About the BookWhat happened to young Elphaba before her witchy powers took hold in Wicked? Almost 30 years after the publication of the original novel, for the first time Gregory Maguire reveals the story of prickly young Elphie, the future Wicked Witch of the West—setting the stage for the blockbuster international phenomenon that is Wicked: The Musical.Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, will grow to have a feisty and somewhat uncompromising character in adult life. But she is always a one-off, from her infancy; Elphie is the riveting coming-of-age story of a very peculiar and relatable young girl.
Young Elphie is shaped and molded by the behaviors of her promiscuous mother, Melena, and her pious father, Frex. She suffers ordinary childhood jealousies when her sister, saintly Nessarose, and brother, junior felon Shell, arrive. She first encounters the mistreatment of the Animal populations of Oz, which live adjacent to but not intertwined with human settlements, haunted by a Monkey and receiving aid from Dwarf Bears. She thrashes through her first bruising attempts at friendship, a possible lifeline from her tricky family life. And she gleans the benefits of an education, haphazard though it must be—until she arrives at the doors of Shiz University, about to meet the radiant creature that is Galinda.
Elphie is destined to be a witch; she bears the markings from childhood—most evidently in her green skin but more obscurely and profoundly in her cunning and perhaps amoral behaviors, as she seeks to make do, to slip by, to sneak out, to endure, and to aspire.
MY THOUGHTS
This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I really wanted to like this story, and while it had a promising start, it just didn't live up to expectations.
It's split up into four parts, with each part focusing on a different part of Elphie’s childhood. It felt more like a collection of random short stories featuring Elphie rather than a flowing, fleshed-out, and in-depth look into her childhood, which is what I was expecting.
The writing style took some getting used to. It was overly wordy in places, which kinda took me out of the story at times. I don't remember struggling as much with Wicked or the other books in the series. Maybe I did and I'm just not remembering, but I definitely struggled with it here.
Despite my issues with this book, there was never a moment where I thought about not finishing it. In fact, I kept thinking about it when I’d have to set it aside to do other things. And I was always eager to get back to it. I enjoyed visiting this world and these characters again. I also really liked seeing the sisterly bond between Elphie and Nessa. It was complicated, but you could tell that they really did care for each other.
As you can tell, I have mixed emotions about the book. It wasn’t bad. I think my expectations were just a little off. I'd recommend it to people who have already read Wicked. I don't think this would be a good starting place for someone new to it.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and comments are my honest opinion.
THREE STARS
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