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Books and Cooks October 1999

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

Our rating: 3.71 cups of tea!
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 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

Discussion date: Friday, October 29, 1999, 7:00PM

Discussion place: Susannah's place.

Menu: Orange and black food: mulled cider, pumpkin cake, stew cooked in a pumpkin, sweet potato burritos, and more. . .

From the Publisher (via Amazon)
Following the traditions of Gabriel Garca Marquz, John Gardner and J.R.R. Tolkien, Wicked is a richly woven tale that takes us to the other, darker side of the rainbow as novelist Gregory Maguire chronicles the Wicked Witch of the West's odyssey through the complex world of Oz -- where people call you wicked if you tell the truth.

Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin -- no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or to overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. But Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters the university in Shiz, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz' most promising young citizens.

Elphaba's Oz is no utopia. The Wizard's secret police are everywhere. Animals -- those creatures with voices, souls and minds -- are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals -- even it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Even wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas.

In Wicked, Gregory Maguire has taken the largely unknown world of Oz and populated it with the power of his own imagination. Fast-paced, fantastically real and supremely entertaining, this is a novel of vision and re-vision. Oz never will be the same again.

A couple other reviews

Book Thingie commentary on Wicked
USA Today's review

The Books and Cooks Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Informal Reading Guide
(member-generated questions in no particular order)

  • What significance is there to which characters never have their perspectives shown (e.g. Madame Morrible, Nessarose, ...) ?

  • Why is Elphaba so obstinate about not acknowledging Liir as her son? Does she simply now want him? Whose child does she think he is?

  • Are you satisfied with this telling of the Wicked Witch's story?

  • Maguire fits a great deal of time into the book by skipping large chunks of years. Does this technique work? does it seem like many of the formative times (e.g. while Elphie is growing up, when she's rebellious in oz, at the nunnery...) are skimmed over and noticeably missing?

  • Why does Elphaba create the Winged Monkeys?

  • Does Elphaba ever get an answer to her questions about the nature of evil?

  • Is the role of water in Elphaba's life more significant than simply allowing the conclusion of Wicked to mesh with the story we know from The Wizard of Oz? 

  • Who were the "winners" and "losers" at the end of the story?

  • What was the Elephant's role in the story; what was she telling Elphaba?

  • Would Elphaba have killed Madame Morrible if she had arrived a few minutes earlier?

  • Do you feel that Maguire did a good job at really explaining Elphaba's character and motivations? Discuss.

This Page Last Revised: November 21, 2000.