I struggled with this particular L'Engle book. I don't believe the lesbianism was intended to be a blatantly homophobic term, but possibly an attempt to bring the discussion out into public.

I was devastated by the incidents between Max and Polly. Polly was only 16 and I can imagine that she was frightened. I saw no reference of unacceptable or forward behavior in a sexual way, in the least. Max was drunk, sad, in many ways scared. I think the family discussion of Max and Urs should have been more outspoken, positive and noted with the love I believe they had. Possible stone left unturned and a positive opportunity lost.

Zachary, again! Wasn't he enough in the Austin series? And truly, Renny, too. Both of these guys are several years older and in many, many ways more worldly. I was rather disgusted to add the relationship twist with Renny. No need.




As an adult, I have to say that the relationship between Polly and Renny squicked me out too. She's 16 and he's an intern at the hospital (therefore, in his mid-to-late-20s at LEAST), and no one has a problem with them dating? Yeah right. I just can't handle that.

L'Engle deals with difficult social issues here, resolving them by not quite resolving them, but living with them. The problem here is Polly. This is her third feature, and she is still a bit of a non-person. The unique features that made her distinctive early on have disappeared, and she has become the semi-autobiographical teen that L'Engle often resorts to in a vacuum. Unfortunately, since most of the drama of this story is internal, we need to know and love Polly - and her lack of individuality makes that difficult. More problematic are two plot features: Polly is a minor alone in a foreign land without speaking the language, yet neither she nor the adults responsible for her feel that her parents should be notified; and a 16 year old and a man in his twenties both date and have sex without a qualm. In fact, the adults in Polly's life encourage her to date him. In most places, this relationship would be illegal.

I first read this book in high school, and I remember it distinctly as the first I'd read that tackled homosexuality. I was startled at first and then moved forward. When I was a younger reader, L'Engle helped me encounter and work through new things in a safe environment. Now, re-reading as an adult, I can appreciate that the story is not about homosexuality, not really. It's about broken trust and where we put our dependence. As I read, I wondered, "Is this a young adult book?" I had always mentally categorized it there because Polly (extra L now!) is the main character, but it actually felt more like an adult, literary fiction novel to me this time. Maybe I would say it's best for mature YA readers, but maybe what I'm really saying is: this book is good for adults, too. There's depth here that reminds me A Live Coal in the Sea, which is certainly for adults.

I never got through this one as a kid and I barely got through it as an adult. I will not be revisiting this book.

It was disjointed. There were no elements in this book to match the rest of the Poly books (suspense) or even the greater series (the O'Keefe/ Murry series) such as time travel or fantasy or science fiction. This was just a plain old novel that dragged on. Also, I felt tricked into believing that the "Max" who hurt Polly was a boyfriend during the first few chapters... come to find out "she" is a middle aged woman!

Oh well, even my beloved Madeleine L'Engle deserves to have an off book :-)

Polly (who now spells her name with two l's) had an emotional reaction to an incident that seemed disproportionate to the incident itself- especially given that it was the driving force behind the plot line of the mysterious hurt Polly felt- her un-forgiveness etc.

Also I was very disappointed in the loss of Polly's virginity and the way it happened. I was not expecting that and I have read the book after this one a few times and there is not a reference to the incident.

I was glad to meet Zachery Grey from the Austin books and the next (and last) O'Keefe/ Murry book.

The title of this book comes from The Upanishads: "In this body, in this town of Spirit, there is a little house shaped like a lotus, and in that house there is a little space. There is as much in that little space within the heart as there is in the whole world outside."

It was terrible! I kept wanting something to actually happen, so kept reading on. If you like YA books where a 16 year old girl complains the entire time about how confused she is, this is the boring book for you. Very disappointing because the first book in this series was fun and suspenseful. The second one was for middle grade readers, but this one was all about adult subjects-no wonder no one has heard about this Madeleine L'Engle series-it's all over the place. Lots about lesbians, relationships, a teenage sex scene described, alcoholism, students using pot and male students wanting to rape their classmates. The narrator read it like every sentence was an emergency and it grated on the ears. The last 5 minutes were good.

A modern Dantean story

This book is very different from the first two books about Polyhymnia O'Keefe (I just love that name!) This book takes much more effort to follow the story, only split into two parts and jumping back and forth in time. Consequently, the reader is constantly trying to figure out different things in Polly's past that are troubling her. About halfway through the book, I did not think it as good as the first two in the series and thought I may rate it 3 or 4 stars. However, as Polly's story unfolds (like a lotus), it was so beautiful and quickly rose in my estimation. The title "A House Like a Lotus" is a word picture for the universe itself, a picture that is very similar to Dante's yellow rose, and the books tells a story of finding freedom by letting go of the wrongs that are done to us by those we love most, traveling further into the center of Love Himself. A great quote from the end of the novel that is also very Dantean is, “Jesus was more forgiving to those who made mistakes in love than to those who judged each other harshly and were cold of heart.” The quote immediately brought to mind Cunizza and Rahab in the Heaven of Venus, or Paulo and Francesca in Upper Hell, contrasted with the traitors to family who were frozen in the core of Hell who were furthest away from the center, from God Himself.

Did not like this book at all

First off, I knew Madeleine L'Engle for 0ver 30 years, and she was NOT homophobic. On the contrary, she was one of the most open-minded people I've ever met. This book was written in 1984, the attitudes of the characters are in keeping with the attitudes of society at that time, and anyone who read the book carefully saw that both Polly's parents and her uncle were more concerned over the younger children's attitudes and gossiping than they were about Polly being around Max. Secondly, I never once thought that the incident between Polly and Max was a sexual assault. Polly worshipped Max and was upset when she discovered that Max was far from perfect. Any ideas of sexual assault came from the mind of the reader, not the author. Thirdly, those saying that this book isn't fit for young adults are being highly overprotective, considering the world we live in now. I was 15 when I read this book, and it remains one of my favorites.

I hate this book.

Maybe I wouldn't hate it so much if it were by a different author; maybe then the 1980s homophobia, while still upsetting, wouldn't bother me quite as much. But because this is Madeleine L'Engle, the woman who wrote several books about faith and so often incorporated it into her work; a woman who should have, by all rights, known of the Creator and the Mystery and that it all comes back to love, it stings particularly hard.

I can't find anything to like about this book. I hate Polly's "I'm not like other girls" shtick that is basically her entire personality. I hate the disgusting emotional and physical manipulation that Renny puts her through so he can sleep with her. I hate Zachary with a burning passion. Seriously, why does he keep showing up and why is he such a garbage human being? What does he even add to the story?

This book made me realize that the only L'Engle book I truly love is A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Everything else ranges from fair to terrible.

This book was fraught with problems - in a way that might negatively influence a naive reader. My conservative parent is an ardent fan of L’engle’s and has this book on her bookshelf. When I picked it up, I was repelled and saddened by the blatant homophobia and L’engle’s non-existent attempt to understand and empathize with Max (the lesbian character) while making her one of the main protagonists. In the end, Max becomes a drunken, aggressive, and predatory mess (the predatory part is indeed framed that way by the author) - basically, affirming that Polly should have listened to her “betters” who had raised cautionary tones about Max and her lesbianism. Since I loved the O’Keefe family when I was little, their views on Max really cut me to bits and left me disappointed. I am sure this book and The Small Rain shaped my parent’s view of the LGBTQ community, as she views them in pretty much the same manner that L’engle does.

The other big issue I take with this book is the weird rape-ish scene with however-old-he-is Renny and under-18 Polly. I think L’engle was trying to pass it off as a heated romantic encounter, but I felt incredibly uncomfortable reading it - and I am no prude by any measure. It really felt like Renny was taking advantage of Polly after she had her traumatic encounter with the drunken, raving Max (sigh) and there was no word of consent on Polly’s part - she instead talks about how her body begins to feel strange as Remy just basically sticks it in. Umm. It brought me similar feelings as the big rape scene in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead - is the (female) author saying that the female protagonist sort of wants it despite the aggression and lack of consent? And how is this impacting impressionable minds reading this drivel? Also, statutory rape?

By this time I was feeling awful for L’engle’s protagonist, who was at the mercy of an author who doesn’t seem to know how to treat her better and gives her a pretty shitty lens to the world around her. Incidentally, I did also have issues with the way Polly was treated in An Acceptable Time as well, as well as Polly herself overall - she comes across to me as a pretty vacant character with hardly any agency of her own. Which, of course, opens discourse on L’engle’s female protagonists overall, starting with Meg O’Keefe, but I digress.

Oh, and I agree with everyone here saying that they are tired of Zachary Grey or Gray, however you spell that. That pointless piece of not-even-plot-device (who basically is around to be self-obsessed and beautiful?) can fuck right off.

I had forgotten a lot about this book since the last time I reread it. Including how amazing it is. (Or maybe I just appreciate it more since I've accrued more life experience since I read it...it seems like one of those books that need to be read at a particular time to be appreciated.)

In any case, wow. It was amazing. It's a searching coming of age story that covers so much ground, especially around identity, and growing up, and relationships, and trust, and the kind of things that are hard to address well in fiction. (But I mean, it's Madeleine L'Engle. So I'm not surprised that it's done well.)

I related so much to Polly. Not that I've experienced everything she has--not remotely. But the feeling of being, as Zach says "almost thirty, and not yet twelve" in terms of what one knows about the world, the feeling of not relating so much to one's peers but relating more to those older than one...it's so very me. Honestly, a lot of parts of this book feel like L'Engle took my heart and turned it into a book.

In terms of theme and focus, it almost feels like L'Engle's fictional version of Lewis's The Four Loves, with Polly figuring out the differences between types of love, and experiencing the issues and confusion around them that can come with growing up.

Given the maturity of the themes and MC, there are some bits of content, including one of the main SCs being in a same-sex relationship (it's honestly handled quite well, and is a good jumping-off point for a lot of the discussions/themes in the book, so.), and a brief scene of intimacy between two of the characters that's not graphic, but is handled poetically, so it feels...well, intimate.

I'm definitely giving this one 4.5 stars (rounding up to five) and can definitely see myself revisiting it as I grow.

(3.5 stars) This is the third book in the trilogy. Unlike the previous two books, this is more like a coming of age story. Polly is on her way to Cyprus to work as an assistant for a conference. She is being sent by one of her new neighbors, a wealthy artist named Maximiliana, who goes by Max. Max’s partner, Dr. Ursula Heschel, has been in a relationship with her for a long time and is helping to support her through a terminal illness. Max and Polly click when they first meet, and Max becomes instrumental in helping develop Polly’s education. But when an incident occurs that devastates Polly’s connection to Max, she goes through a crisis of identity and turns to a medical student friend for comfort. The trip to the conference provides an opportunity to figure out what she is feeling and thinking. Opportunities for romance are present, but also danger. She meets new friends, and they help her to come to terms with some of her grief and feelings, so she must decide if she can forgive Max.