Wicked

Wicked Gregory McGuire

Ok, I've been sucked in. Even though it has a "Discussion Guide Included". Even though it's so agressively popular I can't find it in any local used bookstore. McGuire's Wicked Witch of the West--aka Elphaba--is among my top female protagonists in fiction, not least of all because her first words as a toddler are "Horrors!", repeated to the growing unease of the adults around her.

"Elphie" grows up to be a relentlessly honest, ceaslessly unhappy woman, enraged by the conniving and cruelty she sees trickling from the top of Oz downward. The Wizard has taken the country in a coup, and the talking Animals are being quickly marginalized.

McGuire packs a lot of satire into his novel, but avoids being didactic. His heroine is the best, unhappiest heroine since Morrissey in his prime.