Oh Pigspittle!

Ex Libris Book Reviews

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August 27, 2003

Wicked - Gregory Maguire

How did the Wicked Witch of the West, from Frank Baum's Oz stories, get to be so wicked? Gregory Maguire tells her story, in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Maguire seems to revel in turning our beloved fairy tales upside down, and having us rethink our cherished notions of absolute good and evil. The Wicked Witch wasn't born a witch, nor wicked. In Maguire's delightful telling, we learn of Glinda's obsession with status and fashion, the Wizard's inhumanity, and the friendships, loves, and lost loves of little green Elphalba, the story's moral center, who is ultimately destroyed by innocent Dorothy. This tale is more real, and more like life as we know and experience it, than the original. There's always a different side to a story, and in the case of Oz, this is it. A great read from start to finish. I could not put it down.

Posted by elise at 10:43 AM to Fiction  http://www.elise.com/books/el/archives/wicked_-_gregory_maguire.php

This short review is an excerpt from an internet publication. It is quite a vivid description of one of the many exclamations from readers, fans, bloggers, twitters, and/or tweakers. The above critic found this book an interesting read. The reader similarly acclaimed that Gregory Maguire was indeed a daring agent provocateur of one of the world's literary finest. It is how Maguire tells a story. Maguire makes you think! He makes you say, 'what is he talking about'!

Personally, I was drawn to one distinguishable feature in this amazing novel. It is alive! The fabric of the novel reminds us of life's twisted and knotted mass of threads - weaving though folks' religiosities, goals, dreams, aspirations, vulnerabilities, brokenness, shortcomings, just-being-in-the-wrong-place/time, and even family anger. Oh, snuck-in bad-mouthing and rumors, too. Yet only a few folks could have broken free from any of them whether with or without a broomstick. As the critic have stated, "the Wicked Witch wasn't born a witch, nor wicked". Think. So, that makes us all green and witchy just like Elphaba! Opps, watch out, I am the second critic. Nevertheless, in Chapter 12, Elphie recalled her mother's dream:"the world around her was simply merciless – everything flickered like a glittering candle, but more harshly more stridently …" Again, such was Elphie's mother dream about the 'The City of Anger', and how Elphaba turned to be the "green girl" she's today (384).

Behold, what took my breath away was the "dwarf's" (the guardian of the Grimerie or the Book) witticism when he spoke the following line to Elphaba: "for you are neither this nor that; you were always drawn to the composite creatures, the broken, and reassembled" (374). Moreover, Elphie remembered she was a beautiful little dolt, she believed everything everybody says to her (186). Now, doesn't this sound just like Dorothy! Or, did I hear somebody said, "pigspittle"?

 

 

Maritess S Taylor

College of Southern Nevada