ELPHIE: A WICKED CHILDHOOD
GREGORY MAGUIRE
**
A spellbinding prequel to Wicked, the internationally bestselling novel that inspired the hit stage show phenomenon and major, record-breaking movie.
Young Elphaba is destined to be a witch, she bears the markings from childhood. But what happened before her powers took hold?
Elphie is a girl like any other and no other. Nothing like her parents - one beautiful, the other pious - nor her saintly sister, Nessarose. Her skin is green, her mind is cunning. One day she will command this strange and wonderful world. For now, her journey is just beginning.
The road ahead is full of lessons and heartbreak, the first bruising attempts at friendship - and tantalising whispers of magic.
It will lead Elphie to the doors of Shiz University, and to the girl who will change her life forever.
This is the captivating coming-of-age story of the most iconic witch in Oz.
MY REVIEW
**
I must admit although I’m a big fan of the stage musical and the film, I really didn’t enjoy the book of Wicked when I gave it a read earlier this year. I was apprehensive of picking up the prequel, Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, but it’s been almost 30 years since that book was written and before all the fame of the musical, so I went in with an open mind.
This is going to be a difficult book for a lot of people - the publication perfectly coincides with the movie which will bring a new host of fans wanting to read the books, but this prequel only really works if you have read at least the first book of Wicked. This seems like a major misstep by the author not to recap some of the story which didn’t make it into the musical – characters like Turtle Heart, Shell, Nanny and some of the themes and locations covered in the book felt somewhat vague to me, even though I read the book a matter of months ago.
I remember one of my main criticisms of Wicked the book was that I didn’t really feel anything for Elphaba at the end of it, which is a direct contrast from the stage production where we are routing for her throughout. I thought this prequel would help us understand this quiet, intelligent and somewhat scary girl a little better. However, as before, the author doesn’t actually tell us too much about Elphaba and her personality. We do, however, learn a little more about those around her – particularly Nessa and Shell, and neither of these are favourable impressions.
The book is quite a jumbled series of scenes and moments - an odd encounter with a tribe wanting to kidnap the children, which went on for too many pages or Elphaba’s first possible hex turning a stone into a plum, for example. The majority of the book is then about their childhood in a village, with Elphaba working in a haberdashery, trying to get into schooling and Frex trying to establish his ministry. None of this really led to much, apart from a reference to Shiz University which seemed to come out of nowhere at the end to set up the rest of the books. I thought there was going to be an interesting tie in to Fiyero at one point with an unnamed boy of high status taking a shine to Elphaba, but when he is finally revealed, I had no idea who he was.
The writing style itself is tricky as well, it has no flow at all for the first quarter, everything arrives in very choppy, short sentences. This makes it quite a slow read, I’m unsure if it gets better as it goes along or if I just got used to it. For a short book it felt like it dragged, particularly as it doesn’t really go anywhere plot-wise.
Overall, Elphie is a difficult read - not recommended for those that haven’t read at least the first Wicked book, and even then, I don’t think you get any new or interesting information from it. Thank you to NetGalley & Headline for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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