I could not help feeling sorry for poor Elphaba all throughout the book. First of all she is not wicked — she is a bit aloof and insecure because people always were suspicious of her green skin, but that’s it. She is very interested in the fate of those who cannot defend themselves (the Animals) and she is an animal lover too (offering shelter to any helpless or homeless animal she happened to pass by). Nevertheless she ends up being nicknamed The Wicked Witch of the West (luckily she doesn’t care about it enough to be actually bothered:

“People always did like to talk, didn’t they? That’s why I call myself a witch now: the Wicked Witch of the West, if you want the full glory of it. As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention.”

). Unfortunately all her trials and tribulations begin to leave their mark on her, and, as time passes, she does become a bit… unhinged — but I still couldnt help seeing her as a victim and being sorry for her. Come to think about it, there is no character I have actually and truly liked: Galinda/Glinda was too flighty, Nessarose was really annoying with all her talk of religion, etc. Fiyero started out to be quite a nice character but unfortunately he left the pages of the book before long. As for the Wizard, he is malevolent to say the least, happily to mold the land he’s ruling into any shape he pleases, without caring a bit about right or wrong (a huge contrast to what I’ve thought of him after the Wizard of Oz).

Actually, the whole world of Oz turns out to be completely different from the world one reading The Wizard of Oz (or seeing the movie) might expect. The outlook is gloomy, not only for the Quadlings (poor people living in a land filled with underground rubies, ending up exterminated because of that) or Animals, but for the rest of people too: the nature is sometimes against them (droughts, winds), plus it never is easy to live under what looks suspiciously like a dictatorship. Nevertheless, it is the book’s merit that is has taken a world seen only as a prop, as a place for things to happen in, and has turned it into a “real” one, with problems and celebrations, people and animals. For example it was kinda interesting to study the people’s beliefs: we deal with a melange of religions, Lurlinism — belief in the Goddess Lurline (with the associated feast, Lurlinemas), Unionism — belief in the Unnamed God and the pleasure faith — the one putting sorcery and witchcraft above all else.

It is fascinating to see how the same thing can have different meanings depending on whose eyes we look through:
POSSIBLE SPOILER
In the Wizard of Oz we see the Witch sending wolves, bees and crows in Dorothy’s path to stop her advance and her friend’s. The Witch being bad, we actually rejoice when the beasts are defeated and killed so the four friends can move on.
In this book, Elphaba sends her beloved dog Killyjoy (along with others he gathered along the way) to aid the travelers and bring them to her. As such, I was completely heartbroken when the Tin Man, misunderstanding the message, killed Killyjoy and the rest. Elphaba then sends crows and bees, with more or less friendly intentions too: they meet the same fate, and the reader cannot help feeling sorry for Elphaba’s loss (especially at a moment where those animals were almost all the friends she had).
Elphaba’s quite aggressive behavior towards Dorothy is thus explained:

“You have no right to those shoes,” said the Witch. She circled. The girl backed away, stumbling over furniture, knocking over the beehive, and stepping on the queen bee, who had emerged from the fragments.
“Everything I have, every little thing I have, dies when you come across it,” said the Witch. “There’s Liir down below, ready to throw me over for the sake of a single kiss. My beasts are dead, my sister is dead, you strew death in your path, and you’re just a girl! You remind me of Nor! She thought the world was magic, and look what happened to her!”

Same outcome, two very different feelings from the part of the reader. A prompt to always try to see both sides of the story (and very well written I might add).
END SPOILER

Another thing I have found quite interesting was everything related to the Grimmerie book: the very idea that a book written in our world could not be read in Oz, the letters scrambling and moving as if made out of ants. I wonder whether all books would have behaved that way or only the Grimmerie, being a magic book and all (either way, as we have no books with moving letters its behavior probably was the effect being in Oz had on the book). Also interesting is the fact that Elphaba could partially read it (SPOILER The most certain proof that the story about her being the daughter of the wizard was true END SPOILER).

And a short quote relating to the difference between sorcery and science in the alnd of Oz:

“Science, my dears, is the systematic dissection of nature, to reduce it to working parts that more or less obey universal laws. Sorcery moves in the opposite direction. It doesn’t rend, it repairs. It is synthesis rather than analysis. It builds anew rather than revealing the old.”

What I liked most: All the prodding and poking regarding the source of Animals and how they relate to people and/or animals. While I have had my share of fantasy worlds where everything could exist (including sentient animals) I’ve never seen anyone asking where some of the creatures came from :P
Also, all the debating on what is evil and where it came from was interesting too.

What I liked least: There were some passages that have struck me as really cruel. I’ll never be able to think about the Wizard of Oz in the same terms ever again (without remembering, at the very least, the poor battered Red Bear cub). There were some very sad moments and I have found myself repeatedly wishing I have never begun this book (I don’t remember ever feeling the same way before). I do know I should be impressed (and am) for the fact that a book can make me feel so strongly, but really, it’s not a very enjoyable feeling (which is why it ended up mentioned here, under the heading “what I liked least”)

Recommend it? Regardless on my thoughts on the book I do recommend it, for the very same reason I started reading it myself: I know a lot of people who consider this their favorite book,so I imagine that, even though it didn’t sit very well with me, it’s probably a great book (or at least a must try).

Written by the same author:
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Matchless

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