01-14-2009, 06:23 PM
I remember the Yeti once recommended this, so I picked it up at the library sale. It was a page-turner and I stayed up late a couple of nights reading it, but I can't totally praise it.
The bit about persecution of talking animals and the resultant murder was pretty much a McGuffin; it felt forced to me. There was enough oppression to set the tone without it. (I did like his portrayal of the Wizard as a would-be Nietzschean Superman or Crowley figure.) The titular witch remains particularly clueless about motivations and probable actions of others despite growing older (making it feel like a "young adult" book), and her eventual apparent madness didn't really make sense to me. She also seems trapped by her early life experiences to act certain ways, and her life is further shaped for the worse by her life events, and ultimately it felt like everything sort of unrolled as if according to her destiny. That was just depressing, even though you know how it will end - life goes wrong and then you die. I really can't see this being a satisfying musical; it's pretty dark.
The bit about persecution of talking animals and the resultant murder was pretty much a McGuffin; it felt forced to me. There was enough oppression to set the tone without it. (I did like his portrayal of the Wizard as a would-be Nietzschean Superman or Crowley figure.) The titular witch remains particularly clueless about motivations and probable actions of others despite growing older (making it feel like a "young adult" book), and her eventual apparent madness didn't really make sense to me. She also seems trapped by her early life experiences to act certain ways, and her life is further shaped for the worse by her life events, and ultimately it felt like everything sort of unrolled as if according to her destiny. That was just depressing, even though you know how it will end - life goes wrong and then you die. I really can't see this being a satisfying musical; it's pretty dark.
the hands that guide me are invisible
