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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by: Gregory Maguire

Used Price: £0.01

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060987107
ISBN: 0060987103
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 406
Publication Date: November 28, 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins
Studio: HarperCollins
Sales Rank: 49330

Related Items:

Wicked: A New Musical for Piano, Voice and Guitar (Pvg)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Penguin Popular Classics)

Editorial Review:

Synopsis:
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? Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Wicked In Every Way.
As a child i enjoyed the Oz books and the films.
I was looking forward to reading this book, thinking it would be a lighthearted family type thing.

I couldnt be more wrong. This book is one of the best books i have ever read. Oz becomes a completely different place to the one we know of. But in a strange way, it fits perfectly in within the stories of the original Oz.

The style of this book is witty and thought provoking. I found myself unable to put this book down.

I have watched The Wizard of Oz since reading this book, and it has completely changed it for me. When the Wicked Witch of the West gets melted, i felt sorry for her.

It is almost as if the Wizard of Oz was a legendary ... Read More:

Rating:

- Pretentious nonsense...and boring to boot!
I have so many criticisms of this book: Firstly, none of the characters have any charm or interest value. Despite being written about at length, there is no-one I gave a damn about. Secondly, nothing interesting happens throughout the whole book (or rather big, interesting events do happen but they are captured in such a boring way). Thirdly, the book takes itself far too seriously. There is no humour in the book of any description. How many fiction books do not raise a titter throughout 500 pages? I can't think of any. This lack of humour added to the feeling of dryness and boredom I felt throughout reading. Fourthly, there is lots of waffle around big themes: Religion; Consciousness; Adultery; Good vs Evil; Politics. However, it is just filler. ... Read More:

Rating:

- A GOOD LITTLE PAGE TURNER
I saw the fantastic musical before I read the book and it became apparent very early on that the former is only very loosely based on the book, pretty much around the characters alone. However, I found it to be a good story and not as whimsical as expected. It dealt with quite dark issues; politics, death, rejection, cruelty, anger, loss and all manner of emotions. I really cared what happens to Elphaba. If I have a criticism it is in the way the story moves on quickly on a couple of occasions and you are left with a lot of unanswered questions around her latter childhood and the period around the loss of Fiyero. I have also bought the sequel, Son of a Witch and am hoping that this will fill in some, if not all of the gaps. If not, there's always ... Read More:

Rating:

- Ingeneous!
What a brilliant idea and an even better book. I loved this book and the characters in it and the difference between this book and the Judy Garland Oz could not be more extreme but all the better for it. Elphaba is a brilliant character and the Animals and animals is another stroke of geneuous. Am giving 4 stars because the sequel is even better and that deserves 5.

Rating:

- The Wicked Wrench of the West
Let's start off by saying how much I was looking forward to reading the book. How much I wanted to see the musical. I was so looking forward to being emerced in the wonderful world of Oz, finding out what made the wicked witch of the west tick that when I closed the book after reading it in two days flat the sense of immense disappointment almost knocked me sideways.

I had read rave reviews and seen all the press bumpf that accompanied a book that had hit upon a fantastic, yet so delightfully simple idea, to work backwards from such a familiar, popular and well known story that I imagined so much. I had almost dreamt of the way Maguire was going to breathe life into his characters that when I actually encountered them the anticipation ... Read More:

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