wicked: the life and times of the wicked witch of the west by gregory maguire

went into this somewhat blind. i've listened to some of the musical but never bothered learning the plot. what's strange is that i've owned this book (a physical copy) for years... it's been so long i don't even know why i have it

i couldn't even read this the first time i tried. lol. i was younger and the prose was unlike anything i've been given at school. but now that i'm Older and Wiser, i can finally understand....

my favorite character is probably glinda (or originally galinda).. i mean what's not to love about her and her relationship with elphaba. it was always so enjoyable for elphaba to be like "i know you have a brain in there.. i know you can think! so think!"

this directly results in one of my favorite scenes in the novel, where they're adults and walking in the garden after years of no contact... and glinda clocks elphaba's daddy issues like OH MY GODDD GLINDA YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT..

(alongside this is the fact that elphaba has basically worshipped glinda during all the years they've been separated. just brutal)

then there's also the time she was galinda and then she wasn't, another one of my favorite parts. the imagery of a girl who used to talk and talk and talk about nothing to being barely responsive because she's deeply affected by what happened... so good

but yeah enough glinda worship. (lol)

i keep thinking about the scene of the wizard walking into the ocean... there's just something about it. it's so mysterious but the subtext of Something is definitely there and i love that it's why elphaba is "allergic" to water

like it's not completely random because we get to see how elphaba's mother has influenced her as well, during the time she spent with fiyero. !!! it's just very interesting to me: the patterns that elphaba's parents have set, the ones that she unknowingly follows. an interesting topic both in and out of fiction

i haven't read the rest of the series (i was somewhat exhausted after reading this) but i've honestly kind of convinced myself through writing this, lol. because... the rest of the series focuses on elphaba's and glinda's kids !!! (that they had with other people, not each other)

so i wonder how they're going to deal with the possibility of following their parents' footsteps... it should be an interesting read !!