Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

15 reviews

queensalamand's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

If anything watch the play/movie first, then read the book if you want. I wish I had. Never had the chance to watch the play.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death and Grief

lateromantic's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book is absolutely not what I was expecting. I don't know the show, only some of the songs from it, and I was not expecting it to be about racism and sedition. I am guessing they will have to change a LOT for the film, but that the undercurrent of racism will still be there... potentially more awkwardly if looking at the cast list is anything to go by (in a world where dwarfs are fully realised characters, you cast a dwarf as... an Animal? not the sexually appealing munchkin?? I get that Peter Dinklage is too old for that part but, like, he is not the only dwarf in the world...) For a 90s book that specifically references the UK as inspiration to give a sympathetic voice to an explicit terrorist freedom fighter is bold, and there's a pretty clear reference to AIDS in one character too, which was pretty brave. I'm assuming the musical questions morality significantly less, and focusses a lot less on worldbuilding.

I feel ill-placed to rate this book, as I don't tend to read this sort of fantasy with invented names and mapped-out worlds, but what I can say is that I was interested in the characters but not the situations they found themselves in - Maguire has created mature people and then made the relationships between them shallow and unbelievable. There is also far too much emphasis on children and the value of conception for my liking. Idk, a strange book, lovely philosophical moments and some fantastic quotes, but much too long and filled with odd choices that perhaps date back to the original LFB texts... and then at the end it just rattles along too quickly, with Elphaba turning mad in, like, 2 pages. I honestly don't know if I'd recommend it or not, and I don't know if I enjoyed it or not. Is one of the other books about Nessarose? I'm curious about how Maguire concieves her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Colonisation

hedyharper's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jerrysaywhaaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I think overall that I enjoyed this story. It could have been trimmed down a bit and I do wish the whole thing more Elphaba’s story since the book is called The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (the first half of the book is mostly about her mother, Glinda, Boq, and Fiyero).

I think that the musical actually improved on the overall story of Wicked, especially for Boq, the Lion, the Tinman, and the Scarecrow. I can only hope that the new movies take more from the novel to improve on the musical (I would love to see the inclusion of Sarima, her sisters, her children, and Liir). 

Will I read the sequels? Maybe eventually, but this was a struggle to get through at parts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Rape, Excrement, and Dementia

Minor: Death of parent

Beastiality, Child Nudity

mandi_lea's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

booknerd_therapist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Cursing and Fatphobia

wishbea's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Extremely different to the musical Wicked! the tone of this is much darker with murder and unnecessary sexual content. Far too many time skips, at least 4 major time skips spanning years of Elphaba's life. The plot of the Wizard of Oz makes an appearance, but the portrayal of Dorothy here doesn't quite fit this darker story. I think the Shiz portion is when the book is at its best both character wise and regarding the political, religious and moral themes. Elphaba is a very fascinating main character but she is incredibly unlikeable outside of her passion about her beliefs about Animal rights. 

If you are interested in this book because of the musical be very aware that this is extremely different,  it isn't just darker, Fiyero is a side character, Glinda is a minor character, Boq has a larger role and shares only his crush on Glinda with his musical counterpart and Elphaba is no magical prodigy.

If you want a book that explores the mentality of the Wicked Witch of the West, this is for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

swrrlgrrl's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Please do not come to this novel expecting the same story as the Broadway musical. This is wildly different, darker, and more complex than the show. (I love the show. Just be prepared for a very different story here, or you will be sorely disappointed.)

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Racism

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Genocide, and Sexual assault

gayghostprince's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Colonisation

I never finished this book when I was younger but I was immediately struck by how vile all the adults in this book are upon rereading it. there are no assault scenes, but people do mention r*pe. the descriptions and implications about specific groups in this people are racist and stereotypical, but not often aggressively malicious. a LOT of the treatment of children in this book is upsetting. content warning for family baggage and child neglect. in addition, late in the book a child is pretty relentlessly bullied by his peers. I added a minor homophobia warning because the way people describe the two obviously gay characters is often homophobic. just coincidentally describing them as simpering or whatever. the equivalent of calling a gay man a fairy, you know? the sex scenes in this book are not detailed or graphic but they are also not well written. take that as you will.