Friday, October 4, 2013

31 Days of Books: A Wrinkle in Time

I'm continuing today in the vein of fantasy - because I love it!  But I have to confess I read (and fell in love) with this particular book in 3rd grade... and a re-read is long overdue.  So pardon any lack of specificity.  ("Spe-ci-fi-ci-ty." - JGL to TH in Inception... sorry, couldn't resist.)  Alright, on with the show!

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Title:  A Wrinkle in Time

Author:  Madeleine L'Engle

Published:  1962

Year I read it: 1999

One sentence summary:  Meg Murray accompanied by her brother, Charles Wallace; friend, Calvin O'Keefe; and the three odd Mrs W's (Whatsit, Who, and Which) goes on an adventure in search of her scientist-father after his mysterious disappearance years before.


Three reasons to read it:
  • I can't even convey the power of the climax - a struggle between the law and conformity and death against love and light and life.  Of the books and movies you read/see as a child - some stick with you for inexplicable reasons - this would be one!
  • This novel was one of the early nerd-slash-social-outcast-becomes-hero books.  Living in a post-Harry Potter world (and thanks to a majority of other YA novels),  this combination has gone from trope to epidemic, but I've found reading the source of a cliche refreshes the notion of it.
  • I often can't parse out where sci-fi ends and fantasy begins [it makes for fantastic late night conversations though!] - but this story is a wonderful blending of both.  The fourth and fifth dimensions, tesseracting, far off planets, impossible happenings, adventures and humanity - it all makes for some fabulous literature.
  • [Bonus reason:  Whovians would just LOVE this book.  All sorts of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey in here]

One reason you maybe shouldn't:
  • It's a children's story and doesn't exactly follow a logical or expected plot progression... [I don't know, does that turn you off? No, ok...good :]
Great quotes:

"...by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."
"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."
"Believing takes practice."

"A straight line is not the shortest distance between two points."
“I don't understand it any more than you do, but one thing I've learned is that you don't have to understand things for them to be.” 

"I love you, Charles Wallace."

3 comments:

  1. Read, er, audio-booked this for the first time just recently! Part of me wishes I could have read it as a child, or I would love to hear what a child thinks after reading this book.

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  2. I'm reading this book right now because of this review! Well, not literally "now" but you know what I mean :)

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    1. Oh that's so great! I'm actually reading another book by L'Engle right now about arts and faith... but then I may need to get back into this tetralogy and finish it :)

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