Wicked by Gregory Maguire

I have to admit it. I read this because of the hype. But I felt enough while reading, to journal.

She is born inside the Time Clock of the Dragon, a magical/mechanical apparatus that promotes spectacle and violence. Frex, a minister, tried to keep his parishioners from idolizing it but was not successful. Who can overcome the sensationalism of the spectacle? Elphaba was born green. Everyone talks about killing her, except Nanny, who is not around long. They try to figure out why Elphaba was born this way: because Frex siad the devil was coming, because Melena slept around, or "perhaps, little, green Elphaba chose her own sex, and her own color, and to hell with her parents." I admire the simplicity of that last reason. Those born different, those who live different, perhaps, like Elphaba, they merely thought to hell with everyone else.

"To the ignorant everything is spectacle these days." This quote is strangely appropriate to our own time, where everything is show with no substance, and "individual freedom and amusement is all."

And a comment on doubt that differs from Yann Martel's. "I may not be sure if monsters exist, but I'd rather live my life in doubt than be persuaded by a real experience of one." I'm torn on this idea. It reminds me of ghosts and aliens. I find myself occasionally wondering if either exists, and then the fear and the almost frantic eye searching of surrounding areas occurs. At this point, I am agreeing with the quote. I want to know, without the experience. But can one ever know anything without the experience? And in the end, would the experience, even if horrible, justify the knowledge?