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.

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.

Fantastic, as always

The story MacGuire weaves is always enjoyable, filled with imagery easily brought to life by one’s imagination.

The narrator helped through his performance.

I thoroughly loved it. We’ll hope future for performances of the story are not lessened as some of his stories have been.

A surprise fifth installment is added, exactly 30 years after the publishing of WICKED!

I literally could not wait to read ELPHIE. I was so excited that I began reading it immediately. The book is a very interesting, belated prologue to WICKED. The book gives tells a story of alphaba's parents and how they came to be wed, an answers without a doubt some questions I had previously had regarding all of Elphaba's earlier years. stories of her upbringing from birth,until the age of 16 is she begins her first day at Shiz University, and how she came to end up there in the first place

Amazing

Best audiobook ever. I listened to it for hours and really enjoyed it. I look forward to rereading the whole series now!!

Just Okay

This book is a bit of a rehash of what we already know of Elphaba's life with a little bit of new info sprinkled in. it was a bit disappointing. It is a short book, made shorter by the narrators speedy delivery. I slowed the audio down to 95% so I could follow what he was saying. I do love Maguire's vocabulary and that did not disappoint. Slowing down the playback helped to make the book somewhat enjoyable.