Review of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Reading this book really was a joy, and I practically threw it at one of my tutoring students the day after I finished it, insisting that she read it, too. It's a kids' book that you can still enjoy as an adult, if your mind is still a little bit open to magic and wonder and you can appreciate characters even when they aren't entirely realistic. Full review after the jump.




A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm really a bit sad that I didn't read A Wrinkle in Time as a child. I feel like you really have to be a kid, with all the attendant belief in magic and wonder, to fully appreciate it. That said, I really enjoyed this story and felt that it was one of the most magical books I had ever read, and that's coming from a devoted Potterhead.

Things I liked:

1) Setting and description were both lovely. You can vividly picture the sights and sounds of a storm from Meg's attic bedroom, the skittering leaves in the moonlight on a cold autumn night, and the beauty of the magical places. At one point, I almost wanted to cry with the sheer beauty and magic of one of the places and the creatures found there (I won't spoil which one).

2) Charles Wallace. Oh, I wanted to climb between the pages and give that little boy a bear hug.

3) Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which were all fun characters, and I liked Mrs. Which's little pun when she materialized. It was nice to see the three of them having such a good time on Earth, and refreshing to see them flustered when they made mistakes. Sometimes the "infallible and very wise magical being" thing can get a little tiring, so I enjoyed them stumbling a little from time to time.

4) The emphasis on the idea that being different is important, even if others sometimes don't appreciate you for it. L'Engle provides us with a disturbing glimpse into a world in which everything is the same and everyone thinks the same way (a world uncomfortably reminiscent of our own at times), and I think this would help children understand that variety really is the spice of life, even when they feel poorly about not conforming to their peers' expectations all the time. Given Charles Wallace's particular traits, and, to some extent, Meg's, this might be a nice book for a child with Asperger's or a gifted child in general.

Things I wasn't crazy about:

1) We're obviously not going for realism, here, folks, and that's fine and everything, considering that it's a children's book about magic/fantasy. However, the lack of realism extends to the characters as well (except, perhaps, Meg and her father). There's a lot of sudden trust and abrupt formation of friendships, and the people generally seem nice in a way that real people really aren't (unfortunately). Again, though, it's a children's book.

2) The climax and ending seemed rather abrupt after the time spent building up to the action. I'm not saying that I didn't love the journey before that, but I did get a feeling of blinking and wondering, "Oh, was that the end?" That said, the abrupt ending did make me want to read the rest of the series.

A caution: Given how old this story is, I could see how publishers might expect most people to have read it already, and that would explain the fact that there is a family tree at the back of my particular edition (ISBN 9780312367558, published 1 May 2007). Family trees are what spoiled the final relationships in the Harry Potter series for me, and they caught me again with Wrinkle! So, if you're not familiar with the story, be careful with the back of the book if you have my edition.

Overall, reading A Wrinkle in Time for the first time as an adult was a wonderful experience for me. I felt the beauty and the magic of it strongly, and I thought the imagery was just lovely. Still, I think you miss out on something by not reading it as a child, with a child's eyes and sense of wonder. I intend to read the rest of the series.