Elphie

A Wicked Childhood

By: Gregory Maguire

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

New York Times Bestseller

What happened to young Elphaba before her witchy powers took hold in Wicked? Almost 30 years after the publication of the original novel, Gregory Maguire reveals the story of prickly young Elphie, the future Wicked Witch of the West—setting the stage for the blockbuster international phenomenon that is Wicked: The Musical and the Wicked smash hit movie series.

Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, will grow to have a feisty and somewhat uncompromising character in adult life. But she is always a one-off, from her infancy; Elphie is the riveting coming-of-age story of a very peculiar and relatable young girl.

Young Elphie is shaped and molded by the behaviors of her promiscuous mother, Melena, and her pious father, Frex. She suffers ordinary childhood jealousies when her sister, saintly Nessarose, and brother, junior felon Shell, arrive. She first encounters the mistreatment of the Animal populations of Oz, which live adjacent to but not intertwined with human settlements, haunted by a Monkey and receiving aid from Dwarf Bears. She thrashes through her first bruising attempts at friendship, a possible lifeline from her tricky family life. And she gleans the benefits of an education, haphazard though it must be—until she arrives at the doors of Shiz University, about to meet the radiant creature that is Galinda.

Elphie is destined to be a witch; she bears the markings from childhood—most evidently in her green skin but more obscurely and profoundly in her cunning and perhaps amoral behaviors, as she seeks to make do, to slip by, to sneak out, to endure, and to aspire.

Wickedly Wonderful

It's nice to learn more about who Elphaba is and what makes her feel and act as she does. Another brilliant book by Gregory McGuire

Underwhelming

I really wanted to like this. Maguire writing has always been interesting but a but hard to follow at times. If you can get through the first half of the book, which is unnecessary and slow, the second half becomes more interesting. I do like how he ties in recognizable elements such as the first time she holds a broom and how she sees wings onto things. Overall though I don't feel like we learned too much more about Elphaba than we already knew.

Back story was important.

Nothing at all to dislike. It's the wicked witch of the west. All Hail Elphaba!♥️

a good addition to the wicked series

It starts off a little confusing but all comes together in the end. Talks about Elphie as a young child and goes more into her family life.

Sewing wings onto dolls

This was really hard to get into. The initial style of the book was somehow stunted with flat documentation of life prior to Elphie's mother's death. Now that I write that, the symbolism is not lost on me. That likely describes Elphie's experience of life up to a point, but it was a slog. Then after that moment, this book became what I've come to love from the Wicked universe. Elphie's pull between emotional self preservation, abrasiveness, and even kindness is so nicely written. I have to be honest, by the time the family arrived in Ovvels, forgot I was reading a book. I was simply there in the pages with them. After Iskenaary (not in this book), Unger is one of my favorite side characters now. I liked the portrayal of the tender but reluctant relationship.
I don't feel so bad for what Shell becomes after seeing what kind of a kid he was lol. I was kind of hung up on that in earlier books because I wanted him to be cool.
Incredible acknowledgment of Gregory Maguire's ability to build an entire world independent and yet complimentary to the Oz that we grew up with. I think I'd even say it surpasses Robert Jordan world building, who has always been my #1.