Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

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

44 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

aleesha_mcnair14's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book, regardless of it's peculiarities and uneccesary use of strong explicit content, I thoroughly enjoyed. The Wizard of Oz is such an incredible story anyway that learning about the story beforehand of what created such a catalyst was really nice to read about. The best way to describe the book was like a rollercoaster ride in terms of weirdness. There would be moments of tranquility and character depth that would then quickly delve into sex or weirdly beastiality. Elphaba has by far become one of my favourite characters however. I adored the growth she went through within the book and her love with Fiyero that

btw I couldn't believe he was killed off

There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me and intrigued and I loved and was excited to keep reading throughout the book. Reading this beforehand has made me so excited for the film and I genuinely hold this book in such high regard once you block out all of the weirdness. I loved all the characters and cared for each person so dearly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia and Racial slurs

savage_book_review's review

I saw the musical 'Wicked' a couple of months ago and, while I did enjoy it, I wanted a little more depth of story so I did have half a mind to read the book. It was therefore a no brainer to add to my Audible library when I spotted it was included with my membership. At this point, I am incredibly glad I didn't pay for it! I will give credit to the people who wrote the musical... how they managed to extract their inspiration from this is something I will never understand! 

First and foremost, my goodness is this slow going! It takes 3 hours for the book to do what the musical does in, oh, 10 minutes max and actually get Elpheba and Galinda to their first day at university. And in the 8 hours I listened to, I couldn't really tell you about any major plot points that happened - they were just heading off to the Emerald City when I gave up. It's like the author kept getting distracted and going off on unnecessary tangents; in fact, his writing reminds me of the dull professors he talks about! There was just NOTHING to keep you engaged as a reader/listener.

I also found the tone of the writing very odd. Now, I'll admit that I haven't read the original Wizard of Oz books, so my thoughts here could be a result of the gap in my knowledge. But I couldn't get my head around the semi-frequent swearing, allusions to sex and various instances of more 'adult' material, all of which feels completely at odds with some elements which feel very childish and simplistic. I was expecting more on the YA end of the spectrum, if I'm honest, so while I'm by no means a pearl-clutcher, the grown up stuff just threw me for a loop! It's like the author couldn't pick his audience, so we've got a random mashup of everything.

I also remember being slightly disconcerted by the seemingly racist, sexist and trasphobic undertones, all of which made an appearance within the first hour. There are also questionable depictions of disability (physical and mental), and I got really bored with the repeated assaults of thinly veiled religious theology. It's not a new book, I know, but it was still published within my lifetime and so with each instance it just felt less and less comfortable.

The characters were all pretty bland too. Galinda is your mean girl with her back up b*tches, Boq is the geek in love with the popular kid, Fiero has apparently been given one hell of a glow up in the musical, and Elpheba is actually quite unlikeable. There was just no character I felt a connection with or able to root for. 

While the narrator was fairly easy to listen to and had plenty of animation in his voice, I just felt that it would have been better if the story had been narrated by a woman. I felt like I might have been able to connect with the main characters more if I could hear their voice, rather that (in my head at least) the Wizard speaking on their behalf. I'd also say that the sound quality was not the greatest (lots of swallowing, loud breathing etc), and his timing was really odd in places, with large pauses where there was no need, and no pauses where there should have been.

All of this ties up in the moment I decided to DNF. The gang of secondary characters have just held a wake for a minor character and decide that the most appropriate thing to do thereafter is go to a sex club. After drinking and dancing, they get taken into a 'special room', where one of their number is pulled onto the stage with a sentient Tiger and a woman on her honeymoon. The woman is tied up by her hands, our secondary character is wrapped around the Tiger koala style, they're all blindfolded and it's inferred that the evening's entertainment begins with the Tiger performing oral sex on the woman. And then, without a breath, suddenly we're with Elpheba and Galinda on their way to the Emerald City. 

Yup, at that point my brain went 'we're DEFINITELY not in Kansas anymore!'

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mostly_present's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Racism, Sexual violence, and Violence

poetry_birb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.25

It was so much weirder than the musical. I picked this up thinking it was going to be your standard villain origin story and instead I get Wizard of Oz smutty fanfiction. I suppose I should’ve expected that- but still- for this to have been turned into such a popular and well known musical blows my mind with how raunchy the source material is. It was a fine book but… would not read it again. I liked the racial allegory through the Animals and Elpheba’s defiance and perseverance, but man some of that stuff at the beginning was not needed at all. Definitely don’t recommend if you’re under 15. It was kind of wild.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape

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

swhitzel's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

What a useless story. So much character build up, so many possibilities, all for nothing. Pages and pages of rambling nonsense mixed in with small bits of interest and intrigue. Entirely anticlimactic. 

A true waste of time. Genuinely amazed that this was the basis for such a fantastic stage play. It seems the musical pulled out the best pieces of the story. Wish I had left it there and not ventured further into this world. 

A letdown.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Toxic friendship

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

📱
This was alright. It was a heavy read at time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Death, Racism, and Rape

alexandra_salisbury's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-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

2.5

I want to like it more than I did. This was my second attempt after a DNF. While I'm usually one for closed-door books, I could look past the explicit scenes if it wasn't for the blatant *completely unnecessary* sexualization of children which just made the book really sordid. 

There were very interesting things that happened that would bring you right to the precipice of something happening and then *surprise* - time jump, and it didn't happen. Or maybe it did and you missed it. It was disappointing. Someone needs to write a fan fiction of this fan fiction and do it better- although maybe that's what the musical did 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Dementia, Trafficking, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Sexism