Wicked (the book)

A couple years ago Jim and I went to see the musical Wicked when it came to Denver.  We absolutely loved it.  The story line was great and we connected to the characters right away.  I loved the humor and irony in it, and most of all, the talent was incredible.  In fact, I remember several occasions when the singing was so awesome that I found myself welling up.  Knowing that this was something we would want to see again, we watched for it to come back to Denver.  Voila, it came back this past month and we were able to enjoy it for the second time.  I actually loved it even more the second time around!

Because I loved this musical so much, I decided to order the book that inspired the musical, Wicked by Gregory Maguire.  I was very anxious for it to arrive so that I could meet those favorite characters in more detail and spend time interacting with the story that I love so much.  When the book arrived, I ripped it open and became quite giddy (geeky through and through) when I found that the pages were green…so “Wicked Witch-like.”  I quickly finished the other book I was reading and dove straight into Wicked.

I was very surprised at the beginning of the story.  It was definitely similar to the musical, but much more graphic with quite a few uncomfortable descriptions.  Feeling a bit disappointed already, but not beaten down, I decided to push onward in hopes of the story clearing up.  What I soon came to find was that the story was not very much like the musical at all, that it skipped years of Elphaba’s life several times, and was often quite heavy and dry reading.

While heavy reading can be a good thing, it was definitely not what I was expecting for this story.  Wicked has quite a few slow points in the book and can get very dry.  The author goes into a ton of detail about the political situations in Oz.  While I know that the political atmosphere and happenings is central to Elphaba becoming the Wicked Witch, I definitely felt a bit like I was drowning in information, strange names, and political agendas.

While the book as a whole is something I would not recommend reading, both for it’s long ramblings and its uncomfortable and graphic scenes, it did have points from time to time that were interesting.  Funny enough however, the parts I enjoyed most in the book were the quick vapors that reminded me of the musical.

If you are one of those that likes to read the book before seeing the musical, I would recommend that you leave the book on the shelf this time around.  The musical is much better and I think you will find yourself too deep in dark, heavy writing that lends nothing whatsoever to the incredible story of the musical.

If you, like myself, have seen the musical and are thinking of reading the book, again I would suggest leaving it on the shelf.  I was highly disappointed, as I had looked forward to reading about my favorite parts from the musical that didn’t, in fact, happen in the book.