Wicked by Gregory Maguire

519 pages; Harper; 1995

Counter to what I expected, this is far more than a novelty book. It has well-drawn characters with strong identities, whose thoughts and feelings ring true. As a fantasy novel, it's a surprisingly detailed world of its own. But the author takes it well beyond fantasy. He has some important points to make.

He's telling us that many things in life are not clear-cut. Maguire's Oz is a world where everyone is flawed in some way, and what appears to be wicked may be otherwise.

Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, is not wicked, and she insists that she's not a witch either. She's well-intentioned, but handicapped by her green skin and sharp features, she inadvertently creates her own self-fulfilling prophecies. Glinda (the good witch) enters the story as a shallow rich girl, preoccupied with her appearance and social standing. But in the end, she's a benign sorceress with power beyond either of the so-called wicked witches.

The Wizard articulates these themes in one of the most memorable scenes. Quoting from the Oziad, the hero tale of ancient Oz: "It looks the same... but it is not. It looks as they expect, but it is not."

Maguire makes all these points with clever ties back to the original L. Frank Baum novel -- quite an accomplishment.