I JUST read this book for the first time, and it was BEAUTIFUL. The writing is exactly why I adore childhood classics (how can they make the ordinary so magical; and the food is always so salivating) and then this tale took twist after twist...and it was utterly unique. I am a big fan. :)

This Newbery Award winner was the first novel by the prolific L'Engle (1918-2007) that I ever read; but although I'd heard of her before, I didn't discover her work for myself until I was in my 40s. That I liked it as an adult is indicative; it was marketed to younger readers, and has main characters who are, I'd guess, young teens (another is just five years old), but it isn't at all shallow or juvenile in its characterizations, plotting, or general execution. (L'Engle herself has stated that when she writes, she simply tells a story without picturing the listeners as any particular age, and leaves it to her publishers to market it as they choose.) Adults can certainly appreciate this one.

Two or three generations of would-be gurus of writing technique have held up the sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night" as a supposed textbook example of a poor beginning for a fictional work (unfairly, in my opinion, since there's nothing intrinsically wrong either with opening the tale in such a setting, or with starting by calling attention to it!). That L'Engle deliberately picked that sentence to start this novel says something about her audacity and disdain for convention. That the novel in question then went on to win a coveted major literary award says a lot about her writing skills.

Basically, this tale sends young Meg and her schoolmate Calvin, along with Meg's precociously bright little brother, traveling to other worlds in an effort to find and rescue her missing father (who's a brilliant scientist, as is her mother). The means of this travel is a tesseract, the titular "wrinkle in time" posited in 1888 by British mathematician Charles Howard Hinton (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract ). Although L'Engle's science fiction isn't typically associated with the genre's "hard" tradition, the science here is legitimate. (For some further discussion of it, with particular reference to this novel, check out https://geekdad.com/2014/03/tesseracts/ .) But the author's main interest isn't in imparting a science lesson. As in all great literature in any genre, her fundamental concerns are psychological and moral/philosophical --and in this case spiritual, because while L'Engle's Christian content here is subtly expressed, she was an evangelical Christian whose worldview shapes her work, here as elsewhere. (By her own statement, for instance, she viewed Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit as angels; and it isn't hard for Christian readers to identify the malevolent cosmic entity designated here as the Dark Thing.) The characters' real challenges are moral and spiritual, and have to be fought within themselves.

As a side note, it's profoundly unfortunate that this work has sometimes been denounced, not so much by secularist critics as by avowedly Christian reviewers, who imagine it to be inimical to the faith (a reaction that never ceased to amaze the author, during her lifetime). Briefly, one main ground of attack have been that Jesus is cited (first) in a list of those from our planet who have been fighters against the evil and darkness of the Dark Thing --supposedly, this reduces Jesus' uniqueness. Suffice it to say that I had no such negative reaction in reading that passage in the book; I took it as a very pro-Jesus affirmation, and I think 99.999% of serious readers would. (Generally speaking, the New Testament calls upon humans to be co-fighters with Jesus against evil.) The other complaint is that a character called the Happy Medium uses a crystal ball for scrying (locating missing persons or objects in the present); those who object to this equate it with the kind of divination (foretelling future events) forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:11. But humans are banned from trying to foretell the future because it's knowledge that belongs to God and isn't ours to know, unless He shares it with us. The location of present-day lost persons or objects is an entirely different category of knowledge; it certainly isn't forbidden to humans. (If it were, it would be a sin, for instance, to look for misplaced eyeglasses, or to try to locate missing children!) This doesn't mean that scrying is a technique that actually works for such purposes --this is fiction, after all!- it simply means that if incantational magic DID work, this wouldn't be a morally illegitimate purpose for it.

As Goodreads indicates, this is the first entry in a five-book series. I've never actually pursued the latter any further; but this 1991 printing of the book has an accompanying genealogy of the Murry and O'Keefe families that appear in the series, as well as a list of L'Engle characters in the broader Kairos series (which includes this one) and which books they appear in. (Interestingly, although I'd never noticed it before, it turns out that although The Other Side of the Sun --which I've also read and liked, though I haven't reviewed it yet-- isn't part of the Kairos series, Stella and Theron's children and grandson do figure in some books of the latter. It's a small world! :-) )

Beloved by many, A Wrinkle in Time is supposedly a whimsical tale of three children's fantastic adventure through time and space. Yet somehow it only managed to make me feel as though I was having a really bad anxiety attack.

Reading this reminded me of when my grade 7 music teacher forced us to watch that horribly creepy, animated Beatles movie, Yellow Submarine. A Wrinkle in Time reads like a Dr. Seuss story but darker. Weirder. I'm not sure how to explain it but there's something really unsettling about it.

Beyond that it's just really dull. The characters are extremely flat and the dialogue is shrill and unnatural. I really wanted to see it through to the end since it's such a short book, but I just couldn't do it. I am utterly baffled by this rather tedious and somewhat sinister story.

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!

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

Huh . . . Well that was that.

I'm just not even sure what to think of this book. It was very unique - maybe too unique for my tastes. I just feel rather indifferent about it. :P

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

Am I the first living 64 year old who had never read this book- until now - March, 2017.
that is?

Random Thoughts ....
.....I was surprised to discover this story was about a little GIRL --not a WIZARD.
.....I was more surprised that Meg, 13 years old, had three other siblings... two twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys, and a younger brother, Charles Wallace Murray, who is a child prodigy.....with parents who were scientist. THERE IS A REAL FAMILY -WITH REAL PEOPLE in this book! NOT SURE WHY THIS SURPRISED ME!
.....I'm thinking "HOT DAMN, I might like this story".... and my daughters might have.... but as far as I know .... they missed reading this one too.
Heck, the first page was 'great' - the first sentence was 'classic-great': "It was a dark and stormy night".
What child doesn't perk up to hear a story with those first words?

So....I continue reading 'remembering' that not long ago 'ELLIE' praised this book SO HIGHLY ....as her FAVORITE children's book ( she and I both have passion for the Velveteen Rabbit)....that I KNEW I HAD TO FINALLY READ IT. I bought a used copy at my recycle bookstore for a dollar. THANK YOU ELLIE!!!!! :) whew...I'm glad I didn't miss this gem!!! I loved the characteristics of the kids and adults....each unique in their own ways.

.....What creative names for characters: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Witch.... 'charming supernatural neighbors'. .....as well as the lovely Aunt Beast.

The three *W* women escort Meg, Charles, and another boy, Calvin O'Keefe. from Meg's school --through the universe by means of SCI FI UNIVERSE TRANSPORTATION-- "tesseract" - A fifth dimensional phenomenon-- ET hasn't phoned home yet.....on a mission to rescue Meg and Charles father. Meg, and the Mrs. W's all agree that the mysterious disappearance of the father is very strange and has something to do with the term "tesseract". After all he is a scientist and was working on a project before his disappearance.

The Trio W-women and children travel through the universe and visit different planets - a utopian world- with creatures disguised as humans. First they bump into evil... then they are taken to a woman to look through a crystal ball. The children are learning that there is both evil and good in the world. They see much darkness through that crystal ball down here on planet earth. They also see that artist's, and philosophers, and religious folks are fighting against the evil.
AT THIS POINT IF I WERE A CHILD - I WOULD HAVE QUESTIONS --
THE CHILD ME WOULD ASK: "well, my daddy died--[I was 4]. I'd want to know if he left me because he got tired of all the fighting on earth--and since I've always wondered since the day he died -- not knowing what the hell that meant -- if he was coming back soon --- and could I go on the mission with Meg and bring my daddy back home too?" This book might have scared me as a child -- I would have needed a tender adult reading it with me.

ON WITH THIS STORY:
They soon travel to a planet called Camazotz.... where they find Meg's father: trapped!
The planet is being controlled by an evil brain and with powerful telepathic abilities- called "IT".
This story begins to gets MORE SCARY..... I would have been on the edge of my seat. Note: I don't read much science fiction - but the children are threatened by the possibility of their minds being controlled through a telepathic takeover.

Whew..... laughing ....I was exhausted by the end.....OF COURSE IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING....
I HATE that felt like crying in this children's book! I hate all you people who told me it's a must read .....because for this girl it WAS!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!! - you mean people!!!

I love believing there is GOOD in the world .. so why am I sad?


A special appreciation to the Goodreads community-- I might never have read this book without all the the LOVE & EXPRESSION for this children's classic! Thank you!

n  

"Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world
And the seven seas,
Everybody's looking for something."

Eurythmics

n

n  n

You have plenty of time to put this book in your reading queue before the movie release in March of 2018 starring Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon. Create some synergy by reading the book and then watching the movie.

Check out the trailer.

A Wrinkle in Time 2018 Movie Trailer

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
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What can I say about a book that is hailed as one of the greatest pieces of fiction of all time? Nothing. I really can't. I will not disrespect this book by saying anything negative about it. I think my opinions about this book may have changed over the years, but that by no means makes this a poor read. Instead of being critical about the book, I am going to celebrate it with some of my favorite quotes from this book:

“Like and equal are not the same thing at all.”
(No wonder this book is considered to be allegorical! Definitely some political innuendo there..)

“Have you ever tried to get to your feet with a sprained dignity?”

“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.

“If we knew ahead of time what was going to happen we’d be—we’d be like the people on Camazotz, with no lives of our own, with everything all planned and done for us.”

And for my absolute favorite quote:

“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”

This book is a masterpiece. However, it simply didn't resonate with my older self as it had with my younger self. With that said, I can still recognize this for what it was: A book ahead of its time that was extremely controversial. It has seen much success and has been exulted by fans everywhere.

"It was a dark and stormy night."

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.


I started reading A Wrinkle in Time last year, and I had to put it on a pause (not because it was bad, but because I had the longest reading slump of my life). Moving on to present time, since I've been reading a lot of children and middle grade books, I decided to pick it up again. And I'm so happy I did.

A Wrinkle in Time follows the story of Meg, her brother, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on their fantastic adventures filled with magic and different types of magical creatures. Even though the magic aspect of the story was really good, what I enjoyed the most was the science aspect of the story. Madeleine L'Engle mixed our own world perfectly with the magical one, but she also, at the same time, made it as realistic as she possibly could. The world, mixed with interesting character, and really creepy setting at times together made a wonderful novel, and an amazing start to a series that I cannot wait to continue.