InsaneJournal

Current mood:

drunk

wicked witches, weird kids
So...am I the only person who found Gregory Maguire's "Wicked" to be...well, dull?


Don't get me wrong - there are enjoyable moments, and the wee fanartist inside me wants to draw the gangly teenage Elphaba in her shapeless dresses. But overall? The whole thing left me cold. There isn't one big thing I dislike about it, so much as lots of tiny things. I felt like Maguire was trying to do too much - cram politics, religion, civil rights, and philosophy into the world of Oz - without really bringing it all together into a seamless whole. The story is disjointed, and for a "true story" of the Witch, there's a whacking great lack of insight into Elphaba's thoughts. Why does she care so much about Animal rights? How does she get pulled into the anti-Wizard movement?

Also, and I can't believe I'm about to quibble over "Wizard of Oz" canon, but I rather wish Maguire had decided if he was going with movie or book Oz. There are elements of book canon in there - mentions of Ozma and Pastorius, the Witch's wolves and bees, but then it'll go back to movie canon - making Glinda the Witch of the North instead of the South, for instance. And, unless there was some timeline trickery I didn't catch, wouldn't Ozma Tippetarius have come back to power by the time Elphaba was at university? After all, Tip in "The Land of Oz" is a young boy, no more than 12 or 13, and when he's turned back into Ozma, there's no indication that she's any older.

Lastly, I know this sounds petty, but by about the fifth time the characters start a discussion on the nature of evil, I started semi-skimming in anticipation of a tornado and a farmhouse. Yes, Mr. Maguire, I GET IT ALREADY.

I know that the musical is very different from the book, but at the moment I'm wondering how on earth anyone thought of making the adaptation. Like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", "Wicked" is a great idea hampered by not-so-great execution. Unlike "P&P&Z", it is actually readable. I'll give it that. :D


Books I have liked recently: "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi (graphic novel of childhood during the Iranian Islamic Revolution); "Mistress of the Art of Death" by Ariana Franklin (think CSI meets "The Name of the Rose"), and "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins (not only a good YA read, but one of those stories I keep coming back to and thinking about, awaiting the sequel).

Why is it I can never write much about books I liked, but I can go on and on about ones I didn't? :/



Seriously, weird. I want to call my mom and ask if I had a penchant for hiding things when I was her age. I found four of my hair barrettes in the paper shredder (thank every deity we keep it unplugged) and this weekend she got hold of some quarters and was trying to shove them under the baseboard radiator. I gave her some Canadian coins left over from Prophecy, and taught her how to put them in a piggy bank, as an acceptable substitute.

And she's growing up way too fast.Saturday, she called for me while I was doing dishes - actually called out "mamamamama" to get my attention - so she could show off her newfound skill at climbing in and out of the rocking chair. I would wax nostalgic about the loss of my wee tiny baby, but then I remember that a toddler Pie sleeps 11 hours a night and feeds herself. This "growing up" thing has its perks.


There's lots of other stuff I want to get all wordy about, but I've just finished a giant trainwreck of a project at work and decent nights of sleep have been lacking, so I'ma be a Responsible Adult (TM) and get some rest.