Friday, January 17, 2014

Wicked

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire (1995), 406pp.

The entirety of this (too) long book can be summed up by Kermit the Frog's signature truism: It ain't easy being green.

At least, that's what Maguire is trying to convince us with his re imagining of the famous Wizard of Oz villain, the Wicked Witch of the West. From a theoretical standpoint, Maguire seems to have an admirable goal--to rewrite a canonical novel that reflects the perspective of a marginalized character (a la Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea) and incorporates postmodern observations about the instability of language. And admittedly, that sounds like a good premise.

From a literary standpoint, however, the execution of this novel is so shallow, gimmicky, and ultimately confused that I found it hard to finish. I persevered in the hope that something would happen to justify the massive popularity of this novel. It didn't.

The plot is a huge mess. It's overly elaborate and inadequately motivated. The things that happen seem to serve one of the two following purposes: 1) no purpose OR 2) the purpose of forcing in some element from the original Oz. Arguably, Wicked is at its worst when trying to merge its story with the events of The Wizard of Oz, and the last 100 or so pages feel like the  author's inelegant attempt to write himself out of a deteriorating plot line and into a predetermined ending. To make the premise of the novel work at all, though, Maguire needs to change the way the reader feels at the Witch's death. The only reason to reveal the end of a story beforehand is that you intend to show the reader something in the interim that will impact the way he/she feels about the end when it actually occurs. Wicked emphatically does not do this. In fact, the book's final scene is poorly conceived and pointless in comparison with the original ending. At least in the original it's clear why the Witch dies--she's evil. In Maguire's version, there are several possible reasons why she dies--she's stubborn and shortsighted; she's the butt of a cosmic joke in a world lacking meaning/order; the source material dictates that she has to. None of these, however, gives final significance to the plot as a whole.

The characterization is an equally bad problem. All else aside, the success of this book hinges on Maguire's ability to make the reader feel for, sympathize with, or even like his main character. He fails. Like the plot, Maguire's characterization of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, is less complex and nuanced than it is confused and lacking intention. Even more, he turns his supposedly tough, gritty, and radical female lead into a psychological cliche. Consider the following set of circumstances, which characterize Elphaba's inner struggle:

1. The witch is ugly.
2. Because she's ugly, she's an outcast and an introvert.
3. Because she's ugly--naturally--she's an intellectual.
4. The witch's sister, on the other hand, is very pretty.
5. The witch's father loves the sister better.
6. But the witch doesn't need love; she's one tough bitch.
7. Then, one day, she falls in love!
8. But her love dies--and it's her fault.
9. She spends the rest of the book trying to atone for what was really just an accident.

Unfortunately, her guilt is self-aggrandizing rather than humane, and the last half of the novel feels like a practice in self-flagellation for both Elphaba and the reader.

Finally, I'd like to point out that calling a character the "Wicked Witch" when she is neither wicked nor a witch does not necessarily signify that you have investigated the nature of language or the nature of evil. More likely, this is a book that wants you to believe it discusses certain issues without really exploring them in meaningful way.

All in all, Wicked promises so much more than it delivers. I wouldn't recommend this read, unless you're just perversely interested to see how the train wreck plays out. Between multiple printings of the novel and the continued success of the Broadway show, I don't feel too bad for Gregory Maguire, though. He may not be an artist, but his shit sells.