Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

This novel is based on the children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation, and is the first and most popular in the series. There are currently 10 books in total — quite the cash cow, phew!

First, I want to talk about the film adaptations Wicked and Wicked: For Good, both based on the 2003 stage musical, which was itself based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel.

About Wicked (Part 1)

— Why does Wickedness happen? — That’s a good question. One many people find confusifying. Are people born Wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them?

Overall, I really enjoyed the film for its music, visuals, cast and some standout scenes — but I do have a few complaints:

1. I didn’t see any real personal development in Glinda, even though her friendship with Elphaba should have changed her in noticeable ways.
2. Too much screen time was given to Glinda, and she was placed at the centre of several scenes, even though Elphaba is the main character. Possibly because the director is very fond of Ariana Grande, who plays her.
3. I watched the Broadway production of Wicked, and some scenes there were darker than in the film — for example, the opening scene where the crowd celebrates Elphaba’s death.

What I genuinely loved was the decision to build real sets rather than rely on CGI. Everything looked absolutely stunning! After watching, I went down a complete Wicked rabbit hole on YouTube. Despite its flaws, I really enjoyed it — 8/10 and recommended.

About Wicked: For Good (Part 2)

— They need someone to be wicked so you can be good.

I went to see this one in the cinema. As always, the sets were the most impressive part — the work is colossal! The second film was more emotional, and watching it I finally understood why Ariana and Cynthia cry every time they talk about it in interviews. A few thoughts:

1. I really liked how they connected and explained the characters from the original book and Maguire’s novel. I won’t spoil it, but it works really well — though this connection comes from the original Broadway production rather than the films themselves.
2. Unfortunately, Cynthia Erivo struggles to portray warm romantic feeling, and Elphaba’s scenes with Fiyero were extremely awkward and uncomfortable to watch. Jonathan Bailey genuinely tried to play a lover; Erivo didn’t seem to try at all. The chemistry was completely absent.
3. That said, Cynthia is excellent at playing anger and delivering motivational scenes. Those moments feel completely real and effortless for her.
4. The second half was significantly more emotional, and there were moments where both actresses seemed to be genuinely feeling what they were performing. It felt like they were deeply connected to these characters — which is probably exactly why they keep crying at every press appearance. Ariana Grande’s performance absolutely didn’t disappoint. Overall, I recommend Part 2 just as much as Part 1 — 8.3/10. And I also recommend seeking out the Broadway production, which I found online and watched as well!

Now, the book:

There are bound to be popular uprisings — the stupid, senseless kind, in which strong dumb people enjoy getting killed for the sake of political changes that’ll be rolled back within the decade. Adds such meaning to meaningless lives, don’t you think?

The book is quite long and difficult to get through because of the sheer volume of text that contributes nothing to the plot. If the author had cut 300+ pages, the concept and story wouldn’t have suffered at all — but the reading experience would have improved significantly!

It’s also worth noting that the Russian title was mistranslated in a way that implies the book is some kind of fairy tale, when it’s actually closer to a dark romance with a very adult rating. On top of that, the Russian translation itself is noticeably softened compared to the original, which feels wrong.

The book touches on themes of good and evil, propaganda and prejudice — but all of it gets successfully buried under an enormous amount of unnecessary scenes and descriptions. The only genuinely good thing this book produced was the musical, which took the concept and vastly improved it.

To the grim poor there need be no pourquoi tale about where evil arises; it just arises; it always is.

The author never made me care about the characters, connect with any of them, or agree with the point of view on discrimination and other social and political issues. I frequently stopped reading because it became unbearably dull — dozens of pages of content that added nothing!