I don't think readers need everything spelled out for them. I found myself really caring about Elphaba. Maguire turned the Wicked Witch of the West into a person we can all identify with on some level. "Wicked" was a pleasure to read and I also enjoyed the woodcut illustrations (wish there were more of them).
Rating:
Summary: A whole new insight of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Review: The book was incredible! We chose this book for our next meeting of our book discussion group, and by far it is one of the best books. I will never look at the story of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz in the same light. The Wicked Witch of the West was not born wicked, but merely driven mad by life's trials and tribulations. The brutal death of her beloved lover sends her in hiding from society in a "nunnery". But the final blow to Elphie's persona was the death of her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East. The death of her sister sent her in a fury aimed at the evil Wizard. It was the Wizard that sent Dorothy to kill Elphie, before she could be sent home to Kansas. In fact the ending of the book is suprisingly different from Baum's original story. I recommend reading this book. It will bring back childhood memories of reading the Baum's story for the first time. Maguire did a wonderful job of tying the original names of places, major characters and many subtle refernces found in L. Frank Baum's stories written almost a century ago. Yet Maguire kept the material fresh so that you are hanging on page after page.
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