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I've been curious about this book for a while, after hearing tons of good things about the musical (which, for the record, I have not seen). So when I got my chance to pick up a cheap copy, I obviously jumped on it. However, does it hold up? Let's have a look.
Wicked follows the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elpheba, from her birth to her death caused by Dorothy and friends. It's mostly that, and we see how she may be quite misunderstood.
I'm going to be honest here: I think I lack a lot of the context going into this book. I expected to have enough just going off the few times I've seen The Wiz in my childhood and not having read the original book it's based on, but apparently that's not the case. I still obviously know the basics of the world of Oz and the Dorothy storyline, but it's been so long since I watched any adaptation of the story in full, that I simply didn't get quite a bit of the story.
There's many aspects in this book, that aside, that I also didn't quite vibe with. The whole treatment of sentient animals is just flat out weird, with it being pretty much slavery and cannibalism. There's of course the colorism Elpheba faces, and a lot of needless sex and religious scenes I simply didn't care for.
None of the characters also really appealed to me, neither did this version of Oz. I kept having my thoughts drift away after a chapter or so simply because I didn't care about what was going on or was uncomfortable.
Overall, this just really wasn't for me. Maybe I can get more out of it after having watched the movie adaptation it's based on and original novel, but for now this is not one I really enjoyed.
Rating: 2/5
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