A Wrinkle in Time

n  n    “It was a dark and stormy night...”n  n

Okay, I haven’t read A Wrinkle in Time since fifth grade, so I was kind of nervous going into this. Yet, I was very pleasantly surprised, and I’m even more excited to see the new movie adaptation in March! I mean, this reads a little “old” and “simple” but it was still such a delight to read. I will say that I didn’t remember any of the religious/spiritual aspects that were woven in, so apparently fifth grade Melanie, who went to a Catholic school and everything, just pushed those out of her mind throughout the years.

The basic premise of A Wrinkle in Time, that I’m sure you all know, stars a young girl named Meg is one of four siblings in her family, and both of her parents are scientists. Meg and Charles are very intelligent, therefore outcasts, but where their twin siblings, who are of normal IQ, fit in just fine. One day, her father goes missing and Meg, Charles, and their new friend, Calvin, meet a very peculiar trio, who take them on an intergalactic adventure that they will never forget. They essentially travel by folding or “wrinkling” time.

Overall, this was a super enjoyable read, that totally did give me a swift kick in the nostalgia feels. Yet, I’m not sure how well it would hold up if this was your first time experiencing the story. I do feel like there is a little something here for everyone, and even though this is considered a middle grade book, I do think it holds up pretty well for most ages. And honestly? Even reading this in 2018, this is still a very unique book.

n  n    “There will no longer be so many pleasant things to look at if responsible people do not do something about the unpleasant ones.”n  n

This is a story about love, and family, and faith, and being able to think for yourself. I can totally understand why this is a literary classic, and I’m so happy I reread it! And now I’m totally pumped for the movie!



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Valentine's Day buddy (re)read with the beautiful Wren! ❤

Wow! I never imagine to read this book for the first time when I’m in my 40s. For years I let the book get lost in my chubby TBR that keeps growing at each day. Probably it stuck with piles of books and I wouldn’t remember to read it if Ted Lasso wouldn’t give this book to Roy Kent! If a book can heal one of the grumpiest fictional characters’ soul, it may surely help me, too. At least that’s what I thought before I started.

Overall: I loved the classic theme: three children’s teaming up for fighting against evil darkness threatening the universe.

I liked how 13 years old Meg portrayed and little, enigmatic brother Charles. As their fellow schoolmate Calvin joins them with the guidance of their weird neighbors with weirder names Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Witch, two children’s search for missing father turns into a visit to fifth dimension to confront with the universal threat!

Yeap, I enjoyed it a lot and I’m so happy to skip the movie adaptations! I wish I read it sooner but better late than never!

Here are my favorite quotes:

“Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. - Mrs. Whatsit”

“We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.”

“The only way to cope with something deadly serious is to try to treat it a little lightly “

“A book, too, can be a star, “explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,” a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.”

The story takes about 100 pages of tedious, banal dialogue, to get to the point where you are told that this is a battle against Evil, and all you need is love. But everything is so oversimplified, so sketchy--everything is reduced to big words, like IT, and evil. This IT, also called the Dark Thing, is striving to create a communist-type society where everyone conforms, down to the little children who bounce their balls in uniform rhythms and who live in cutter-box houses.

I liked Meg in the beginning, she was a believable character, filled with her own problems, and I really wanted for things to work out for her. But when she went on her journey, and especially since she got to that dreadful communist planet, she got hysterical. She did not “say” anything for half of the book--she yelled, gasped, screamed, cried, etc. She got ticked off at everyone for everything.

Then there might have been an indication that Charles Wallace was going to be a player, but he fizzled. There are constant references to him being special, but we never find out what was so special about him, besides putting a 30 year old into a 4 year old body and calling it “genius”. There was all this build-up for the confrontation between him and IT, but nothing happened. He looked at the guy, let him in, and became filled with ideas from Lenin himself.

Then there are worlds. These characters traveled to a planet that was described in three lines with beautiful flowers and a tall mountain. Then another planet is not described at all except to say that it was a winter wonderland type of a place. The residence of the Happy Medium was another planet where they were conveniently in a cave, and final stop was in a planet that was probably like Earth, except all we know about it is that it had rows of houses and tall buildings. There you have it--traveled all through the known Universe and have nothing to show for it. No imagination to describe and develop a world.

Then there are bizarre references to god/s that come out of nowhere, or in the oddest places, and disappear into nowhere. Characters are underdeveloped; scenes are not finished; worlds are left to themselves; theme is the fear of religious right of the communist left.

It's a caricature of evil, done perhaps in the belief that kids won't get it otherwise. There's not much in terms of a plot, the worlds described are paper-thin, and it shows no historical understanding, no outside knowledge.


More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie


Book Details:

Title A Wrinkle in Time (Time #1)
Author Madeleine L'Engle
Reviewed By Purplycookie

A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet #1), Madeleine L'Engle

A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy novel written by American writer Madeleine L'Engle, first published in 1962. It is the first book in L'Engle's Time Quintet series, which follows the Murry and O'Keefe families.

The book spawned two film adaptations, both by Disney: a 2003 television film directed by John Kent Harrison, and a 2018 theatrical film directed by Ava DuVernay.

One night, thirteen-year-old Meg Murry meets an eccentric new neighbor, Mrs. Whatsit, who refers to something called a tesseract.

She later finds out it is a scientific concept her father was working on before his mysterious disappearance.

The following day, Meg, her child genius brother Charles, and fellow schoolmate Calvin visit Mrs. Whatsit's home, where the equally strange Mrs. Who and the unseen voice of Mrs. Which promise to help Meg find and rescue her father..

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «چین دادن زمان»؛ «چینی بر زمان»؛ «سفر شگفت انگیز»؛ نویسنده: مادلین ال اینگل؛ تاریخ خوانش: روز بیست و یکم ماه سپتامبر سال 2009میلادی

عنوان: چینی بر زمان؛ نویسنده: مادلین ال اینگل؛ مترجم: صدیقه ابراهیمی (فخار)؛ بی جا، مترجم، 1371؛ در 216ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نوجوانان از نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20م

عنوان: سفر شگفت انگیز؛ نویسنده: مادلین ال اینگل (لنگل)؛ مترجم: صدیقه ابراهیمی (فخار)؛ تهران، دستان، چاپ دوم 1381؛ در203ص؛ شابک9646555888؛

عنوان: چین دادن زمان؛ نویسنده: مادلین ال اینگل؛ مترجم: صدیقه ابراهیمی (فخار)؛ تهران، کاروان، کتابهای لوک، 1388؛ در240ص؛ شابک9789641750833؛

بـُعد پنجم همچون بعدهای: طول، عرض، ارتفاع، و زمان، بعد دیگری از دنیای ماست، اگر بـُعد پنجم را بشناسیم، میتوانیم فواصل طولانی چندین سال نوری را، در چند دقیقه میانبر بزنیم؛ خانم «چیستان (میسز واتزایت)»، «کیستان (میسز ویچ)» و «کدام (میسز هو)»، سه پیرزن عجیب، در خانه‌ ای به نام خانه ی دیوها زندگی می‌کنند؛ آنها به ظاهر ترسناک هستند، زیرا لباس‌هایی شبیه جادوگرها می‌پوشند؛ اما «چارلز» باور دارد، که آنها می‌دانند پدرش کجاست؛ در یک شب توفانی و تاریک، این سه پیرزن عجیب، همراه با «چارلز» و خواهرش «مارگریت»، و دوستشان «کالوین»، راهی سفری دور و دراز بین سیارات دوردست می‌شوند، تا پدر «چارلز» را پیدا کنند، و از آن مهم‌تر دنیا را نجات دهند؛ در داستان علمی-تخیلی حاضر شرح این سفر به تصویر واژه های خیال انگیز کشیده شده است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 08/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 13/07/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Have you ever read a book and felt that you were missing something?

Yep, that’s me with A Wrinkle in Time.

Confession time: there were many parts of this book that made me giggle. Starting with the first line: It was a dark and stormy night. Then, the mention of stew. One member of my family thinks that stew is ew, and “stew” was mentioned six times in this relatively short book. Finally, the mention of IT. Trust me. I hate going to IT.

I was able to follow the plot—it seems relatively straightforward. However, the symbolism was lost on me (other than I know that there was some religious symbolism). A Wrinkle in Time makes me want to locate someone smarter than myself and ask them to explain it to me.

At the beginning of A Wrinkle in Time, the author said that children get this book and adults do not. Maybe I am overthinking it?

A Wrinkle in Time is a fast-paced fantasy novel. In my opinion, it was a little too fast-paced especially in the beginning where we are introduced to a deluge of characters. It was also a bit too focused on world building instead of on plot.

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JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
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I have one general, self-imposed rule about reviewing on this site: I write about the books I've read in the order I've finished them. By that logic, I should be cobbling together my reaction to Hunger right now but I am so taken by this childhood staple that there's no room in my brain for anything other than uncontrollable glee over this book that another Madeleine has given to the world.

I never read this book as a kid. I didn't read it as a teenager or a college student. I read it for the first time with 30 coming at me like a crazed stalker who won't let a pesky thing like a restraining order stand in the way. And that did concern me, especially after half-heartedly slogging through the first four books comprising the Narnia Chronicles a few years ago before taking an indefinite break from tackling what should have been another enthusiastically remembered staple of a young reader's diet. I was afraid that I'd completely missed out on enjoying A Wrinkle in Time, a novel that I have heard praised up and down by so many people as the prime example of how good children's literature can be.

So I read it like I read as a wee lass who didn't realize that she was poised at the very beginning of what would become a lifelong pursuit of books fueled by an insatiable need to keep reading. I read well past my bedtime with one tiny light illuminating the path to somewhere magically transportive, knowing full well that the bookworm gratification far outweighed the inevitability of being a zombie all morning. I read it when I should have been doing something else as dictated by responsibility. I read to be told a story and to consider ideas I'd never come across in the world beyond two covers, sure, but mostly I read to give myself up to a writer's lush landscape, to lose myself in someone else's words. I read it to let my imagination run free through a universe I fervently and fruitlessly wished to be a part of.

And my adult self was just as enchanted as my inner child was. Sure, A Wrinkle in Time has its faults but I honestly couldn't tell you what they are because I was so thoroughly entertained, so taken with these characters I couldn't believe I could relate to in a way that was far less remote and removed than I expected (which is to say, at all) that all the things my nitpicky, pretentious post-English-major self would usually hone in on paled in comparison to the sheer enjoyment of the rush of letting a book completely suck me into its world to the point where the real world could have collapsed around me and I wouldn't've either cared or noticed because I was so wrapped up in this story.

On one hand, yeah, I do feel a little cheated that so much of what I needed to hear as a kid has lived within these pages all this time and I could have had such imperatives by my side to ease the pains of childhood's harsh but necessary learning experiences had I just shown even a fraction of some interest in this book. Among them: One's parents are not infallible. Weaknesses can become strengths -- nay, tools integral to besting some truly harrowing obstacles -- in the right circumstances. That sometimes you have to face down scary or unpleasant truths, and you're not excused from looking away or backing down just because the task ahead is either scary or unpleasant. It's better to embrace your individuality and not compromise yourself, no matter how uncomfortable you are in your own skin, than to mindlessly submit to the herd mentality and easy conformity. Just because something appears strange doesn't make it bad -- or all that strange at its core, after all. What things are is infinitely more important than what they look like.

But conversely? This book drenched my ordinary existence with fantasy's magic for a few days, and I'm sure it'll stick with me in the days to come. My first encounter with this book wasn't a foggily but fondly recalled childhood memory that's destined to be tarnished by the darkening cynicism of the years upon revisits from my older self. I got to experience the breathless wonder of a kid discovering an instant favorite for that very first time as an oasis of sheer escapist rapture in the face of a few intense work days and the humdrum nature of routine adulthood. And it proved to me that I don't always have to be such a goddamn snob about kid lit because when it's good, it is extraordinary. (And, really, let's be honest: Younger Me wasn't exactly the sharpest crayon in the tool shed, so who's to say I would have picked up on the more subtle elements that made this such a delightful read, anyway?)

Despite my natural inclination toward hyperbole, I am not exaggerating when I say I'm a little better for having read this book, one that I initially arrived at out of dubious curiosity and left in a state of giddy, childlike awe. And maybe a few tears.

An evil darkness consuming the universe, and three little children determined to stop it.

In a little cozy home, in the midst of a lovely gardened area, lives the Murry family. A scientist mother, a distant father on a secret mission, two overprotective twins, the little and enigmatic Charles Wallace, and the ever troublesome Meg.

A storm presages the dangers to come. The Darkness, the evil Black Thing threatens to swallow the Earth and everyone in it, among other worlds and universes already corrupted by its malevolent presence. Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin, a fellow schoolmate, embark on a desperate mission through several worlds to try to find their lost father, and, maybe, just maybe, save a small part of the universe.

An enjoyable read, simple, endearing, and weird! Not exactly recommendable, but good enough to hold interest. The first of five moderately short books.

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n  PERSONAL NOTEn:
[1962] [218p] [Fantasy] [Not Recommendable]
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★★★★☆  1. A Wrinkle in Time
★★★☆☆  2. A Wind in the Door

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Una malévola oscuridad que consume universos, y tres pequeñs niños determinados a detenerla.

En una pequeña y acogedora casa, en el medio de una area hermsamente cultivada, vive la familia Murry. Una madre científica, un padre distante en una misión secreta, dos mellizos sobreprotectores, el pequeño y enigmático Charles Wallace, y la siempre problemática Meg.

Una tormenta es el presagio de peligros por venir. La Oscuridad, la Maldad Negra, amenaza con tragarse la Tierra y a todos en ella, entre otros mundos y universos ya corrompidos por su malévola presencia. Meg, Charles Wallace y Calvin, un compañero de la escuela, se embarcan en una misión desesperada a través de diversos mundos para tratar de encontrar a su padre perdido y, tal vez, sólo tal vez, salvar una pequeña parte del universo.

Una lectura pasable, simple, tierna, y extraña! No exactamente recomendable, pero lo suficientemente buena como para mantener el interés. El primero de cinco libros medianamente cortos.

-----------------------------------------------
n  NOTA PERSONALn:
[1962] [218p] [Fantasía] [No Recomendable]
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Anybody else read it with this cover?



I did. 1986, I was in 6th grade, and it was assigned to us by our teacher.
This book changed my world. Or at least, my reading world.
Welcome to sci-fi, kid!
I have no idea how many times I've read this story, but as a child, I read it so much that this awesome cover eventually fell off. Just so many great memories of these characters make it is easily my favorite childhood novel.

After doing a re-read of it this year, I have to say it holds up pretty well for a book that was written in 1962. One of the things that help it age so decently is that L'Engle didn't have much in it that could age it. No brand names, no popular trends, no references to any politics of the day. The only stuff that really let you know you were reading a book written in the '60s was Calvin saying things like Golly! unironically or Charles Wallace being disrespectful by calling his father Pops.

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

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

Will kids today like it? I'm trying to get mine to read it now, so ask me again in 6 months.

But I'd been putting off re-reading this thing for 20 plus years and was pleasantly surprised that it was still such a charming story.
Highly Recommended...for nostalgia.