WICKED - GET TO KNOW THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST by: Uel Ceballos

You must have known her from L. Frank Baum’s book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and you must have despised her. She’s the green-skinned villainess Wicked Witch of the West, whom the Wizard of Oz wanted dead. Dorothy Gale had killed her unintentionally by splashing water on her, which was the Wicked Witch’s greatest adversary. Water melted her down, killing her with no traces left but her clothes, hat and broom.

We only knew the Wicked Witch as she was described and portrayed by L. Frank Baum, but another imaginative author in the name of Gregory Maguire wrote a parallel novel, serving as prequel to Baum’s book giving it the title Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of The West. Here he gave the Wicked Witch the name Elphaba and made the story revolved around the Oz, on the years way back before Dorothy comes in the picture.

The Wizard of Oz was already there in Gregory’s Wicked, and the story was strongly presented with political struggle about the rebels planning to overthrow the Wizard and bringing back to leadership the Great Ozma whom they believed has the full rights to govern the Oz. Wizard rules and projects indeed benefited the land but no matter what he does he will still remain a stranger from different world who just landed to Oz through an air balloon.

Unlike Baum’s book, Gregory Maguire’s Wicked is not the sort of reading for the children. The book displayed aggressions, immoralities, sexualities and languages not fitting for the youngsters. As The Wizard of Oz awed and entertained us as a child, Wicked will give us lots of realization as we let its story be absorbed through our adult’s senses. The author gave us a complete account of Elpahaba’s life and on how she gained the name Wicked Witch of the West.

Here you will find out that Elphaba like us is also a human who once lived, laughed, cried, loved, and fought. The book gave so much emphasis to political strife, and to the main effect that it always has -- with the civilians and the innocents being the most affected of all. Here you will see the Oz in much different angle and you will meet different characters aside from Glinda, Elpahaba and the Wizard.  The book will help you see on clearer perspective on what does it really means to be wicked, and who are really the real wicked.

Get to know Elpahaba and follow her at Shiz University where she met Glinda, Boqs, and Fiyero – some of the major characters who greatly added colors to Elpahaba’s life journey. Surely you will be fond of the Wicked Witch; or you might get to love her as well as you fully understand what she had gone through.

For this wonderful fantasy novel, I will rate it with 8 cups of latte for all its uniqueness and fabulous plots! Hope you can read this one too; I assure you it will be a worthwhile experience around the Oz!