Gregory Maguire has made a living off of other people’s work – sort of. Maguire takes characters from some of history’s most famous stories and writes a comprehensive background story about them. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is his best known work because it has been made into a successful Broadway production. He tells the story of Elphaba from circumstances surrounding her birth through her demise as The Wicked Witch of the West as seen from the story The Wizard of Oz.
Maguire paints a bleak picture of Oz and the political turmoil that oppresses its inhabitants. He tackles topics about tyranny, oppression, religious zeal, and civil rights just to name a few. The beloved characters from L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz enter the story near its conclusion and have a very minor part in the overall story of Maguire’s characters.
Weaved throughout the story are very explicit sexual encounters that include puppet sex, bestiality, adultery, homosexuality, and conversation around sexual acts and topics. These themes are explored and discussed often enough to make the reading of Wicked uncomfortable because its roots are in a children’s story.
Maguire develops the characters and follows them through their progression. His writing style is excellent – the language flows and the imagery is very good. The story itself gets gummed up in the middle as there is a complete shift in the setting and the characters not able to resolve some of their problems from the first part of the book. The character’s feelings are written about exhaustively which makes Maguire have to rush the actual storyline a bit.
The most shocking thing about Wicked is its stark difference from the Broadway musical. The play may be what Maguire should have thought about writing. Characaters who die in the book live in the play, relationships are different, and motivations are somewhat altered. Wicked the book ends abruptly but keeps the door open for a sequel or two. Maguire has written Son of a Witch about Elphaba’s son, and more recently A Lion Among Men about the Cowardly Lion and his experience with Elphaba as a cub.
Other books by Gregory Maguire include Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Mirror, Mirror, What the Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth-Fairy, Lost, and Missing Sisters. Matchless: A Christmas Story is scheduled to be released on October 27th.
Click HERE for more information on the world created by Gregory Maguire.
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