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

Weird and poorly written. I’m only glad it exists because we have Wicked the musical because of it.

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.

I got too bored and quit halfway through. Musical really is better.

Probably should have been called the Freaky Witch of the West. Why was this written? Why was it so unnecessarily freaky? I was expecting Wicked the musical genius inspo (I had been warned that this book is nuts, I should have listened), but the musical got the story right and better. This felt like a Wicked fanfic but whoever wrote it didn’t know what happened in Act 2, which is unfortunate because ITS THE SOURCE MATERIAL. Insane.

"In the life of a Witch, there is no after, in the ever after of a Witch, there is no happily, in the story of a Witch, there is no afterword. Of that part that is beyond the life story, beyond the story of the life, there is -- alas, or perhaps thank mercy -- no telling. She was dead, dead and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation for malice." Before that fateful day when a house from Kansas fell on the Wicked Witch of the West, there was a girl named Elphaba. She was born with green skin, snarling teeth, and a natural magical ability that no one understood or could explain. This is her story. Who she really was as opposed to who others thought she was. How she became the Wicked Witch of the West. How her sister became the Wicked Witch of the East. And what led G(a)linda to give a young girl with a little dog and three friends a pair of jewelled slippers rightfully meant for Elphaba. This book was a total surprise. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. I'm not even sure how I feel about it. I waivered back and forth between liking and disliking it. There was so much to like about it (i.e., the social commentary and treatment of some very serious issues), and yet there was a lot about it that was downright bizarre. There are multiple scenes of sex, violence, and drugs, so think carefully before giving this to a minor to read.