Wicked by Gregory Maguire

I've just come to grips with my reading list. It doesn't all have to be classic literature. Those grips that I came to with myself was brought forth by attempting to read "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I did not realize how hard this book was to read. So I'm saving that for another day when I can do it. Anyway, this book named Wicked by Gregory Maguire was, I think, based on some musical. Oh Right! It's called "Wicked." But this is the book I'm talking about mostly because I have not seen the musical yet. With this reading challenge I am trying to read the book before I see the movie, or in this case, musical. I'm glad I did! (As I usually am).

I was always curious as to what this story was about. I knew it had to do with The Wizard of Oz and how Glinda and Elphaba were friends but I had no idea it was like this. I am probably sure that the musical isn't quite like the book as the book is pretty dark. The story is about Glinda and Elphaba when they were young and in school and Elphaba's turning into the Wicked Witch of the West. I did not realize how political this book really is, which kinda bored me but that's because politics do that to me. However, the overall story was great!!! It did have some vulgar words in it and some not so clean scenes in it.

I love how Maguire tells most of it from Elphaba's point of view. I think his other books are like that but with different fairy tales. I haven't read his other books but I sure as heck am going to. He used words in there that I had never seen before and his descriptions were so unique. I loved how it took a child's story and made it into an adult book. It's liked how he created this whole new world of Oz that you wouldn't have thought existed.

I know this isn't a very long review but it was a really good read. Defiantly not for reading to the kids a bedtime story, keep the original Wizard of Oz for that. I am looking forward to reading more of Gregory Maguire's books.