Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West By Gregory Maguire (Possible Spoilers)

After having watched and loved the play last year, I was excited to finally get my hands on the book. For those unfamiliar, wicked unravels the story of The Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the wicked witch of the west, Elpaba. But while the play painted the witch as a well meaning misunderstood rebel, the book portrays a darker picture of a woman coarsened by circumstances. Of course this darker portrayal makes the darker ending more digestible. Nonetheless, it leaves the reader with a feeling of melancholy.

The book starts with Elphaba’s birth and arrival of the wizard in Oz. It follows Elphaba’s journey through Shiz university where she befriends Glinda and Fiyero. After Shiz, she disappears in the Emerald city, where she joins underground rebel forces fighting against the wizard for Animal rights. It is here that she reconnects with Fiyero and starts a love affair. This part of the story is common to the book and the play, and is arguably the best chapters of the book.

The second half of the book jumps seven years forward, where Elphaba now has a seven year old son from Fiyero, named Liir. Most of the incidents in this part of the book are not shown in the play, probably because they show the worst sides of Elphaba. Specifically, how she has no motherly feelings towards Liir and completely neglects him, almost leading to his death by another child. Then as revenge, she kills the other child.

The book had the potential to be a good read, had I read it without seeing the play. What made the play so great, was its depiction of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, which is merely touched upon in the book. Further, the play offered reasonable but completely different explanations to the incidents of wizard of oz, which gave it the characteristics of a mystery unfolding, tied together beautifully at the end. The book does no such thing, hence I kept looking for alternative explanations where there were none provided. I do plan to read the other two books in the series.

A Man Called Ove – Fredrick Backman

At the onset, this seems to be the episodic stories of a grumpy old man’s interaction with his neighbors. But being the terrific storyteller that he is, Backman weaves in little nuggets of information in his chapters, each of which make you want to know more. At the heart of it, is the love story of Ove and his wife, which invokes a wealth of emotion in the reader. Other storylines include an elderly couple who are about to be separated due to the husband’s Alzheimer, a gay teenager in conflict with his parent and a stray cat. How Ove helps resolve these issues while he himself heals, makes for a gripping and heartfelt read.

La La Land (Possible Spoilers)

After hearing the rave reviews of La La Land,  I finally went to watch it with Kiya last weekend. I was slightly apprehensive since one of my other friends was not a  big fan, saying that just watching the last ten minutes would have been enough. Moreover, I generally do not like musicals (never understood the craze behind the High School Musical franchise) and after the first song, I had completely given up any hopes of liking the movie. However, I was pleasantly surprised and my appreciation of the film increased linearly with time. The movie starts with the title screen reading Winter on a black background. Now if you’ve seen a lot of movies, you know that a movie that begins in Winter must end in Autumn, which is not the happiest season, so our protagonists probably will not  end up together. Anyway, back to the movie,  we meet our leads Mia and Sebastian as they have an unpleasant encounter on a road in L.A. She is a struggling actress and he struggling Jazz enthusiast looking to open his own pure Jazz club. She stumbles upon him again on her walk back from a party, when she enters a restaurant, drawn to his piano performance. Shortly after he is done, the manager fires Sebastian for playing jazz instead of Christmas music like he was asked to. Mia goes up to talk to him but he abruptly brushes past her.

 

They do not meet again until Spring, when after many a song and dance sequence, they kiss and start dating. The song and dance sequences were actually pretty great, and  this is the first time that I have seen Hollywood come close to Bollywood, though this might put off some viewers. In one instance when they are dancing in the museum, they start floating and climbing imaginary stairs to the sky, which is something typical of Bollywood movies or maybe Barbie fairytales, read Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses (should I be ashamed that I know this?).

During their wonderful love affair they are still struggling hard to pursue their dreams. While Seb relents on his ambition of pursuing pure jazz, to join a “modern” jazz band, Mia works on writing and performing in her own one woman show. Seb’s band is very successful and he is often away on tours, while Mia’s show has low attendance and is poorly received. However, she gets noticed and gets called to audition for a movie. This is a nice juxtaposition of compromising ideals for immediate success against taking the harder path which can often lead you to give up if you are not resolute enough (or in this case dont have a hot boyfriend to persuade you otherwise).

Mia’s big break leads her to Paris for a three month shoot and her amicable separation from Seb. At the end of the movie, Mia is a big movie star, visiting Seb’s pure Jazz club with her husband. The movie is an ode to L.A. and the many dreamers who find themselves there. It encourages people to not give up on them and to cherish and appreciate every relationship that helps us along the way, even if they do not end with a happily ever after.

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry – Fredrik Backman

I bought this book on a friend’s recommendation. The initial chapters, though not page turners, are well-written and get you to through to the point where the grandmother dies. At this point, our seven-year old protagonist Elsa, is left on a “treasure hunt” of apology letters to her neighbors from her grandmother. It is evident that each of these letters are pieces of one big mystery. The reader is soon pulled into unraveling a tale of loss, violence, abuse, and people putting aside their differences in the face of adversity to do what is right.

The most important message imparted by this book that we are nothing without dreams and this is repeatedly emphasized throughout the book. Elsa’s grandmother uses fairytales to accustom her to sad realities, as Elsa realizes that each of her neighbor’s correspond to a character from her grandmother’s stories, upon learning more about them. Fairytales are also a tool for Elsa to deal with her parent’s divorce and being bullied. Further, Elsa is unable to dream in the immediate aftermath of her grandmother’s death. Thus, the author emphasizes the power of imagination in his own storytelling techniques, as well as through the contents of the stories. This is a book that celebrates and encourages being different and is a must read for adults and children alike.

A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking

I started reading this book with the hope that it would improve my very poor understanding of physics, in spite of having courses in it for 7ish years. It starts of well with a general overview of the universe, and anyone with a basic understanding of physics should be able to follow along. But by chapter 4, when he gets into discussions of black hole and imaginary time, I am totally lost.  The physics explanations are underlined with discussions of God. Nevertheless, the book is well written and tells a coherent story. It just requires careful attention and multiple readings for complete comprehension.

Stauf’s Coffee House

Towards mid-semester last year, my friend Kiya suggested going to Stauf’s Coffee House for brunch. She said that while the food was average, they had a great selection of coffee and that was enough to sell me. I got my usual latte, cause I had not yet learned to appreciate black coffee, along with a goat cheese omelette. They served our coffee first, and I was so excited to see that there was a pattern on it! I had only seen coffee patterns on movies and for some reason did not think that you could get them in real life. Not only was it pretty, but it was also delicious (which rarely happens in life). It had the perfect rich and creamy taste that I want from a latte and was a solid complement to the omelette, which inspite of what Kiya said, was tasty and filling. It comes with a side of well seasoned potatoes and toast. The whole outing was very satisfactory, both in terms of food and gossip.

The Angry Baker

Last week I tried a new brunch place called the Angry Baker in downtown Columbus. My friend had been telling me to make avocado toast for the longest time. Well, when I saw it on the menu, I decided that since I never have time to make it, I might as well buy it. It was also the most appealing item on the blackboard menu at the time. It was made exactly as the description read, four slices of wheat toast served with a generous helping of mashed avocados, topped with red chili flakes and bean sprouts. The chili flakes served to add flavor more than any actual spice and I never seem to remember that I hate bean sprouts (thankfully, they were easy enough to shove aside). All in all, it was a good dish, mainly because how can you mess up avocado toast? But like all healthy dishes, it was hardly filling. So I ended up ordering a side of a single pancake, and let me tell you, it took the cake. It was thicker than most pancakes, with a texture that is hard to describe. It felt very rich, but was fluffy enough to melt in your mouth, and went really well with just the maple syrup. I would definitely go back for the pancake.

Defying Gravity

I finally got to see Wicked on broadway! Quick back story, about a year ago, when I was getting ready to graduate with my Bachelors, my two friends and I were looking at graduation cap designs. I came across a Wicked cap design, a green face with black witch’s hat and the quote “Defying Gravity”. For some reason I really liked it but felt it would be hypocritical to put it on the cap without seeing the show, which is why my cap ended up being covered in purple glitter. I did however, Wikipedia the story and have wanted to see the show ever since then. So when I found out that Wicked was coming to Columbus, I knew I had to go.

Unfortunately, I was late and missed the first half hour. Other than that, the whole experience was very enjoyable. I do belief though that the character of Glinda could have been made a little less shallow and annoying, without taking away from the superiority of Elphaba. The scene where Elphaba is dancing alone in the most silly manner, with everyone staring at her, I think is one that is sad and relatable to many. But then to have Glinda come and join her, giving rise to their complex friendship, was heartwarming to watch, which can only be attributed to the chemistry between the two actors. The rendition of “Popular” right after, intended to amuse the audience, was unfortunately painful to watch, mainly because I am not a fan of slapstick humor. The love story between Fiyero and Elphaba was a pleasure to watch though, specially “Now that You’re Mine”.

From there on however, the unravelling of how an innocent girl is portrayed as the villain because she challenges a wrongful system is executed very well and is something that is relevant even today. The story told here is that our circumstances eventually determine our lot in life. Elphaba, the green skinned girl has always been shunned by everyone. As a result, it is easy for her to challenge injustice when she sees  it, regardless of the consequence, which in the end leads to her downfall. Glinda on the other hand, has been always privileged with the love of everyone around her, and hence finds it hard to go against what is expected of her. She is able to use this to her advantage to finally become the ruler of Oz. Her character development however is lacking. However her trajectory from the naive, selfish and jealous girl to the just Glinda, the good is too sudden and lacking. It does not shy way from showing the harsh reality that often the best people have to take the fall. But hey, as consolation, atleast she gets her love.

Wicked succeeds in conveying the message that there are two sides to every story and that we are all made of varying shades of gray. Can you blame the paraplegic Nessarose for wanting to keep the only person she has known compassion from by her side, even if he loves someone else? Or blame Glinda for wanting revenge from her friend for her apparent betrayal in trust? Or Elphaba for wanting to get back the last signs of her sister from the annoying Dorothy?

All in all, Wicked unexpectedly evoked a lot of emotions and made me think about various societal issues, and I would recommend it to everyone!