All I knew about this book was that it inspired a musical (on which the new film is based) and that it’s the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. What surprised me, first of all, is that the book is clearly for adults. The other surprise was how devoid of plot the book seemed to be, over too many pages. There are many discussions about morals, politics, philosophy and religion, which did not appeal to me at all. I felt that the style was over-written, there were gaps in the story, and the storyline about the animals was upsetting. There were a couple of things I admired. Maguire gave a lot of thought to how Oz actually works, with magic elements integrated into real life, and the result is that it feels like this is the real Oz, with the familiar children’s stories becoming mere fairytales, or propaganda. How he makes us sympathise with a supposedly wicked character is also admirable.
In summary, I liked the concept of the book, but not much else. Also why did all the characters hate Toto?
First published in 1995. I read the new edition with the film tie-in cover.
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