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Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
51 reviews
greenrequiem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Sexual assault
msorce's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book is extremely wordy and many of the wordy words are made up, making it a challenging read. It is like the author just added words to make his reading level higher.
If you read this after watching the musical: do not expect it to be even remotely similar. They are so different, I'm not sure how they even can call the play by the same name.
This was very dark and disturbing at times with weird sex mixed in. Overall a weird, long, somewhat boring read. It wasn't too terrible, but still not great.
If you read this after watching the musical: do not expect it to be even remotely similar. They are so different, I'm not sure how they even can call the play by the same name.
This was very dark and disturbing at times with weird sex mixed in. Overall a weird, long, somewhat boring read. It wasn't too terrible, but still not great.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Gaslighting
rosanna17's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I just could not get into it. I thought it was overhyped and a long, pointless, fluff filled bore of how the witch became “wicked”. I feel it was over sexualized in quite a couple parts. There were holes in the book. Maybe the next couple of books fill those holes but….I have no interest in trying to read them. Hopefully the play is better and more to the point, although after suffering through this atrocity I don’t care to see it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
summerb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
bookbelle5_17's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Review of Wicked
By: Gregory Maguire
First, I will say this not for everyone even if you loved the stage show adaptation. The stage show takes elements of this novel makes a less dark and more bittersweet. In case you don’t realize this the origin of the Wicked Witch of the West, who is named Elphaba, and what lead her eventually to target Dorothy…. Or did she?
Maguire’s Oz still has that whimsy and weirdness, but it also reflects real world problems such as injustices of minority groups. One of Elphaba’s biggest passions is the fight for the rights of Animals, animal-human hybrids such as the cowardly Lion and Dr. Dillamond. The irony is Elphie isn’t even interested in magic, but she is interested in science. As a character she is brutally honest to point of sounding mean and doesn’t know how to show love and affection. She loves in her own way and sees herself as someone with know. She is frustrating, but charming in her own way. She easily becomes obsessed to the point of not being unable to see past her own beliefs, but we are seeing from her perspective. It makes the reader actually consider her side and realize she’s not as wicked as she seems, or there at least there’s a reason behind her wickedness. The novel not only questions how we see her but how we define “evil”. Glinda and Elphaba’s relationship is complicated and fascinating to read about it. It is the opposites attract theory as they have respect and love for each. At the same time, they don’t always understand each other, but there’s still love between them. There is quite a bit of mature content like sex and drugs. There is a scene where characters go to what can only be described as a pleasure den. The Wizard being the villain gives a new perspective on his lack of power in the original series of books. He is an illusionist and trickster, but in this story, he uses it for political gain. This spins a darker and complicated read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Sexual content, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing and Classism
georginainvisablestring22's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, and War
Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
susannaobrien's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Pretty disappointed in this, but I may have been expecting it to be closer to the musical which I love. Fantasy fans may enjoy this more, but I found the meandering plot and many small characters hard to keep track of and quite tedious at times. The commentary on religious fanaticism and the way societal expectations can become self-fulfilling prophecies was interesting, but often overworked and written in dense, and at times impenetrable language. I also found Maguire's writing of Nessarosa's disability incredibly ableist, and sex and female desire pretty dated and unnecessarily vulgar. Glad I read as it satisfies a curiosity but ultimately it dragged for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Rape, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Grief, and Religious bigotry
rebeccafarren's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Sexual harassment
sarah2438's review against another edition
2.0
I did not like this. I've heard the show is better-- it would have to be, right?
I don't consider myself easily scandalized by things like *nudity* or *infidelity* but this book took it so much farther than was necessary. I mean there's a freaking threesome with a tiger and it serves NO PURPOSE. All of these people just out here cheating on everyone with no consequences. And everyone, including kids, getting naked all the time for no reason. At one point even the landscape was described as being erotic-- what does that even mean?? It was just weird, made weirder by the fact that this all stems from a CHILDREN'S STORY. You can darkly retell a classic without taking it to this level.
If you can get past that, this book is still a mess. It needed to be trimmed down-- there was so much that felt unnecessary and just bogged down the plot. The plot itself was clunky and meandering. The characters, even Elphaba at times, felt shallow and under developed. The faux depth had me wondering "am I dumb or is this just... boring? And maybe doesn't make sense?" But my lovely buddy in this buddy read had the same issue.
It's really frustrating because there's glimpses where I can see what the author was trying to do, or there's a good line here and there, so I think he might actually be a good writer. But this just wasn't good.
Overall, I would've DNF'd if I wasn't doing a buddy read. I don't hate it, so it's not quite one star, but I wouldn't recommend this.
I don't consider myself easily scandalized by things like *nudity* or *infidelity* but this book took it so much farther than was necessary. I mean there's a freaking threesome with a tiger and it serves NO PURPOSE. All of these people just out here cheating on everyone with no consequences. And everyone, including kids, getting naked all the time for no reason. At one point even the landscape was described as being erotic-- what does that even mean?? It was just weird, made weirder by the fact that this all stems from a CHILDREN'S STORY. You can darkly retell a classic without taking it to this level.
If you can get past that, this book is still a mess. It needed to be trimmed down-- there was so much that felt unnecessary and just bogged down the plot. The plot itself was clunky and meandering. The characters, even Elphaba at times, felt shallow and under developed. The faux depth had me wondering "am I dumb or is this just... boring? And maybe doesn't make sense?" But my lovely buddy in this buddy read had the same issue.
It's really frustrating because there's glimpses where I can see what the author was trying to do, or there's a good line here and there, so I think he might actually be a good writer. But this just wasn't good.
Overall, I would've DNF'd if I wasn't doing a buddy read. I don't hate it, so it's not quite one star, but I wouldn't recommend this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Racism
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Genocide, and Sexual assault
lia_nicole_'s review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Animal cruelty