Wicked

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


Let me start off by clarifying that I have never seen the musical. My family owns and listens to the soundtrack, so I am passingly familiar with some of the songs, but never really listened to it. I read this book because of my interest in the original series by Baum, which I read as a kid.



As I read through Wicked, I occasionally asked my wife about the musical and was able to ascertain pretty quickly that there is not a ton of similarity between the two. The original novel treats the characters of Oz very seriously within the context of the fantasy world. Although much of the story is about the friendship (and sometime rivalry) between Elpheba and Glinda, most of the subplot is quite political. The corruption of the Wizard, the supression of animal rights and other adult themes contrast to Elpheba's maturation from cynical young maid into political activist and eventual hermetic "witch".

I couldn't help but compare the anti-heroism of Elpheba to another character who let young idealism twist his moral compass, however much less plausibly.

Yeah, well, we could list a whole slew of reasons why Star Wars fans are disappointed in Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Vader. Ultimately, Anakin had every reason to be a great jedi, and even though Kenobi told us how he failed as a mentor, he really wasn't that bad. Anakin is just a dumb jerk, really.

Elpheba, however, fights off misconceptions about her from day one until the end. The reader knows it will all end in a puddle on the floor, and yet we care about this chick and hope that someone will "get it" before it's all over. The fact that she is still grossly misunderstood and feared when she finally meets Dorothy is the greatest tragedy.

There is nothing in the Wicked series to pinpoint an exact time setting, and it was written as a children's format where relation to the real world is completely subjective, changing and unimportant. The original novel was published in 1900, and the stories were always written to take place in current time. Where the movie is fairly explicit in writing Oz off as a dream, every novel written treats it as an actual land, although it is inconsistant in whether it is a hidden desert with the US, sitting in a seperate continent hidden by magic, or most likely existing in another dimensional plane.

The Oz books were subject to sequels and revisions by numurous other authors, some of whom I have tracked down and read in addition to Maguire's series. I will cover them soon in this blog.

As I write this it is Thanksgiving evening and as I sit here with a filled belly, I remember childhood nights tucked into hotel beds (grew up in hotels) falling asleep watching the Wizard of Oz on TV. As I look forward to doing the same thing tonight, it seems fitting that I should whip out this blog first. 'Wicked: the Life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West' may put a very different spin on the childhood tale, but it still manages to transport us back into a land of talking animals and emerald cities of magic.