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Thu Nov 27 2025

Clare Mulroy | Books Reporter

Happy Thanksgiving, booklovers!

If your family is anything like mine, "Wicked: For Good" is sure to be a topic of conversation at the dinner table. My troupe of former theater kid siblings and I are bound to analyze the two new songs over mashed potatoes and the piercing "Fiyerrooo!" from Elphaba in "No Good Deed" between dinner and dessert.

I'll also be enlightening them on the differences between the musical and Gregory Maguire's book, which I read for the first time this year to prepare for an interview with the author. And while the movie musical may be rated PG, the books certainly are not.

Witchy frenemies Glinda (Ariana Grande, left) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) square off in Munchkinland in "Wicked: For Good."

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

In fact, Maguire intentionally wrote the book for mature readers – "scandalocious," you could say – to show how deeming someone wicked can be used as "a tool by oppressors." It deals with sexual temptation and political turmoil, violence and moral corruption. There are underground psychedelic sex clubs and Munchkin-Quadling throuples. As a child, Elphie is muzzled after biting off others' genitalia.

But there's a worthy reflection on power and propaganda in the original "Wicked" books, more tragedy than "bittersweet drama," as the author puts it. You can revisit our interview with Maguire here, where he explained why he won't write a new version for young readers. And he does, by the way, approve of the Jon M. Chu movie adaptation. Read more here to see the scene that had Maguire "sobbing" over Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande when he visited set.

What books and authors are you grateful for this Thanksgiving? Tell me your thoughts at cmulroy@usatoday.com or by reaching out on Instagram. Thanks for reading USA TODAY Books this week!