This one is weird and interesting, and incredibly creative. I love how unique L'Engle's mind is and that it was her children than pushed her to get it published. However, no matter how many times I have read it over the years, I can't quite fall in love with it.

I recognize its value as a classic shaping of minds and in literacy in general.

It is always just a solid 3 stars for me.

"It was a dark and stormy night."

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

I found this book on a list a while back and I added it. I recognized the title but I didn’t know anything about the book. So I gave it a try. The story is wonderful, it seems to be in the tradition of Alice in Wonderland. It hits that sweet spot of YA story that adults can really appreciate. In this edition the author and others talk about how hard it was to get this book published and how the publishers couldn’t figure out how to categorize it. I think the problem of how to categorize it is over now. It just belongs on the list that I found it on, that was a list of best books of all time.

A classic of children's literature. Even on re-reading this as an adult, it held up very well.

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...

I LOVED so much the Time/Space theme and facts... but the story felt ...dunno, classic dry comparing to current Middle Grade novels...
Yet I love to watch the Movie , the trailer is impressive..

I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but I did not think this was a great book. I realize I'm just now reading a book you've all loved for years, so I feel bad knocking something that's such a classic in children's literature. But honestly, it was a drag to read, and I'll tell you why. The characters are all either boring (Meg, Calvin) or unbelievable (Charles Wallace). The non-Earth settings are fully disconnected from each other and simply parodies of our world. The pacing is painful, with conversations that drag on and on while the characters discuss the obvious. I rarely found the writing clever or charming, but I did enjoy the plentiful quotations of other works (maybe because it was a break from L'Engle's writing), and I liked the part where Mrs. Whatsit sprained her dignity. If you want clever, read Snicket; if you want human, read Rowling; if you want epic, read Tolkien; if you want mind-bending, read Verne; if you want funny, read White or Cleary. I was looking for these things here but couldn't find them.

We all want to fit in somehow. We also want to be ourselves and thus stand out a little bit, but basically we don't want to deviate too much from "the norm" because it's usually considered bad by others (funny, considering that we're pretty much all feeling the same way so we should just let the others be) and especially children often have a hard time when not fitting in with their peers. Thus, being different can be risky.

Meg is a girl that doesn't fit in. Her parents are multiple PhDs and have taught her and her siblings a thing or two (about maths mostly) with the result that Meg can often not understand why she is supposed to solve a (mathematical) problem in school this way instead of that. The problem is that neither her teachers nor the other kids in school are thrilled with what her parents have already taught her and she is therefore subject to verbal bullying from both groups.
Meg has three brothers: twins (Sandy and Dennys) and Charles Wallace. The former two know how to play the game and usually don't let anything get to them. The latter is 5 years old and usually doesn't speak at all because he knows full well that his correct and adult way of speaking - to say nothing of knowing peoples' minds - would freak others out. He prefers letting them think he cannot speak and is "dumb". He's also Meg's confidant and (thanks to his 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, the childrens' father has been missing for over a year, leaving the family emotionally desperate. He worked with the government and there isn't any information the family is given by way of explanation. The cruel people of town speak about him having left for another woman, which doesn't make Meg feel any better, of course. In fact, Meg hates people for being so unfair and ignorant and she frequently grows impatient with the way things are (leading to her getting into trouble).
Thanks to her gifted brother Charles Wallace, the family encounters a peculiar old woman called Mrs. Whatsit. The following day, Meg and Charles Wallace not only meet Mrs. Whatsit's sister (Mrs. Who) but also a boy from school - a popular boy, Calvin, who nevertheless seems to have enough troubles of his own and reveals to only be popular because he is what everyone expects of him without it really being him.

To go into such detail about the children is important to me because they are the central characters. Sure, Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who are important as well and the kids meet other creatures besides them, but the author managed to truly write a story for and about children.

Anyway, at one point, the three ladies reveal to Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin that they want to help getting back Meg's and Charles Wallace's father because he is in great peril. Thus, they take them on a fantastic journey through several galaxies.

It's a tale of all your faults being necessary at the right time if you can apply them properly, of perseverance, love, and self-sacrifice. It's about the darkness in the world and that we can't simply do nothing, even if that might seem seductively easier. It's also about celebrating who you are instead of homogenizing the entire world.
Camazotz, a world the children travel to while trying to find their father, is the perfect example of what happens when everyone has to be like everybody else. Not only does it make the world grey and dull, it also does not make the people in it happy.
This is definitely a tale I'd read to my children if I had any, because it teaches so much about people, the world, perception, and looking beyond the surface. It's also about compassion and intelligence and hard lessons that all people need to learn at one point in their lives or another and the author had a wonderful way of not only delighting me when I travelled to distant planets with the children, but of also breaking my heart once or twice.

I loved the prose, I loved the author's imagination, I loved the children and everyone they encountered for the colourful worlds they inhabited and their strangeness. I loved how the interaction of light and dark was portrayed, how our way of seeing the world was challenged, and the fact that the book was filled with scientific topics, explained so children could understand them. In the introduction to my edition, the author said that the book had been rejected many times, usually because nobody could tell what it was (it was as different as its main characters) and the publishers said that children would never "get it" - to which the author commented that children usually perceive much more than adults, and her own children (demanding more writing from her) were proof enough for her to persevere. I therefore love her self-imposed high standard to make this a tale for children, about children, that nevertheless equally thrills thanks to the adventure and educates through the imbedded facts. It is rather fascinating even though there are plenty of religious themes embedded as well (though much more subtly than C.S. Lewis did in most of his books).

I have the audiobook that was read by Hope Davis and was delighted about her narration. I've listened to a number of audiobooks lately but she must be one of the top 3 narrators I've heard so far and I hope she's narrated the rest of the series as well.
Because this is a quintet and while you could technically regard this as a standalone, it literally ends in the middle of a sentence from Mrs. Whatsit which caught me by complete surprise and left me wanting more (nice touch). *lol*

"It was a dark and stormy night."

After reading on a friend’s blog that she had recently read this book, I was tempted to do a re-read myself. I was sure I had read it at some point in my childhood, and remember finding it magical and engrossing. So when I came across the book in the thrift store for 99 cents, I couldn’t resist.

Once I started reading it, though, it became clear to me that I had probably never read this book before in my life. Not one thing about it seemed familiar to me, except maybe for the centaur-like creatures (but that could be because the book cover features this image). Even though I would have read this more than a decade ago, I still think I would have remembered something about it (for example, I remember aspects of Maniac Magee quite clearly, and I read that ages ago). So I’m not quite sure where I got the idea that this book was fantastical and wonderful, but those were my expectations going in.

I’ll admit I was a little let down. I did keep in mind while reading that it’s a children’s book first and foremost, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was a little disheveled in places. I loved that the protagonist is female, and quite ordinary (braces, mousy brown hair, glasses), even if she was slightly annoying at times (I imagine all 14-year-olds can be annoying). Time travel is always cool, and the unfamiliar planets (especially Ixchel with its sightless, faceless creatures) were incredibly fun to imagine. The crazy Mrs Ws were very interesting, and if their stories are continued in further books in the quartet, I’d be all over that.

The story itself is great – the classic battle of good versus evil in a sci-fi / fantasy setting. The manifestation of evil as a dark cloud reminded me of The Nothing from The NeverEnding Story (loosely). The themes of individuality, love, and acceptance carried strongly throughout; even though they were almost shoved in the reader’s face, I’m ok with that since it is a children’s story.

What I didn’t like, primarily, was the character of Charles Wallace. For some reason, he really creeped me out. I understand he is supposed to be “gifted,” but his words and actions seemed far too adult for a 5-year-old. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the religious references made in several places in the story. Too many mentions of “God” turn me off. However, I am willing to admit that it was quite daring of L’Engle to mix religion with some pretty heavy pagan aspects, like witches and crystal balls.

Overall, I did enjoy the story and definitely appreciate the themes and values, I was just turned off a little as an adult reader. I also spotted the aforementioned Maniac Magee in said thrift store, but I’m hesitant to re-read that book because I’m worried it might not be the same to me now as it was when I was young.

Read this as part of 2018 Ultimate Reading Challenge, Category: "A book by an author you haven’t read before".

Buddy Read with Nameeta.

This book has won many awards and is considered one of a kind when it was published in 1962. This has a unique mix of fantasy and science fiction still retaining a spiritual undertone to it. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? But the fact is even though there is all this potential in the story it falls short of 'all it could have been'.

The story is from the perspective of Meg whose parents are scientist and her father has been missing from past couple of years. Now this has a decent start but to really like a book you need to connect to its characters. I found Meg really really irritating. There were times when she threw a hissy fit and all I wanted to do was smack her in the face. Not a very noble thought but that's the reaction she got from me most of the times.

Apart from that I felt all the other characters are two dimensional. There was no character development whatsoever....

There is talk of 5th dimension and I really liked the concept. But I wanted more on this and less on the other nonsensical things going on and overall I just felt very unsatisfied.

There are beings from other galaxies and this part was most interesting. Atleast for me this was one saving grace which did not make it a 1 star read.

The ending is very anti-climatic. We are building towards this epic ending and then it ends just like that. I was like...


All I can say is this book could have gone the other way for me if Meg was a more endearing character and the focus was the 5th dimension and other galaxies rather than Meg and her tantrums.

This is a very serious book about the struggle of good and evil. It shows people with flaws and weaknesses struggling against well nigh insurmountable obstacles and giving in to the lure of the dark side. And yet there is something very lighthearted about it too.

In this story, L'Engle takes a whimsical delight in showing us that most of the notable characters are not quite what they seem. That includes the ordinary human beings as well as the paranormal and extra-terrestrial ones. The trio of eccentric and somewhat ridiculous old ladies could be witches a la Shakespeare but turn out to be much different. An eyeless monster with tentacles becomes the warm-hearted Aunt Beast.

Of course, L'Engle is also capable of creating nightmare images. In a world reminiscent of 1984, a boy is punished and sentenced to re-education for daring to bounce a ball the wrong way. The evil force at the heart of this totalitarian regime rivals the gruesome talking head of C.S. Lewis.

Perhaps one of the nicest things is that the author does not talk down to her audience, but gives them samples of higher learning, even if it includes things which might be beyond the average youthful reader. She does not shy away from science and math. Moreover, she includes proverbs in several languages as well as quotations from the Bible, Dante and Shakespeare.

Last reread: April 22, 2018

(Mrs) Who knows how many times I read this book as a child.

After recently reading an adaption, a graphic novel, and then feeling as if I were Charles Wallace eating the food of Camazotz, I felt a pull to reread the original, hoping to supplant that sawdust taste with the original wonder. It worked. (It also pointed out a few places where the graphic novel takes shortcuts and thus doesn’t make sense if you don’t already know the story.)

Thinking of the film adaptions (I was sorely disappointed in the first and will not see the second), I realize only now that I've never thought of this book as science fiction or fantasy. I wouldn't have even known what that was as a kid, and it didn’t lead me to read more science fiction or fantasy. It scared me, thrilled me, made my heart pound. I found it odd—though, strangely, also matter-of-fact. I loved it for all those reasons. I related to Meg’s insecurity and fear, if not her anger. I wouldn’t have fully understood the references to The Tempest for example, but they likely were planted in my brain, waiting for later acknowledgment. No graphic novel or filmed version will ever live up to the (simple though effective) images in my head.

P.S. On page 186 (out of 216) of my (childhood) copy of the book, I’d written my name in script at the bottom, but added an extra ‘s’ to my name—a highly unusual act for me. I puzzled over that for a bit until it occurred to me that maybe I was trying to write myself into the story by comparing my name to the word tesseract.

P.P.S. It's fitting that I finished this (adult) reread on my mom's birthday, as she, always trying to keep up with my reading addiction, enrolled me in a mail-order book 'club' for children that sent me this book, as well as others that became favorites.

"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."

So What's It About?

It is a dark and stormy night when Meg first discovers that the ordinary world she knows is in fact infinitely more marvelous and dangerous. Three strange women bring her news that her physicist father, who mysteriously vanished, 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- is one that will take all of her courage and wits to survive.

What I Thought

I remember reading this book for the first time when I was about 10 or so and being struck with the impression that, while it was interesting, it wasn't necessarily especially enjoyable. 10 year old Charlotte and current Charlotte are in agreement on that front.
As far as interesting goes, I'm principally occupied with the book's equal regard for Christian themes and scientific thought.

Science and religion are often treated as though they are opposite ends of a spectrum and in my opinion A Wrinkle in Time demonstrates that the two can in fact thrive in co-existance. The book's overall battle of light vs. dark draws from Christian allegory and alludes to angels as well as Jesus's contribution to the fight against IT.

At the same time, the book is suffused with scientific reasoning- Meg comes from a family of scientists and it shows in the way she views the world. While the fight against IT requires the faith of religion it also requires the rationality of science, shown for instance in delicate act of tessering.

I also thought that it was very interesting that the first portion of the book emphasizes the children's desperation to find their father, and in a lesser book the achievement of that goal would herald an end to their problems. Instead, they realize that adults are fallible and must continue to rely on their own courage and ingenuity:

"She had found her father and he had not made everything all right."

In addition, it certainly cannot be said that L'Engle's imagination is lacking- A Wrinkle in Time sees Meg and the gang encounter a fascinating variety of bizarre alternate worlds and creatures who inhabit them. Ultimately, the sheer strangeness of it all is what I ended up appreciating the most about this book.

I wish that I could add Meg's journey to better self-esteem to the list of things that I enjoyed, but unfortunately I found it to be one of the book's more lacking elements. Her initially self-disparaging and negative attitude is compassionately and accurately realized, but I never truly felt that any organic internal growth occurred. One minute she is thinking of herself as utterly useless and then the next she has somehow magically achieved the kind of self-actualization that usually takes months of work to achieve.

My biggest complaint, however, lies in the fact 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 like he is the most amazing and incredible child in the world:

Charles Wallace put his hands on his hips defiantly. “The spoken word is one of the triumphs of man,” he proclaimed, “and I intend to continue using it, particularly with people I don’t trust.”

I think my irritation with Charles Wallace comes down to 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 all very well and good, but the truly important ones are "special" people like Charles Wallace. These people are the ones who are truly deserving of your ultimate attention and respect. It rubs me the wrong way becauae it strikes me as needlessly smug and elitist, especially for a children's book.