Wicked

Readers, I have the feeling we're not in Oz anymore!

I will begin my review of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West with a slight disclaimer. I am already irritated. I had been wanting to read this book series for quite some time. My oldest daughter obsesses over musicals and had downloaded some of the music from the musical. I was intrigued by the idea behind the book. Every story has two sides, Wicked tells the story of Oz from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba. The story is told well. So, why am I annoyed? Well, I had waited and waited until I learned the last book of what I thought was a trilogy was released. I hate waiting until the end of the story! I like to be able to set one book down and immediately pick up the next book. I am one of those irritating people who sometimes reads the very last chapter of the book first. Apparently, the story isn't tied up and put to bed after the third book. There are rumors that there might be a fourth book. Annoying!


This book's plots, its twists and turns and moralizing intrigued me. In fact, as soon as I finished reading it I went to the library to check out the next book in the series, Son of Witch. The themes of the books are related to the nature of evil, the fallibility of man (or beast as some of the Animals in the book talk), discrimination, marginalization, politics, betrayals and courage. These themes are woven into the fabric of the story and result in a meaningful story. Religion plays a central role in the book. When I read of the Unnamed God, I couldn't help but see parallels to Hashem, the Name. The word used to identify the God of Judaism. The God I believe came to Earth as the man Jesus. I don't know what Maguire's religious beliefs are, but I know what he thinks of Christians and Christianity. For the most part followers of the Unnamed God are presented as imbeciles at best. Powerful followers are hypocritical tyrants. Organized religion, far from being a vehicle of salvation, is presented as a means of oppression. Frankly, there are days I cannot muster the strength to argue this point. History records violence, wars and bloodshed all done in the name of Hashem. So many people who identify with Christianity have aligned themselves with the political extreme right and endorse laws decidedly aimed at creating a Christian Utopia. We are no longer known by our love but our politics.

Unlike the The Chronicle of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen whose books each stand alone as its own story, the books in the Wicked Years do not end when the last page is finished. There were unanswered questions from Wicked that were answered in Son of a Witch. Son of a Witch ended in a cliff hanger. The next book in the series is A Lion Among Men. The librarian put me on a waiting list. And, the fourth book? Unwritten. Unpublished. Not even a hint of a release date. I prefer, much prefer, an ending.

I suspect that many, if not most, of the people who read here identify themselves as Christian. I would guess that many of you homeschool too and might be looking for literature for your children. While this book could indeed be used as a basis for talking about worldviews or even to encourage your child to think about how Maguire's Oz is the different or the same as L. Frank Baum's Oz, I will leave you with a word of caution. If books had a rating system like the movies do, the Wicked Years would come with a parental advisory. There are explicitly described sex scenes, infidelity, drug and alcohol use. There is even an odd scene in which several characters have sex with a talking Tiger in a club while the rest of the patrons watch. The scene is not glorified at all. In fact one of the participants is driven to the brinks of insanity. It is his failing health that reintroduces him to Elphaba. It is through his influence that Elphaba begins to move forward from a traumatic event in her own life. So, while there seems to be a peripheral weirdness to having included a scene depicting bestiality, I suspect there are other ways the author could have brought the two characters together again. The same event also gives us a clue as to the nature of an odd crone who seems bent on protecting or destroying Elphaba (I haven't decided which. She is just around somewhere at every crucial juncture. Her presence is one of the story lines that is so far left unexplained.) Overall, with the exception of those sexual encounters that resulted in the birth of a main character, unless the purpose was to shock and repel readers, I didn't see the point. The book could have stood well without so many adult scenes, too bad really.