Wicked

Written by Gregory Maguire before being dismembered and reshaped for a Disney-esque musical (which was rather fantastic I do have to admit), Wicked has to be one of my all-time favourite books! Gregory Maguire is a genius of the highest stature in my opinion, taking beloved stories, characters, and worlds, and reimagining and reinventing them to make them all the more wondrous. Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, as the title suggests, chronicles the entire life of Elphaba, better known as the Wicked Witch of the West, from her birth right up to her fatal meeting with Dorothy. The world of Oz and all its beloved characters from L. Frank Baum’s original classic are rewritten for a new generation of fairytale lovers and indeed Oz itself becomes a land that is still fantastical and wondrous, but running a little closer to that of our own. I adore Gregory Maguire and I ADORE THIS BOOK! 

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West, it was only her side of the story that was heard. What about the mysterious Witch? From her strange yet humble birth in rural Munchkinland, the green-skinned girl called Elphaba was always prickly, smart, and misunderstood. But was she wicked? Through university she had a circle of close friends including Galinda who would grow up to be the Good Witch of the North, and her sister Nessarose, latter dubbed the Wicked Witch of the East. A believer of life sciences rather than magic Elphaba spent her time at university assisting the Goat Doctor Dillamond in his campaign to further the rights of Animals by proving how kith and kin they are to humans. But as the tyrannical Wizard continues to bring further pain and suffering to the inferior races of Oz, she leaves university and goes to the Emerald City to help in underground rebellions. Try as she might to distance herself from those the loves, misfortune trails poor Elphaba and attacks her friends and family, finally thrusting her into the remote hills of the Vinkus where her reputation as a Witch begins. 

The world of Oz is reinvented into a land with just as many problems as that of our own. My view is that Maguire has painted Oz as a fantastical Europe during the Great War: all these smaller nations making up an empire with, of course, those who rebel. Political and religious themes and arguments get dragged out of the wardrobe to fuel the tensions and dramas of this book as well as not so much question but rather completely break down readers’ preconceived notions of the nature of good and evil. 

The character of Elphaba is one of the most influential and striking characters in literature I think because she and her story so incredibly blur the distinctions between good and wickedness: being a portrait of evil because of her ‘otherness’, but then being such a strong mind and with such a strong will to do good. You cannot help but not agree with Elphaba’s lot, but at the same time you cannot really claim that she is undeserving of it. She’s a brilliant heroine. 

Another thing that I really love about this book was its abstractedness and its ambiguity. There are so many plot twists and focal points that are only hinted at but never clearly announced to us: Elphaba’s true heritage, her sister’s too, the characters of Liir and Yackle and their connection with everything, the list goes on and on. Books are much more interesting when you can feel that there is more meaning behind the initial words on the page. 

The structure of the book is something to be marvelled at too. Divided into sections that tell Elphaba’s story from various periods of her life: her birth, then college years etc, it’s then divided again into chapters, some of them titled some of them not, that tell key events from the perspectives of other characters e.g. Boq and Galinda. Written in the third person, the entire thing is still hugely intimate and beautiful. 

Filled with action, politics, magic, religion, legends, myths, rebellion, romance, and comedy, Wicked is one of my favourite books of all time and I’d highly recommend it if you’re a lover of fantasy and fairytales. It’s a masterwork of pure imagination and pure GENIUS!