That's what I felt I was seeing as I read this, a blank slate, a void, an empty room.

A Wrinkle in Time is a very nice tale, but I just wish L'Engle spent more time developing the settings. The decently rounded characters seemed to be floating in spartan landscapes like portraits hung in limbo.

Lackluster description is one thing, but perhaps more than anything, I think my tepid-3 star, ho-hum reaction to A Wrinkle in Time is due to my reading it as a middle-aged curmudgeon. It's made for kids and I haven't been one of them in a while.

My wife loved this book as a child and kept hinting I should read it, hinting so much that the hints became ultimatums. Could've sworn I heard her in my head shouting, "Read this or you do not love me!" So I read it and well...meh. I missed the age-appropriate boat on that one, I guess. But hey, at least I was smart enough not to give her my scathing review (yes, this would've been seen as a scathing review in her eyes). I just said, "It was nice," and that's the story of how I managed to stay married.

The End

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

I liked the first two chapters very much, but for a few chapters after that some of the writing felt a bit clumsy and I was starting to lose interest.

But the final half of the book was genuinely thrilling and I found it very hard when I had to put the book down!

I also very much enjoyed the portrayal of the children (in particular Meg) 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) and also in the way the children find their own strength.

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

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

n  n    n  n

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

One of these days, I will finally realize that I am in fact an adult, and will stop wanting to recapture an alternate childhood. Even if Hollywood insists on flashy (re)adaptions of every children's book in existence. Damn you!



The easiest and most natural thing to do when faced with failure, is to pinpoint a culprit. Preferably someone other than one's own self, so I choose my country's school system. If you go by its compulsory reading list, it's clear that a heavily depressed child/teenager is what it takes to ace Literature class.

The reading list boasts of such lovely stories like :
- baby is eaten by eagles
- magic sheep to witness last will of suicidal shepherd
- mythical star gets its heart broken by uncaring princess
- materialistic peasant climbs over everyone and everything to get a bit of land
- OR, my personal favorite: French boy breaks innocent Indian girl's heart - if only because the lack of any tragic deaths.



So trust me when I tell you that I'm positively green with envy, when others get a frigging space-fairy-tale to analyze. Not only does it boast of an interesting title (A Wrinkle in Time), but its author also parades around with an absolutely fabulous (pen?)name (Madeleine L'Engle). Add to that a story that manages to coast by with minimal religious references. Meaning... if noone explicitly mentions God or Jesus, I can convince myself that things have nothing to do with them.

What I'm saying is that I should've positively ADORED this book! So feeling nothing but boredom and irritation, understandably put me in quite a foul mood.

It started out well enough with the heroine being bullied for being different, but before I could even grasp the entirety of Meg's woes, she gets a huge pile of insta-love thrown her way, space-travel, a villain whose endgame never gets explained... all wrapped in a slew of utterly confusing events, peppered with as many weird characters as 200 pages can hold.

Score: 1/5 stars

I was initially holding out some hope that some pretty visuals would at least endear the movie to me, but I lasted less than 10 minutes. In its defense, I was on a plane, where my attention span is even lower than usual.

Doing a two-day buddy read with the magical Melanie! I’m so excited to dive into this book!

the book that first inspired me to tentatively pick up my pencil and my marbled black-and-white composition notebook (remember those?) and write (in 4th grade). the influence l'engle herself and her work have had on my life cannot be overstated. i met her many many years later, during college, when she was well into her 80s, but she was exactly as i pictured her-- spirited, engaging, challenging. when i (very nervously and shyly) told her that she gave me my first inspiration to write, she looked me in the eyes and, with a genuineness in her tone i can't describe, thanked me. i gave her my book to be autographed. she signed in it an handed it back to me. as i walked away, i read her inscription, which said, with love and a flourish, "ananda!" i admit it-- i had to look it up to find out what it meant and when i did, my respect for her grew even deeper (i won't get into the entire background of the word/name here, you can google it yourself). "ananda" means bliss or joy. it was so perfect, i nearly cried.

an amazing book and an amazing woman.

4,25 stars - English paperback - read again after 30 years

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 (whoo, flight delays and pre-dawn connecting flights!) home, 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 an 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…

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.

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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.

First, understand that I am editing this review after several outraged responses. I knew that "Wrinkle" was considered to be a classic, but I was unaware that it was considered a Beloved Classic Beyond Criticism. I read this in grade school and just REread it aloud, to my daughter. I didn't have a clear memory of it, though I remember that I loved the way it started. Now I realize why I forgot so much of it. I STILL love the first 3 chapters, and dislike the rest. But since some of you found (and WILL find, I'm sure) my review to be judgmental, harsh and undiplomatic (a review IS a critique, right?) to the point of insulting, I thought I'd do a little research, look over the book again, think about it some more. So I've edited this review. But I find I just can't retract my statements. They are my opinion, that's all, and I haven't changed my mind. I can only try to be open minded, be honest, and try to explain my thoughts & feelings more clearly. Otherwise, I'd be a simpering fake.

Like C.S. Lewis books (especially the last of his Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle), A Wrinkle In Time has strong, (heavy-handed, I think), overtones of Christian doctrine. I'm not anti-spiritual, but I have a personal discomfort with this kind of religious doctrine. (You many not, and that's fine.) But more than that issue, the book is an odd combination of intelligent hard science, interesting quantum science that is brushed over, and quotes from the bible. At least there are a few respectful mentions of other spiritual leaders from other cultures, and moral messages from classic literature and philosophers. I understand this combination garnered criticism from both religious fundamentalists as well as atheists and secular society. L'Engle has earned my respect for taking on the difficult and controversial marriage of science and religion. She has also earned my criticism for raising this issue and then failing to really grapple with it. It's treated lightly, as though it's a natural thing that should be easy to accept, in spite of the many holes and inconsistencies in her story. I wouldn't even mind, except that this book takes itself SO seriously! It's easy to imagine that a school teacher might use this book to demonstrate that Evolutionist Theory and Creationism can be combined, but I find science and religion to have a disjointed and uneasy coexistence in this book. One is always dropped abruptly for the other. Or at least, it seems so to me.

Ok. Now that I have tackled that big one, let's move on. I found the characters rather flat, (the genius child, the misfit girl, the beautiful, genius, scientist mother who nonetheless stays home and cooks stew in bunsen burners while her husband has adventures). The story itself is made up of vague scenarios of conflict of the psyche and spirit, with the entire Universe at stake. L'Engle's metaphors are obvious and their manifestations flat. [SPOILER ALERT] There is a quest to fight a "Darkness" (oooh!) that wants to rid us all of individuality & free will. There are 3 beings who used to be stars before they died in the fight with the "Darkness" and became something beyond our comprehension. They can appear in any form to us, so that we have some way of processing their existence. They are, in fact, so beyond anything knowable that I can't feel much for them or say much about them, except that they make a convenient plot device for transporting the characters throughout the Universe and the story. Anyway, the "Darkness" takes over a planet which turns into a kind of sci-fi beehive, with brainwashed automatons. I found the planet to be delightfully creepy and would have liked to know more about it, (even if it seems suspiciously like a thinly veiled anti-communist warning message.) So guess what's doing the brainwashing? - a giant, evil, disembodied brain, called IT, who is personally responsible for spreading the Darkness across the Universe. Really? A brain? Doesn't anyone else find this simplistic and cliche? The main character defeats this brain by gushing love. I am quite sure that many, many readers were moved to tears by Meg's gushing, but I do not happen to be that kind of person. Before Meg realizes that she has the power to gush love, the crusaders tesser through time and space (no explanation of how the father can do this) to a fascinating planet with very interesting aliens who can't see, but have other senses. I'd have loved to know more about their society and these mysterious other senses, but again, these ideas aren't very developed.

These are the things in this book, and in L'Engle's writing that I love: As I mentioned, I love her courage in at least attempting a controversial issue like mixing science and spirituality. I love that this book has the heart to recognize love as the greatest power, and that it has the wisdom to recognize fear as one of the biggest weapons. I love that individuality prevails, and the romantic in me approves of the loving, whole family. I love that she has enough respect for children that she included difficult vocabulary and a few difficult concepts. Many children are far more capable of handling complex ideas than we give them credit for, especially if we expose them to these things early on. I love that L'Engle doesn't underestimate them in this way, at least initially, on the surface. Since my biggest problems with this book all involve my finding it simplistic, naive, and certain parts of it cliche & obvious, I wonder if I need to remind myself that it's meant for children. Perhaps children should be idealistic, or even naive, in the way that this book is. But then I wonder if that is another way of underestimating them. ESPECIALLY since I felt exactly the same way when I read this book as a child!

Wind In The Willows makes me feel closer to God, or a creative power (though there's some gushing in there too, at the end.) The Jungle Book explores social constructs and morals, more deeply and naturally, for me. A Sound Of Thunder blew my mind, in grade school, with its "butterfly effect" theory of the power and responsibility of each individual. All of these are childrens' books, though they span generations, and time and space, more gracefully than tessering did for me. I could name so many more.

But, if A Wrinkle In Time opened your mind to new ideas, (instead of making you feel frustrated by light treatment of them), made you question some latent prejudice, (instead of feeling bored by obvious metaphors), lifted your spirits & made you cheer for bookish outcasts, (instead of feeling that no one is that one-dimensional) or cry for the love of a big sister & little brother, (instead of cringing when a version of "I love you Charles Wallace" appears 19 times in 2 pages), then it is a wonderful book. For you.

I just finished reading this for the first time since, maybe college? Twelve year old Meg Murry, her precocious five year old brother Charles Wallace, and their new friend Calvin meet some highly odd beings who call themselves Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which. This strange, quirky trio sweeps the children away on an interstellar quest to find and rescue Meg and Charles Wallace's missing father. They fold space and time through tesseracts (the "wrinkle" in time and space) and battle the darkness that has taken over other planets and shadows ours.

This 1962 book is noticeably old-fashioned and a little simplistic in several ways. The symbolism and the links to religion and scriptures aren't subtle, and Meg's anger and stubbornness gets old, though it's interesting to see how those character traits can in some situations stand her in good stead. Also, in fairness it is a middle grade book, though a lot of older readers love it. There's something really lovely about the book's ultimate message and themes. I enjoyed revisiting it again after all these years.

I'm going to stick with my original 4 star rating, though I'm pretty sure that the nostalgia factor is playing into this rating. Full review to come!

January 2018 buddy read with the Pantaloonless group.

Original post: I read this book at least two or three times when I was a teen/young adult (actually, I own and have read the entire series), but it's been a long while since I last read this. I'm interested to see how it holds up!

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.