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Books : Wicked (Wicked Years 1)
Rating: 
- A whole new side to the witches of Oz....
Wicked the novel is a very well written and imaginative read. Gregory Mcguire obviously put a lot of thought on how he wanted to portray the characters in his book. It begins with the wicked witch of the west (Elphaba) following dorothy along the yellow brick road and basically takes you through her life and explains why she ends up the way ahe is in the wizard of oz. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book- it does however get quite complicated and political in some places, but saying that, I started the book expecting to have to trawl through it and was pleasently surprised. Its a very good book but BE AWARE THAT IT IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE STAGE MUSICAL so do not go to see the show, expecting it to be exactly the same or vice versa because they are both seperate things with only the basics in common. The musical is the best I've ever seen so do not be put off should you choose to read the book first.
Rating:
- It's not easy being green.
Wicked was the first book in our newly formed book club, and between us, people either hated it or loved it. I was intrigued and amazed at the level of creativity it takes to come up with the highly unique imaginary names of the people and places in this story. There were familiar characters and new ones, and places a person could never even dream of. This book evolved a fantastical world to the maximum capacity, and there was an odd timbre to the book, but after adjusting to this, you easily fall in with the evocative names and Gregory Maguire's superbly descriptive style of writing, eventually feeling enmeshed in this fantastical world. It almost seems sacrilegious to do a book like this about "The Wonderful Land of Oz", but as a grown-up, I guess all imaginings from our youth must come to an end, and this is definitely an end to the wholesome image of Judy Garland's Oz. The main character, Elphaba, seems like a person we all knew in high school who resents everyone, wears black, and whose hair covers one eye for some reason. Sometimes her shrill, whiny attitude makes you think, oh good grief, get over yourself, but you soon realize that even in this bizarre Land of Oz, it ain't easy being green. The ending was a little anticlimactic- I'm not sure what I was expecting since we all basically know what happens (it follows the general outline of the Wizard of Oz); however, I still enjoyed the book very much, and I thought it was a marvel of the creative process.
Rating: - Gripping, Shrewd and Philisophical though Nothing like the Musical
I purchased this book having been enthralled by the musical. It quickly became apparent the book is very different from the musical with murder, illicit sexual encounters and a social class system. Maguire makes Oz a fully functioning place with politics, revolutions and religions; characters frequently pause for philisophical debate and Maguire non-too-subtley comments on oppression, conformity, naievity and Nazism. I couldn't put it down and throughouly enjoyed it, but do be warned it's darker and more complicated than the stage show.
Rating: - a great read
i wasn't expecting much from the reviews, but i loved it. why are people complaining about someone humanising a previously wicked character? nobody is saying that about voldemort from harry potter for example, whose past is continually explored all the way through the series and still is one of the most hated characters in the history of literature. i think the book is great. written so well and very wittily with great one liners from elphaba usually, i can see where they got some punchlines for the musical! the character of elphaba shows how human she can be and i felt like i could connect with her a little at times
Rating:
- A let down!
If you enjoyed the musical and are expecting this book to be the same, or at least reasonably similar, BEWARE!!!
I couldn't get into this at all, and after watching the musical I felt let down in a big way!
If you haven't watched the musical maybe you feel differently - but I was personally let down by the fact that it felt as if it was a different story completely to the musical!
- A whole new side to the witches of Oz.... Wicked the novel is a very well written and imaginative read. Gregory Mcguire obviously put a lot of thought on how he wanted to portray the characters in his book. It begins with the wicked witch of the west (Elphaba) following dorothy along the yellow brick road and basically takes you through her life and explains why she ends up the way ahe is in the wizard of oz. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book- it does however get quite complicated and political in some places, but saying that, I started the book expecting to have to trawl through it and was pleasently surprised. Its a very good book but BE AWARE THAT IT IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE STAGE MUSICAL so do not go to see the show, expecting it to be exactly the same or vice versa because they are both seperate things with only the basics in common. The musical is the best I've ever seen so do not be put off should you choose to read the book first.
Rating:
- It's not easy being green.Wicked was the first book in our newly formed book club, and between us, people either hated it or loved it. I was intrigued and amazed at the level of creativity it takes to come up with the highly unique imaginary names of the people and places in this story. There were familiar characters and new ones, and places a person could never even dream of. This book evolved a fantastical world to the maximum capacity, and there was an odd timbre to the book, but after adjusting to this, you easily fall in with the evocative names and Gregory Maguire's superbly descriptive style of writing, eventually feeling enmeshed in this fantastical world. It almost seems sacrilegious to do a book like this about "The Wonderful Land of Oz", but as a grown-up, I guess all imaginings from our youth must come to an end, and this is definitely an end to the wholesome image of Judy Garland's Oz. The main character, Elphaba, seems like a person we all knew in high school who resents everyone, wears black, and whose hair covers one eye for some reason. Sometimes her shrill, whiny attitude makes you think, oh good grief, get over yourself, but you soon realize that even in this bizarre Land of Oz, it ain't easy being green. The ending was a little anticlimactic- I'm not sure what I was expecting since we all basically know what happens (it follows the general outline of the Wizard of Oz); however, I still enjoyed the book very much, and I thought it was a marvel of the creative process.
Rating:
- Gripping, Shrewd and Philisophical though Nothing like the MusicalI purchased this book having been enthralled by the musical. It quickly became apparent the book is very different from the musical with murder, illicit sexual encounters and a social class system. Maguire makes Oz a fully functioning place with politics, revolutions and religions; characters frequently pause for philisophical debate and Maguire non-too-subtley comments on oppression, conformity, naievity and Nazism. I couldn't put it down and throughouly enjoyed it, but do be warned it's darker and more complicated than the stage show.
Rating:
- a great readi wasn't expecting much from the reviews, but i loved it. why are people complaining about someone humanising a previously wicked character? nobody is saying that about voldemort from harry potter for example, whose past is continually explored all the way through the series and still is one of the most hated characters in the history of literature. i think the book is great. written so well and very wittily with great one liners from elphaba usually, i can see where they got some punchlines for the musical! the character of elphaba shows how human she can be and i felt like i could connect with her a little at times
Rating:
- A let down!If you enjoyed the musical and are expecting this book to be the same, or at least reasonably similar, BEWARE!!!
I couldn't get into this at all, and after watching the musical I felt let down in a big way!
If you haven't watched the musical maybe you feel differently - but I was personally let down by the fact that it felt as if it was a different story completely to the musical!