Spoiler-free review:
Rating out of 10: 10/10
Likes: the world-building, the unique writing style, and how realistic Elphaba Thropp is despite it being a grim-dark fantasy. The holding of nothing back, the bisexuality/lesbianism/queerness and the way it reexamines the L Frank Baum book and MGM movie.
Critiques: I do not appreciate the amount of rape in this book, I am personally not irked by Fiyero Tigelaar and Elphaba’s affair or Glinda and Elphaba’s kiss, but, if rape and sex irks you… this is not the grim dark for you. I trust it served a narrative point I just wasn’t fond of it.
Spoiler review:
Baum’s world of Oz has always been political, from the original Wicked Witch of the West in the Baum novel being an enslaver and a brutal one to the Goblin King… and the powerful witches of Oz, like Glinda, and eventually the Ozma rulers, drawing inspiration from Frank Baum’s mother and suffragette wife ‘she who holds the sky.’ To the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and even Dorothy Gale herself to the Witch of the East is an implied murdered tyrant to the yellow brick road in the Baum novel representing as he saw it, the glories of American Capitalism, leading to answers of the working classes (the emerald city), it became overtly political, bisexual and queer in multiple ways in 1995 when a gay man and children’s book author stumbled into thinking about good and evil, American imperialism and in light of the gulf war… what labels like ‘terrorist’ and ‘wicked’ and ‘good’ actually meant, the author of course, was Gregory Maguire and thus the once nightmarish aberration of the wicked witch of the west became the complex, morally gray, beautifully tragic Elphaba Thropp was born.
Elphaba (like L F B) – Baum’s initials.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, though it certainly is not for everyone. My biggest dislike in the entire book and I suspect series is the amount of rape or implied sexual assault. Maguire holds nothing back, from the overt politics and philosophizing to Elphaba as an anarchist and bisexual ‘terrorist.’ I, however, hesitate to call it escapism due to the nature of the piece and the fact that the wizard’s departure brought on by Elphaba’s demise indirectly is only replaced with another tyrannical man. But, it is escapism, escapism that makes you think and where you can empathize with multiple characters despite their very apparent wrongdoings; from Elphaba to Nessarose to the charming ochre-skinned Fiyero Tigelaar (implied brown/black/Indigenous coded) who is later murdered for associating and sleeping with the green-skinned, bisexual, anarchist, Elphaba, to even Fiyero’s widow Sarima or even Noor (Fiyero and Sarima’s daughter) and even the distant child Liir (Fiyero and Elphaba’s son), the cast of characters is diverse and compelling even for a grim dark fantasy, some people say the novel, Wicked the life and times of the wicked witch of the west makes them sad and whilst I can see why, I think Elphaba’s persistence til the end despite her tragedies and tragic life, and later Liir’s and Glinda’s is compelling and inspiring. Perhaps, there is more ‘after’ for a witch than Gregory Maguire asserts.
Exploring the Politics of ‘Wicked’ / Staged Right
The Evolution of the Wicked Witch of the West | Elphaba | Wicked | The Wizard of Oz / Teacup for One
The Evolution of Glinda: The “Good” Witch? | Wicked | The Wizard of Oz / Teacup for One
The Evolution of the Wicked Witch of the East | Wicked, Oz The Great & Powerful & More! / Teacup for One
“And girls need cold anger. They need the cold simmer, the ceaseless grudge, the talent to avoid forgiveness, the sidestepping of compromise. They need to know when they say something that they will never back down, ever, ever. “- Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, 1995
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