Only one person in the group had finished this book, everyone else was finding it a little hard going. We felt that it really needed to be read with your full attention so it wasn't really a book to read prior to going to sleep.
We felt there was a lack of a central plot, it seemed to consist of lots of fragmented stories which we found difficult to bring together. We also felt that there wasn't much done with regard to character building as well, which meant that between the two there wasn't enough plot or character building to entertain us. Maybe the author was rely on the fact that his readers would have already watched the movie and read all the books by Frank L Baum. None of us had read the books, and one member hadn't watched the movie so this may have had a detrimental effect on how much we all enjoyed this book.
We discussed various topics based around the themes we could find in the book. For example, whether good intentions with a bad ending are the same as bad intentions with a bad ending. We thought that it depends a great deal on whether you're the person doing the action or the person on the receiving end as to how you might feel about this question. We also thought that it was the intention behind the action rather than the action itself that was most important with regards the end result.
In the end we wondered whether Elphaba was a self-fulfilling prophecy, she tried to do what she felt were good things to improve the lives of the Animals but in the end her skin held her back. She looked like a wicked witch so people treated her as such. Was she really wicked and evil or was she just trying to get retribution for her sisters untimely death?
One positive element we took from the book was the fact that we felt Elphaba was a very strong female character of which there is sometimes a lack in literature.
Overall we gave this book 4 out of 10.
We felt there was a lack of a central plot, it seemed to consist of lots of fragmented stories which we found difficult to bring together. We also felt that there wasn't much done with regard to character building as well, which meant that between the two there wasn't enough plot or character building to entertain us. Maybe the author was rely on the fact that his readers would have already watched the movie and read all the books by Frank L Baum. None of us had read the books, and one member hadn't watched the movie so this may have had a detrimental effect on how much we all enjoyed this book.
We discussed various topics based around the themes we could find in the book. For example, whether good intentions with a bad ending are the same as bad intentions with a bad ending. We thought that it depends a great deal on whether you're the person doing the action or the person on the receiving end as to how you might feel about this question. We also thought that it was the intention behind the action rather than the action itself that was most important with regards the end result.
In the end we wondered whether Elphaba was a self-fulfilling prophecy, she tried to do what she felt were good things to improve the lives of the Animals but in the end her skin held her back. She looked like a wicked witch so people treated her as such. Was she really wicked and evil or was she just trying to get retribution for her sisters untimely death?
One positive element we took from the book was the fact that we felt Elphaba was a very strong female character of which there is sometimes a lack in literature.
Overall we gave this book 4 out of 10.
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