Sunday, January 30, 2011

Book Review: Wicked

I have been building a library since I got a paper route at 12 yrs old. I lugged everything around for 20 years, until I did a purge 2 years ago. I'm more careful now, both in what I buy and what I keep.

That said, I'm a sucker for well-bound books. And I'm a sucker for cheap. And I love musical theatre. So I've been curious about Wicked for a long time, and when Borders had both Wicked and Son of a Witch bound in 1 gorgeous volume for about $10, I couldn't resist. A year later, I've finally finished one of them.

Wicked is set in Oz, during the reign of the Wizard of Oz, and follows the antagonist Elphaba (later known as the Wicked Witch of the West) from her birth to her death. She was born to the family of a country preacher just after the Wizard came to Oz. Frex, her father, was out preaching a lot and her mother was lonely. It is quite certain early in the novel that Frex is not her biological father. She grows up as a misfit - her green skin is unique, her personality too individualistic and honest to fit in with the Munchkin country folk. She spends time in the marshes, in the land of the Quadlings, where the father of her half-sister was from. She spends time at college, grows in horror at the authoritarian regime of the Wizard, and is a thoroughly likable character. Mostly.

The book is gritty. It does not shy away from discussing the nature of evil, sex, infidelity, forgiveness, family drama, murder, civil rights. Main characters die. It is not meant for kids. It is not excessively vulgar, either - if you watch basic cable, you see and hear worse things all the time. But it is an intense, deeply reasoned, and richly imagined book. The plot lines are interesting, if ambiguous (not The Unconsoled, but not Harry Potter, either), the characters are drawn complexly, and the many ambitious plot lines come together quiet well considering that the author has to contend with Dorothy's entrance at a critical juncture in Oz's political history.

Flaws? It's got some. Glinda is not as fleshed-out as I'd like. There's a lot more to her than we get to explore, which is a pity. The book spends a lot of detail on important period in Elphaba's life, and then it moves 7 years. For the way the story is told, it works. This one book really could have been 7 books for all the detail and complexity happening in it. But the one thing that I hated about it, absolutely hated, was that Elphaba's transition from a complex person to someone full of malice is not given adequate treatment. For 95% of the book, she is a sympathetic character, trying to help others and make the world a better place, to fight against the despotism of the Wizard, and never a powerful witch. In the space of 10 pages, she is transformed to someone who sends crows to peck a little girl's eyes out. It's not believable. It's awkward. And it's a shame, because the book is otherwise amazing. Start the transformation 50 pages earlier, and I forgive you, Mr Maguire, but in this form, the ending needs work.

I loved this book. And I'm glad I have the sequel, Son of a Witch, to keep me occupied from time to time when I can spare a few minutes.