Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

[sarahmichelef]

I read Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister several years ago and found it thoroughly enjoyable. It was engrossing, entertaining, fascinating. Wicked is all of those things, too.

Wicked, however, is also a punch in the gut in literary form.

"One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her -- is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil? It is at the very least a question of definitions." (231).

This quote nearly made me die in meta-ecstasy. Brilliant! This is the question that is supposedly answered in Wicked - how did the Wicked Witch of the West come to be wicked? Elphaba/Fabala/Elphie/Fae/Auntie Witch is not wicked, though. She's trapped. Trapped in her green body, trapped in the role that she was thrust into by virtue of being neither of Oz nor of the other land. She's doing the best that she can to get by in a world that doesn't make any sense to her. The one person in the world who loved her for herself was killed because of her. (And dammit, I want to know what exactly happened to poor Fiyero!) Her attempts to do right by his family were rebuffed by Sarima (but did she do right be becoming a part of the family?) and then foiled by the Wizard. She's just trying to make things right - fighting for Animal rights, fighting to rescue Nor, Munchkinland, and all of Oz from the Wizard.

And in the end, it really does just go horribly, horribly wrong.

I'll be starting Son of a Witch tonight. I'm so very looking forward to it...

Comments

[marajade648.livejournal.com]

Out of the 3 you mention I think I liked "confesssions" the most. But they were all good. Wicked is second followed by "son". I think wicked was so busy to really deserves a re-read. The major problem with "son of a witch" is that I don't know how it would be as a stand alone book without reading wicked. I think it was character driven, I wanted to know how the characters turned out which I might not have cared about if I didn't read wicked. Still a good read.

[blazing-sun16.livejournal.com]

See, maybe I should reread "Wicked," because I hated it. I nonetheless read "Confessions" recently and liked it very much, so maybe it was just a time and place thing.

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

Wicked is *way* more intense than I remember Confessions being. So depending on why you didn't like it...

[childsplay7.livejournal.com]

I loved the literary writing of Wicked but it was so *damn* depressing I just doing want to pick up any of his other books.

[marajade648.livejournal.com]

the other books are hardly "uplifting" but none of the other's I've read were quite as intense.