Wicked
by Gregory Maguire
★ Top 10 book of 1995 · #6 on Best Books of 1995
This retelling of the Oz story follows the green-skinned girl who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, asking where her wickedness came from. Maguire's vivid Oz, full of talking animals, challenges easy ideas about good and evil.
Best for: Readers who enjoy classic tales retold from the villain's point of view
Wicked is #6 on BookWard's Best Books of 1995, out of 28 1995 books that cleared our data bar.
What Wicked is about
Gregory Maguire takes the land of Oz and turns it inside out. Framed as a biography, the novel traces the Wicked Witch of the West, here named Elphaba Thropp, from her birth with green skin, sharp teeth, and a fear of water through her school years at Shiz University and into a life of political unrest. She shares a room with the ambitious Galinda, who is bound to become Glinda, and the pair soon attract the attention of the headmistress, Madame Morrible.
Oz in this telling is a place where its rulers are not what they seem. Elphaba grows into a radical, forms a bond with Prince Fiyero, discovers a book of spells, and becomes known as a witch. The tone is dark, satirical, and thoughtful, with questions about whether evil is born or made and how propaganda shapes who we call wicked. It suits adults who enjoy a familiar story retold with a sharper edge.
This is the first novel in The Wicked Years, followed by Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz. Readers who know Baum's original will enjoy spotting where the two versions meet and part.
Wicked on the Best Books of 1995
Wicked came out in 1995. Of the 28 books first published in 1995 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #6 on our Best Books of 1995 list.
Why it made the list: 616 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (16 ratings); 24 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1995 list
- Mindhunter John E. Douglas, #4
- Rose Madder Stephen King, #5
- The Demon-Haunted World Carl Sagan, #7
- The Rainmaker John Grisham, #8
See all Best Books of 1995 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1994 Best Books of 1996.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 552 want to read it, 24 are reading it now and 40 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.1 out of 5 from 16 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 93 | 55% |
| Reader love | 64 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 75 | 20% |
Questions about Wicked
When was Wicked published?
Wicked by Gregory Maguire was first published in 1995.
Was Wicked one of the best books of 1995?
Wicked is #6 on BookWard's Best Books of 1995, out of 28 1995 books that cleared our data bar. 616 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (16 ratings); 24 are reading it right now.
Why is Wicked on the Best Books of 1995 list?
616 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.1 out of 5 (16 ratings); 24 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 1995
- The Lost World Michael Crichton, #1
- Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, #2
- Northern Lights Philip Pullman, #3
- Mindhunter John E. Douglas, #4
- Rose Madder Stephen King, #5
- The Demon-Haunted World Carl Sagan, #7
See the full Best Books of 1995, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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