If it's not one thing...

So the internet addiction has been (temporarily?) replaced by a book addiction. (Rather, I have revived my book addiction--I used to read books as though anticipating crisp $20s tucked between each page.) I just finished Wicked, which I've been meaning to read since a coworker coveted it like the holy grail. (A college library coworker, who waited for it to be returned to the library for weeks.) Last week I blew through The Cider House Rules, and it gave me a monster of a headache. Good stuff, but I read A Prayer for Owen Meany first and for some reason expected the stories to flow similarly. Oh well. Doesn't hold a candle to Margaret Atwood novels, that's for sure.

My elementary students were impressed that I was reading a book in English (duh kids, come on now). I'm pretty sure they still think I'm Japanese, albeit a retarded one.

After I finished Wicked, I remembered that it was made into a musical, and I don't like the clips I heard on amazon. The cast looked impressive, but the voices lacked the depth I found in the book. Poorly chosen clips, I suppose. Oh well.

And also, because I haven't quite figured out what I think of it, I also skimmed through the amazon.com reviews for the book, to see how I would react. This one was my favorite by far:

[1 star of 5]
Wickedly evil book, kelleypen (from UT) February 14, 2006
This book intrigues me--I really like the whole twisting the Wizard into an evil despot and Elphaba into an Animal rights activist. There were certainly parts that were well worth reading. But the plot is disjointed and has too much just hanging there. I HATED the whole Philosophy Club part. I'd never read bestiality before, nor did I intend to, and there it was. How did it further the plot? Why was it even in there? How did Elphaba know to tell Glinda not to go in there? And what was it about the whole Ama funeral followed by the men's trip to the Philosophy Club that made Elphaba decide that she needed to go there and then to see the Wizard? And why did the result of that interview convince her to leave school? I just didn't get it. The connections weren't there for me. I feel guilty for having read the whole of it. I don't want my copy of the book any more, but I'm ashamed to give it to any one I care about.

Oh dear. So yes, there's a mention of sex here and there, and some kid is tied to a tiger while in a drug-induced haze (oops, now you'll never read it), and he's never the same again, but really. No graphic descriptions, no talk of body parts. (I'd like give her Vernon God Little and see if she can get past page 70.) But then again, who expects sex in a reworking of a classic fairy tale? I didn't.

Wait, I found one more review!

[1 star of 5] Zzzz...., February 8, 2006

Reviewer:

Dee "Dee" (NJ) - See all my reviews

This book, is a book I head so much about and that it was so good you have to read it. Plus, I live 35 minutes away from the city, so everybody around here is telling me that the play is fantastic. WELL, I think the book sucked, and there is no way I'm going to go to see that play. The book drags on and on and on, and every time it starts to get interesting, it comes to an abrupt halt, and you zoom past like 5 years of Elphaba's life, to something leaving you confused. This book, is not a big deal at all. It reminded me of those books teachers would require students to read in high school, its boring, and dumb. I felt like beating myself with this book, it was so stupid.

Oh the seething indignity of it all! I really hope this is a review by a world-weary high school student, rather than a college student griping about high school required reading. I'm not even going to consider that a real live adult wrote this review.

Overall, I thought Wicked was a nice diversion, but not intriguing enough to really devote myself to the story. Touching characters, interesting story. Although, considering I read it in...well, maybe a day and a half, perhaps I'm not giving it enough credit. Meh. The Time Traveler's Wife is next. And yes, I totally snagged it because the yeti reviewed it. I would've gotten Anansi Boys, because it looked promising, and I remember seeing L lug it around, but it wasn't on amazon.jp in soft cover yet. Guess I'll have to borrow it.