Madeleine L’Engle began writing this book in the year I was born.

Interestingly, I find that it has had a more successful journey than I have

Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't think this book went downhill after the first three chapters.

I truly liked the first two chapters. They were engaging and drew me in. However, for a few chapters after that, I did feel that some of the writing was a bit clumsy. It made me start to lose a bit of interest.

But then, the final half of the book was genuinely thrilling. It was so exciting that I found it extremely hard when I had to put the book down!

I also very much enjoyed the portrayal of the children, especially Meg. They were shown as flawed and often socially awkward human beings. In this regard, this book reminded me of the early Harry Potter books (I've only read the early ones). It was also similar in the way the children find their own strength.

I'm curious about what happens to Megan, Charles Wallace, and Calvin. So, I will almost certainly carry on with this series.

Extra note: My edition also has an afterword by L'Engle's granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voikis. I found this afterword very helpful in understanding who L'Engle was as both a writer and a person.

  
   
  

https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...

4/10/12

Okay, this is the longer review. The added bit follows the dashed line ---

I learned about this outstanding book and its brilliant author from Catie’s wonderful review and blog post. Yes, I should have known about it many years ago, but this was a gap in my experience. To make up for lost time, I now have the boxed-set series of 5 books for my family.

This is a truly wonderful adventure story for children. It speaks to them as if they were adults, and conveys a plethora of important life-concepts without becoming overly burdensome. It's not just a book for kids though. It's also a great read for adults, as it reacquaints us with the potentials of life and the critical importance of faith, especially as we deal with the hard and often scary realities of the world.

My review won't be nearly as good as Catie’s. In part, because she has read the book from both a child’s and an adult’s perspective, and in part because she just writes fabulous reviews (not to mention the artist renderings!). However, I will follow Catie's suggestion and focus mainly on my perspective as an adult, reading this for the first time.

At one level, this is a delightful - but harrowing - children’s adventure set in a science fictional world. The story revolves around a strong and smart girl named Meg, and her intuitively wise and precocious younger brother, Charles Wallace. The interaction between these two is truly a beautiful thing to behold.

Charles Wallace: “It’s being able to understand a sort of language, like sometimes if I concentrate very hard I can understand the wind talking with the trees. You tell me, you see, sort of inad—inadvertently. That’s a good word, isn’t it? I got Mother to look it up in the dictionary for me.”

The narrative cleverly promotes timeless values such as family, loyalty, and love. It also gradually leads the reader to the realization that perseverance is crucial for success in any difficult endeavor. It's the kind of book that you really hope your kids will read, understand, and come back to as they grow older.

Meg: This has been the most impossible, the most confusing afternoon of my life, she thought, yet I don’t feel confused or upset anymore; I only feel happy. Why?

At another level, this is a story for adults, told from a child’s perspective. When you step back and think about it, the adult story is a circle of interconnected and interdependent ideas. Within that circle are knowledge - what we know and what we don't; reasoning to solve problems, even when you're too scared to think clearly; the importance of faith - that there are answers, even when you can't see them; and a related kind of faith, that you can and must act without knowing some of the most critical facts.

Charles Wallace got his look of probing, of listening. I know that look! Meg thought suddenly. Now I think I know what it means! Because I’ve had it myself, sometimes, doing math with Father, when a problem is just about to come clear...

This is all grownup stuff, the kind of thing that philosophers have debated for millennia. But the lessons here are simple concepts for living, and at their core are simple truths that are easily overlooked in our daily lives. We humans know a great deal, but in the grand scheme of things, our knowledge is pitifully limited. And all our knowledge is just a tiny scratch on the surface of what truly IS.

What she saw was only the game Mrs Whatsit was playing; it was an amusing and charming game, a game full of both laughter and comfort, but it was only the tiniest facet of all the things Mrs Whatsit could be.

And here is the crucial point that is so well-expressed in the narrative. We have to take our limited knowledge and our potential for arrogance, and move forward. When we fail or things go wrong, we may get angry and point fingers, but we have to pull ourselves together and keep going. All of this requires faith, in different forms and applications.

“What can I tell you that will mean anything to you? Good helps us, the stars help us, perhaps what you would call light helps us, love helps us. Oh, my child, I cannot explain! This is something you just have to know or not know.”

“You mean you’re comparing our lives to a sonnet? A strict form, but freedom within it?” “Yes.” Mrs Whatsit said. “You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.”

In short, all of us must venture into the darkness and reach for the light. For me, as an adult reading this book, that is what it was all about.

Very Highly Recommended.

5 Stars for A Wrinkle in Time (audiobook) by Madeleine L’Engle read by Hope Davis.

I came across this book on a list some time ago and added it without really knowing much about it. I was familiar with the title, but that was about it. So, I decided to give it a shot. And boy, was I glad I did! The story is truly wonderful. It seems to follow in the tradition of Alice in Wonderland, hitting that perfect sweet spot of a YA story that adults can also really appreciate.

In this particular edition, the author and others discuss the challenges they faced in getting this book published. The publishers apparently had a hard time figuring out how to categorize it. But I think that problem is long gone now. It clearly belongs on the list where I found it, which was a list of the best books of all time. This book is a classic that has stood the test of time and continues to captivate readers of all ages.

The audiobook, read by Hope Davis, is also excellent. Her narration brings the story to life and makes it even more engaging. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone who loves a good story, whether you're a YA reader or an adult. It's a must-read (or listen) that will leave you thinking long after you've finished.

As a child, I simply passed over these series. However, I do remember having a curiosity about what all the fuss was about. Eventually, I decided to pick up the very first book and give it a try. Well, I'll just be honest and come right out and say it: I was nearly irritated by how bored I was while reading this. I'm truly baffled as to why it was such a huge deal! It gave the impression of being just a short story. I've read numerous children's books, and none of them felt this lackluster when it comes to the content within the story.

I'm not suggesting that I disliked the characters or the events. They were okay. But it felt as if someone had merely come up with the plot outline and then submitted that as the book. There didn't seem to be much detail or emotion in any of the situations presented in the book. It was as if every third sentence had been chopped out of the book. Kids aren't complete idiots. They are perfectly capable of handling more detail or more momentous situations.

Nonetheless, I'm going to continue reading the series with the second book and see if my opinion changes. I truly hope that it does change upon further reading.

A Classic...

My Rating is :

If It was the 60s/70s: 4.5

If I was under 16 y/o: 4

But reading it now: hardly 3

Yes.. it's about TIME..

And 3 'Different' kids..

3 Strange powerful Women..

Looking for a Father..

I believe it needed like more action, and less the direct speech. It felt like part Educational, part Religious even part Political. There were moments when the story seemed to be more about imparting knowledge rather than engaging the reader with a thrilling plot. The direct speech at times made it feel a bit stilted. However, I LOVED so much the Time/Space theme and facts. The concepts presented were truly fascinating and made me think. But the story felt, dunno, classic dry comparing to current Middle Grade novels. It lacked the modern-day pizzazz and excitement that today's readers might expect. Yet I love to watch the Movie, the trailer is impressive. It seems to bring the story to life in a whole new way and I'm looking forward to seeing how they adapt it.

So 41 of my goodreads friends have read A Wrinkle in Time, but I never picked up the book until these past few weeks.

I’m not sure how this novel and I slipped past each other in my youth. I’m guessing that since the main character was a girl, I wasn’t that interested in middle school. And when I grew older, the science fiction elements didn’t appear strong enough to snag my interest. Oh well.

Last weekend I bought A Wrinkle in Time at a Borders near the Seattle airport. I wanted the novel to get me through the grueling twelve-hour journey home (whoo, flight delays and pre-dawn connecting flights!). And I thank Ms. L’Engle for the perfect story for early hour near-hallucinatory reading in the middle of the Minneapolis International promenade.

What makes this book so good? First off, A Wrinkle in Time works under the assumption that kids are smart enough either to grasp the nuances of some fairly deep physics or, if they don’t get every detail, they’ll flow with the storyline anyway. One woman I know said, “I didn’t understand all the science when I was a kid but I still loved it.” That makes sense to me. Hell, I didn’t understand all the science now, and I’m (supposedly) a grown-up. L’Engle doesn’t just say, “And then they traveled time.” She tries to explain how time travel might work. I wonder if so many kids, especially girls, liked this novel because they felt L’Engle respected them as intelligent readers.

Second, A Wrinkle in Time frames Meg’s personality as multi-faceted and more complex than just about any I’ve encountered in YA literature. In fact, reading this novel I couldn’t help but consider her a template on which some more modern coming-of-age characters (think Harry Potter) were modeled. She’s brave but doubts her own strength in a tangible, authentic manner. And her relationship with Calvin is sweet without getting all High School Musical.

Third, the evil in this novel is damn scary and the darkness pure and substantial. We’re talking elemental, unadulterated evil that manifests itself in the fear and conformity of those who break down in its presence. And the characters’ encounters with this evil feel real. The climatic scenes are perhaps slightly too swift but the nuances of the battle fit well with a remarkably philosophical (and Christian, but in a positive way) resolution of good and evil’s conflict.

If my friends’ reviews are any indication, a lot of smart girls who turned into strong, intelligent women grew up under the spell of A Wrinkle in Time. I feel like I know them a little better after reading this novel, and I can see them all, around age ten, turning the book’s pages in their rooms, feeling their own strength and potential. And that’s damn cool, really, don’t you think, a whole generation of girls reading A Wrinkle in Time? Maybe little girls across America are googling “tesseract” as we speak…

Anybody else read it with this cover?







I did. In 1986, when I was in 6th grade, our teacher assigned this book to us. It truly changed my world, or at least my reading world. It was like a magical doorway that welcomed me into the wonderful realm of sci-fi. I have no idea how many times I've read this story. As a child, I read it so frequently that this awesome cover eventually fell off. There are just so many great memories associated with these characters, making it easily my favorite childhood novel.



After doing a re-read of it this year, I have to admit that it holds up pretty well for a book that was written in 1962. One of the reasons it has aged so decently is that L'Engle didn't include much in it that could potentially date it. There are no brand names, no popular trends, and no references to any politics of the day. The only things that really give away the fact that you're reading a book from the '60s are Calvin's unironic use of words like "Golly!" and Charles Wallace's somewhat disrespectful way of calling his father "Pops".



It's a very simple story that I was able to read in just under 2 hours. However, I remember it feeling complex enough when I was younger. I think it hits all the right notes for a kid who feels out of place and weird. And didn't we all feel that way at that age? Yes, we did.



The only thing that I was less excited about this time around were all the religious references. But the book is what it is, and if you want to enjoy it, you just have to accept that God is a big theme in it and move on. Fortunately, it's not too preachy.



Will kids today like it? I'm currently trying to get mine to read it, so ask me again in 6 months. But I had been putting off re-reading this for over 20 years and was pleasantly surprised that it was still such a charming story.



Highly Recommended...for nostalgia.

We all have an inherent desire to fit in. At the same time, we also long to be ourselves and stand out to some extent. However, we generally don't want to deviate too much from what is considered "the norm" as it is often judged negatively by others. This is especially true for children who may struggle when they don't fit in with their peers. Therefore, being different can carry certain risks.

Meg is a girl who doesn't quite fit in. Her parents, both multiple PhDs, have taught her and her siblings a great deal, especially about maths. As a result, Meg often has difficulty understanding why she is supposed to solve mathematical problems in a particular way at school when her parents have taught her differently. The problem is that neither her teachers nor her classmates are happy with what her parents have taught her, and she is thus subject to verbal bullying from both groups.

Meg has three brothers: twins Sandy and Dennys, and Charles Wallace. The former two know how to navigate the social scene and usually don't let much bother them. Charles Wallace, on the other hand, is only 5 years old and usually doesn't speak at all. He is highly intelligent and knows that his correct and adult way of speaking, not to mention his ability to read people's minds, would吓坏 others. So, he prefers to let them think he is dumb. He is also Meg's confidant and, thanks to his special ability, always knows what she and their mother need.

The children live in a house with their mother, who conducts experiments in a room off the kitchen. Sadly, their father has been missing for over a year, leaving the family in an emotionally desperate state. He worked for the government, and the family has received no explanation for his disappearance. The cruel people in town spread rumors that he left for another woman, which only makes Meg feel worse. In fact, Meg hates people for being so unfair and ignorant, and she often grows impatient with the way things are, which frequently gets her into trouble.

Thanks to her gifted brother Charles Wallace, the family meets a peculiar old woman named Mrs. Whatsit. The following day, Meg and Charles Wallace not only meet Mrs. Whatsit's sister, Mrs. Who, but also a popular boy from school named Calvin. Despite his popularity, Calvin seems to have his own set of troubles and reveals that he is only popular because he conforms to what everyone expects of him, rather than being his true self.

Describing the children in such detail is important to me because they are the central characters of the story. Of course, Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Who are also significant, and the kids encounter other creatures along the way. But the author has managed to create a story that is truly for and about children.

Anyway, at one point, the three ladies reveal to Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin that they want to help them find Meg and Charles Wallace's father, who is in great danger. So, they take the children on a fantastic journey through several galaxies.

It's a tale that shows how all our faults can be necessary at the right time if we can use them properly. It's about perseverance, love, and self-sacrifice. It's about the darkness in the world and the fact that we can't simply do nothing, even when it might seem easier to do so. It's also about celebrating our individuality instead of trying to make the entire world the same.

Camazotz, the world the children visit while searching for their father, is a perfect example of what happens when everyone is forced to be like everyone else. Not only does it make the world grey and dull, but it also doesn't make the people living in it happy.

This is definitely a story that I would read to my children if I had any. It teaches so much about people, the world, perception, and looking beyond the surface. It's also about compassion, intelligence, and hard lessons that everyone needs to learn at some point in their lives. The author has a wonderful way of not only captivating me as I travel to distant planets with the children but also breaking my heart on occasion.

I loved the prose, the author's imagination, the children, and everyone they encountered. I loved the colorful worlds they inhabited and the strangeness of the characters. I loved how the interaction of light and dark was portrayed, how our perception of the world was challenged, and the fact that the book was filled with scientific topics that were explained in a way that children could understand. In the introduction to my edition, the author mentioned that the book had been rejected many times, usually because nobody could figure out what it was. It was as different as its main characters, and the publishers believed that children would never "get it." But the author commented that children usually perceive much more than adults, and her own children, who demanded more writing from her, were proof enough for her to persevere. I therefore admire her self-imposed high standard of creating a story for children, about children, that is both thrilling and educational. It is truly a fascinating book, even though it also contains plenty of religious themes, although they are much more subtle than in most of C.S. Lewis's books.

I have the audiobook, which was read by Hope Davis, and I was delighted with her narration. I've listened to a number of audiobooks recently, and she is definitely one of the top 3 narrators I've heard so far. I hope she has also narrated the rest of the series.

Because this is a quintet, and while you could technically consider this book as a standalone, it actually ends in the middle of a sentence from Mrs. Whatsit, which completely took me by surprise and left me wanting more. *lol*

It was a dark and stormy night.

The wind howled through the streets, whipping the branches of the trees and sending leaves flying in all directions. The rain poured down in sheets, pounding on the rooftops and creating a deafening roar.

People huddled indoors, seeking the warmth and safety of their homes. The power had gone out in many areas, leaving the city in darkness.

Streetlights flickered and went out, and the only source of light came from the occasional flash of lightning.

The thunder rumbled loudly, shaking the ground and making the windows rattle.

It was a night that seemed to hold an air of mystery and danger, as if something was lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike.

No one knew what the night would bring, but they could only hope that it would pass quickly and that they would wake up to a brighter, sunnier day.

Life, with its intricate rules, its numerous obligations, and its precious freedoms, can be likened to a sonnet. Just as one is given the form of a sonnet, but must pen the verses oneself, so too must we navigate the complex tapestry of life.

So What's It About? On a dark and stormy night, Meg discovers that the ordinary world she knows is, in fact, a place of infinite marvels and dangers. Three strange women bring her news that her physicist father, who vanished mysteriously, is in desperate need of her help against a foe of unimaginable evil. Her quest to save her father - and the rest of the world - will demand all of her courage and wits.

What I Thought. I recall reading this book for the first time around the age of 10 and being struck by the impression that, while it was interesting, it wasn't necessarily overly enjoyable. Both 10-year-old Charlotte and the current Charlotte are in agreement on this point. In terms of what makes it interesting, I'm mainly intrigued by the book's equal regard for Christian themes and scientific thought. Science and religion are often seen as polar opposites, but in my opinion, A Wrinkle in Time shows that the two can coexist and thrive. The book's overall battle of light vs. dark draws on Christian allegory, alluding to angels and Jesus's role in the fight against IT. At the same time, the book is filled with scientific reasoning. Meg comes from a family of scientists, and this is evident in the way she views the world. The fight against IT requires both the faith of religion and the rationality of science, as seen in the delicate act of tessering. I also thought it was very interesting that the first part of the book emphasizes the children's desperation to find their father. In a lesser book, achieving this goal would signal the end of their problems. Instead, they realize that adults are fallible and must continue to rely on their own courage and ingenuity.

In addition, it can't be denied that L'Engle's imagination is boundless. A Wrinkle in Time takes Meg and her friends on a journey to encounter a fascinating variety of bizarre alternate worlds and the creatures that inhabit them. Ultimately, it's the sheer strangeness of it all that I ended up appreciating the most about this book. However, I wish I could add Meg's journey to better self-esteem to the list of things I enjoyed. Unfortunately, I found it to be one of the book's weaker elements. Her initially self-disparaging and negative attitude is portrayed compassionately and accurately, but I never truly felt that any organic internal growth took place. One moment she's thinking of herself as completely useless, and then the next she's somehow magically achieved the kind of self-actualization that usually takes months of work. My biggest complaint, though, is that I never found any of the three main characters to be particularly enjoyable children to spend time with. Charles Wallace, in particular, irritates me to no end. He walks around talking like a pompous 50-year-old man in a 5-year-old's body, while everyone acts as if he's the most amazing and incredible child in the world. I think my irritation with Charles Wallace stems from my underlying frustration with one of the book's messages, which seems to be that there are "normal" people like Sandy and Dennys who are fine, but the truly important ones are "special" people like Charles Wallace. These people are the ones who deserve your ultimate attention and respect. This rubs me the wrong way because it seems needlessly smug and elitist, especially for a children's book.

Okay, the film is set to be released in April 2018 and at least the principal photography is over. In 2018, I'm really confused about what's wrong with people. I don't understand the negative comments from everyone and their little dogs on this film. It can't be misogyny as the character was always a girl. So that leaves... hmm... racism perhaps? With a black woman behind the camera and a lovely and talented young one as Meg. Maybe some people just can't handle that. They complain that it's not like the book. But hello, it's a movie! And actually, it's a lot closer than they let on. It's a decent film and it wouldn't have been possible to get this close in a live-action film until this century. I've watched it twice and from my informed perspective as a reader and a filmgoer, having absorbed and debated lots of information and criticism, I think this is a fine film and more faithful to the book than anyone had any reason to expect.

The Publisher Says: It was a dark and stormy night. Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother came down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were disrupted by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. The unearthly stranger said, "Wild nights are my glory. I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract." Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now it's time for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they'll encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?

My Review: Meg Murry's daddy left home unexpectedly and without a goodbye. He left behind an adolescent daughter, three sons, and a beautiful and smart wife. Meg can't get used to his absence and is hurt by the town's opinion that he ran off leaving her mother. With braces, wild curly hair, an intelligence greater than her contemporaries', and glasses, Meg and her even weirder little brother Charles Wallace are isolated from their normal brothers and the rest of the world. In the traditional way, these misfits are actually being prepared to fight the ultimate battle of Good Versus Evil and save their Daddy. One fine day, Meg and Charles Wallace are called to their destiny by Mrs Which, Mrs Who, and Mrs Whatsit, the eccentric old ladies who are actually avatars of interdimensional good beings with the agenda of making the Universe safe for goodness and happiness again. The children are joined by fellow misfit Calvin, a popular boy athlete in their town whose hidden depths have tormented him all his life, in the quest to defeat the evil entity, a disembodied brain called "IT" that takes over planets and makes all life submit to a group mind, erasing individuality and happiness.

This is a YA novel, so all ends well. Mr. Murry comes home and the children are brought home safe and sound. But how they get home is very interesting. They travel via tesseract, a geometric figure that extends into a fifth dimension beyond spacetime. Mr. and Mrs. Murry have been researching this as scientists, and Mr. Murry used the tesseract to get to the planet from which he's rescued. The Mrs Who/Which/Whatsit interdimensional beings use the tesseract to "tesser" or wrinkle the fabric of spacetime to get the children there too. It's fascinating stuff for a Christian housewife to be writing about in 1960 - 1961! And make no mistake, the book has a very Christianity-infused message about the perils of brains without hearts leading to Communistic group-think. Mrs. Murry, a capable scientist, stays home with the kiddos and makes dinner over Bunsen burners. Ew. And Meg worries that she's not pretty enough because of her braces and glasses. Then Calvin falls for her. Ew. But it's not Twilight, so I'm okay with it. In fact, because I first read it before I was ten, I'm okay with all of it. The stiff dialogue, the socially regressive messages, the religiosity... all get a half-smile and a wink from me. Because sometimes you just need to know that someone out there believes that good CAN triumph over evil.