Rebookview of Wicked

Okay, this post is going to be something different. This isn't going to be the standard "the-book-is-always-better-than-the-movie" schtick. No, this is going to be a one eighty.
 This is "the-award-winning-Broadway-show-is-better-than-the-book-of -the -same-name" schtick.
So to begin, I got to go to New York late last year and see the Broadway show named Wicked. to put it simply, it blew my mind. Once I had finished picking up the pieces of my brain off of the floor, I heard my English Lang teacher say that there was a book of this play. A book?!?!? You mean I could continue to enjoy this glourious story in all its majesty? Sign me up! Long story short, it took about three long, cold, dark months, but I finally got my hands on the book and devoured it. And It....well, I don't want to say sucked per say, but I definitivly walked away thinking The play was better. Heres why
1. Numero Uno, the prime reason, is that  the play makes the Witch human. She hopes, she dreams, she fears. She trys to fit into a world that beats her down at every turn. She is relentlessly positive, even though she is sufering horrendous pain on the inside. In the book....not so much. She is seemingly  ammoral, and without a clear purpose. In the play, she is trying to save the plight of Animals from persecution. ( the capital A is important.) In the book, the Animal persecution is a subplot, almost an annoying one at that. The book makes the Witch almost come off as the antagonist, the one we root against.
2. Clarity. The book is low on it. It bumps from one time period in her life to the next. It focuses on monumentous events in her life, and makes little effort to tie them together. They will crop up from time to time, but never with as much importance as when they first appeared. Also, what is the Witch seeking?  A soul? Forgiveness? Friendship? What? The play, though it stumbles at times ( like all plays) presents a coherent story and a timeline we can follow.
3. Believablity.
The problem with the book is that it trys to re-invent Oz, introducing the idea of different religions, cults, ideas. I don't need that. I know Oz. The play does a much better job of tying the Wicked Witch of the West's story into the Oz we know and love.
4. I'm Melting, I'm Melting.
In the book, the reason for the Witches' aversion to water is never explained, she just hates it. In the play, she feels discomfort at it, but is able to bear it. I DEMAND EXPLANATION, PEOPLE!!
5. Other stuff.
I can't really add stuff, unless I want to add stuff about how confusing the clubs and relgions are. Again, as the song goes, the book "Rambles On." Rambling on...not a good think unless it is part of the grand plan.
So yeah, and now I can pretend this gives me an aura of civilization.