One of my options for reading material this year in class is Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. I have definitely heard/read a ton of mixed reviews about it. From what I have gathered it is a book you like or you hate. My mother has told me not to read it, and even if I do she said it would be a very long read. I've decided to get it, yet have a back up book I can fall back on if I need to. Does anyone have any reviews of Wicked, or any opinions about it? I'm asking mostly to those that have actual read or tried to read the book.
I read it, and, I just didn't get it. I understood the plot but I wasn't excited to read it. Perhaps its like marmite you either love it or hate it.
How many pages is it? I need to find some new reading material and I like that sort of genre in particular .
My aunt in NY has it and I picked it up on a visit. Honestly it was too slow for me. Lots of exposition and among the other stuff going on as I tried to read it, I just couldn't get into it. The play, on the other hand, was a masterwork.
The story itself is 519 pages in the copy I have. ---------- Post added 8th Aug 2014 at 08:54 PM ---------- I've been meaning to watch the whole musical of Wicked. I have only seen selected parts of it, but it looks fantastic. My sister told me to read the book first and then watch the musical because otherwise you might put expectation on the book based on the musical. Thank you for your thoughts on the book!
I agree you should read the book first--the book's story is so much longer and more detailed than the musical, that the musical sort of alludes to a lot of things without actually spelling them out. Not having read the book won't prevent you from enjoying the musical (it's really very good--saw it on Broadway) but if you have read the book there will be a lot of little moments where you go "oh, right."
