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

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

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Published Sep 27, 1996

Average rating: 6.35

528 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Wicked* offers a dark, complex reimagining of Oz with rich social and political themes, especially around good, evil, and prejudice. Most...

novelthoughtswithamy
Jun 26, 2025
7/10 stars
I re-read the book to refresh myself for part 2 of the movie release in the fall. Whoa! The book is a lot darker than the movie for sure and there were a lot of other differences to me too. I would recommend reading the physical book vs audio book though because I had to rewind quite a few times during the denser parts of the story.
jhwarren
Mar 24, 2025
7/10 stars
I enjoyed it, the storytelling, character dynamics, and descriptive world building was great. I found that the last part was rushed and chaotic. It didn’t feel wholly organic to the characters that had been built, more a panicked realization that this story needed to be integrated back with the original telling. I’m still happy to have read it and would recommend.
njlbo1
Jul 18, 2023
4/10 stars
I'm really not sure why I continued reading this book or what I got out of it.
sking4
Jan 30, 2026
3/10 stars
I honestly couldn’t get through the book because it was a hard read. I honestly couldn’t even finish jt
kenzellwashington
Jul 02, 2025
4/10 stars
Did I forget the content of this book from when I first read it 20 years ago? Yes. Do I recommend it? Absolutely not. Will I read it again in 20 years? Yeah,
probably.

Still shocked my parents let me read this in elementary school. What a weird book.

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