Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The True Story of the Wicked Witch of the West

Wicked: The True Story of the Wicked Witch of the West settled comfortably into a spot among my favorite three novels of all time before Elphaba, the wicked witch, had even achieved adulthood. In fact, Wicked is my all time number two favorite novel, right behind A Confederacy of Dunces. As the title implies, it purports to tell an alternative version of the story L. Frank Baum first introduced to the world in his classic children’s books, and which most of us are familiar with by virtue of the classic MGM musical version.

Wicked: The True Story of the Wicked Witch of the West has also been transformed into a musical, a Tony Award-winning Broadway smash. If the musical is your only knowledge of this story, then you best put it out of your mind before you pick up the book. Gregory Maguire’s original novel is something else altogether.

Wicked includes most of the characters you’ve already met, although Dorothy and gang play a very small role. Consider it a prequel. Consider it, as well, an allegory that is far more at home in the current political climate than it was when it was first published. To wit: the Wonderful Wizard of Oz is less a goofus working behind the curtain to help people achieve their dreams than a charlatan holding onto his power through institutionally accepted lies and misinformation, along with a healthy supply of spies.

The Wicked Witch of the West begins the novel as a young girl who is born with the mysterious malady of being not only completely green, but an fatal allergy to water. While still a young girl, she had a vision of a man arriving in her homeland in some sort of balloon, and senses a coming horror. Elphaba grows up and heads off to college where she meets Galinda. (She will eventually change the spelling.) The two will grudgingly come friends as they meet the challenges of a changing Oz.