Sunday, February 22, 2015

REVIEW: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle



A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."


A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.




MY THOUGHTS
This book seems to be a part of many people's childhoods. While I am not really an adult (not according to me), at 18, I still feel like I would have enjoyed this book much more if I read it as a child.

This book revolves around Meg, whose father went missing awhile ago and three mysterious and very strange neighbors may know where he is. Meg, Charles Wallace (her very smart and quiet younger brother), and Calvin (a popular kid high school student) must all go on a very odd adventure to find him.

I read somewhere, in an interview I believe, that the author didn't think that this book would be publish because, in her words, it's too odd. This is a very odd book, though this book was probably considered very odd when it was published, as many books weren't any near like this. I liked some of the oddness. It make this book very interesting and unique. I especially liked seeing the different types of worlds the children traveled to. Sometimes the oddness was too odd for me, in a way that my head couldn't quite wrap my mind around it.

A big issue that I had with this book was Meg. I heard that Meg is supposed to be a strong character, but I really couldn't see it. She was very whiny. Yeah, she's a kid (I think. I'm guess she's 12, but her age is never mentioned) and her dad's missing, but everything out of her mouth was something along the lines of "I can't do that!" Her flaws did have a purpose in this book, but I just didn't really like her.

The other characters were okay, but I felt like they were just 'there'. I didn't really have any feelings towards them and some felt like cardboard cutouts. Like Calvin. He was just some random guy in the book and I really have no idea why he was there. Meg and Charles Wallace randomly meet him in the woods on the way to the strange people's house. I don't even think the really knew him all that well.

IN CONCLUSION
This was a very interesting book and I can see why so many people enjoyed this book as a child and consider it a classic. Sadly, as I am no longer really a kid, I couldn't fully enjoy it. Part of it is the fact that I have already read so many books that I am so much more critical (Let's face it, we all loved every book we read as a child). A child would be able to look past the annoying main character, maybe even relate to her, and fully enjoy all of the oddness.
Don't get me wrong, I did like this book, though I am unsure about continuing this series.

I hereby give this book
3 Wheels
Meaning: I liked it

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