Chat Between Chapters: Interpretation of Oz

For this discussion post, we are joining the Fantasy With Friends discussion with Pages Unbound.

This week’s prompt: Do you have a favorite interpretation of Oz? Do you try to fit the different adaptations together, or do you see them as separate entities? (Do you try to make Wicked make sense with The Wizard of Oz? And do you think of the book or the movie versions in those instances?)

 

 

 Julie:

I couldn’t *not* join in on this topic! My grandpa read a version of Wizard of Oz to me as a kid (it was actually an ESL version) so the story has always held a special place for me. I loved the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie growing up, and as an adult absolutely loved seeing the stage play version done by the great Andrew Lloyd Webber. (Which, I just realized today thanks to Facebook Memories, I have seen this musical twice now live!)

The great thing about the Oz world is it lends itself to so many interpretation opportunities, spin offs, or even just nods using easter eggs in books.

The first time I watched the Wicked Broadway musical on tour it changed my brain chemistry. I love a good villain origin story, and I love a good twisting up of a well known story. And I like to think that Wizard of Oz is the propaganda, where Wicked is the true story. Maybe that’s why I have been so into the fairytale retelling tropes in books. I’ve seen the stage play 3 times now, and have watched the movie adaptations Wicked and Wicked: For Good multiple times in theaters and from the comfort of my couch. And don’t ask me how many times I have listened to the OG soundtrack, and now the movie soundtracks. It has become my obsessulation. The past two years these movies became my entire personality.

As a (sometimes rabid) feminist, the portrayal of the Wicked Witch in stories has been fascinating to me (and the linked essay about the portrayals of this character across the Oz spaces was a great read).

The first book in the The Wicked Series, well, is not the musical. I think it has its place, and I’m glad the musical exists separately from the book. I have only read the first book so far, and while I didn’t love it but appreciated it for what it was. The style of writing was dry and dull but it had some great moments that are classic pop culture forever. I plan to read the rest, yes. I don’t like that my version of the Wicked book has the Broadway musical cover, and I don’t like how the new reprints have the movie cover. They are NOT the same story at all. The characters don’t even go through the same situations. If the Wicked book is a fanfic of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, then the Wicked musical (and movies) are a fanfic of the Wicked book. Same characters and names, totally different stories.

And I did buy a lovely *sprayed edge* copy of the original story The Wizard of Oz: And Other Wonderful Books of Oz at the gift shop after watching the Wizard of Oz musical on tour this past year. She’s a pretty book.

And yes I have also watched the movie The Wiz.

I will say part of my obsession into this world has to be due to my childhood as a choir kid. I was in choir through high school, and we had our annual musicals and performances with bits of famous musicals and plays in them. We would watch a lot of the musicals on VHS back in the day during quiet times when we weren’t rehearsing. So it was just a normal and big part of my life. Musicals were in my blood, and the more classic and impactful ones that got replayed during that time became part of my personality.

So as I mentioned, I enjoy even little nods to the Oz-verse in books. Some I have recently reviewed or shared as book tours:

• The Witches Apprentice and Other Stories
• The Magicless Mage: The Wolf Queen Chronicles  (review here)
• The Wicked Witch of the West: The Enduring Legacy of a Feminist Icon

 

Would love your Wicked-vibe recommendations! Give me your book suggestions with this vibe.

 

What about you?

 

 

We are also linking up our discussion posts with the 2026 Book Blog Discussion Challenge hosted by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight and co-hosted by us!

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