Need some literary advice

[Wendy]

 "abigailnus" <abigailnus at y...> wrote:

> Wicked -- Gregory Maguire
> 
> Wicked, a retelling of The Wizard of Oz from the POV of the wicked 
witch, 
> is definitely not for children.  I don't mean that there's 
inappropriate stuff 
> (there's a teensy bit of sex, but it's over so fast you hardly 
notice it) but 
> that the story is written for adults to enjoy, and its themes are 
adult themes.  
> Plus, it's not that great - I always want to like Maguire's stuff 
more then I 
> end up doing.


I agree with this review of "Wicked" completely - I really wanted to 
like it, and just didn't. Not much, anyway. It's not *bad,* it's 
just not as good as I'd hoped it would be. I was a huge fan of the 
original "Oz" books as a child (both the ones written by Baum, and 
the ones written by other authors, as well. "The Hungry Tiger of Oz" 
is my all-time favourite). So, I found "Wicked" to be disappointing. 
It was interesting and a bit clever, but not clever enough.

I will say, though, that I *loved* "Confessions of an Ugly Step-
sister." (I'm assuming Abigail has read it . . . for everyone else, 
it's retelling of the "Cinderella" fairy tale, told by one of the 
step-sisters). I found this to be *very* clever, and a really great 
take on what I have often found to be a very sexist and awful fairy 
tale as it is usually told to children. (At least as it was told to 
me as a child). This is actually one of the best books I've read in 
the past few years (in my top 5, anyway). I really, really enjoyed 
it and would highly recommend. Like "Wicked," though, this is not a 
children's book, for the same reasons Abigail mentioned 
regarding "Wicked." I'm curious, Abigail . . . what 
about "Confessions" did you not like?

And, does Maguire have other books besides these two?

:-)
Wendy