‘Wicked’ puts an adult spin on a childhood favorite

For many of us, if we were to write an autobiography, our childhood experiences with “The Wizard of Oz” would have its own chapter. Regardless, we all know the story and have set ideas about it. Dorothy and her friends were a wonderful and kind bunch of characters who were just trying to make it in life without the Wicked Witch and her troupe of flying monkeys messing things up. That’s just the way it was, no ifs ands or buts.

Author Gregory McGuire didn’t find things so clear-cut. So, in an effort to discover the root of good and evil, he wrote an outstanding novel that makes us question our childhood convictions. What made the Wicked Witch wicked? Was it really so bad to want her sister’s shoes back? Why was the Wizard so eager to see the witch dead?

McGuire tells not only the story of “The Wizard of Oz,” but the story of the Wicked Witch. He weaves her tale starting with the day of her birth and ending it with something beyond death. As we watch Elphaba (the Witch) struggle to live a normal life despite her strange colored skin and even stranger family, we also get to view Dorothy and her friends through her eyes. Also, we learn from whence Glenda came and that she is, perhaps, not such a good witch. In addition, Elphaba’s sister, father, mother and grandmother, as well as her lover, are all introduced in this book. In essence, we see a whole different story unravel.

The Land of Oz itself is given a whole new image. No longer is it the happy and enchanted world of friendly munchkins and cheerfully-colored roads. Rather, it is a land torn by government oppression and racial and social prejudices. In Oz, Elphaba becomes tangled in a working caste system.

McGuire is a master of words. He weaves the plot together and keeps you guessing. There is no point in the reading experience that seems to drag on. Each page and chapter carry you farther into the magical, wonderful land of Oz. Revelations and surprises are plentiful, and Elphaba turns out to be a hugely complex and misunderstood character. Treat yourself to hours of intellectually and emotionally stimulating entertainment with McGuire’s “Wicked.”