Saturday, April 16, 2011

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (review)



Genre:Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publication Date:1962
Pages:238
Where to get:B&N, Amazon,
MACMILLAN:A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time - Goodreads





     Meg's father mysteriously disappears after experimenting with the fifth dimension of time travel. Determined to rescue him, Meg and her friends must outwit the forces of evil on a heart-stopping journey through space and time. A commemorative edition with an Introduction by the author. A Newbery Medal winner.
(goodreads.com)


"No" Charles Wallace said. "I have to go on. We have to make our own decisions, and we can't make them if they're based on fear."
"Maybe I don't like being different," Meg said, "but I don't want to be like everybody else, either."
"The heart has its reasons whereof reason knows nothing."



     A Wrinkle in Time is a wonderful and heart-warming science fiction novel by Madeleine L'Engle. First in series of books about Murry and O'Keefe families, it's a classic Young Adult book, one, that every YA fan should have on his/her shelf.

     The heroin of this story is a young and incredibly talented in math, Meg Murry. She is one extraordinary and unique girl, perhaps even a little bit too much than she'd like to be, as it makes it hard for her to fit in at school. Troubled by personal insecurities, Meg seems to be lonely and often misunderstood. The braces she's wearing, together with her thick glasses and always messy hair, only add to the image of a weird, "awkward" and troublesome kid.

     Meg's family is not one of the ordinary kind either. Both her parents are scientists. Her mom is a stunningly beautiful woman, with degrees in both bacteriology and biology. Her father, a physicist, is gone working on some kind of Top Secret project and no one knows exactly where  he is or when will he be back. Meg has three brothers and she loves them all very much, especially the youngest one, Charles Wallace. Charles is an adorable and gifted five-year-old boy. He didn't talk until he reached the age of four, at which time he began speaking in full sentences. Even now he doesn't really speak to anyone except for his own family, which leads people to believe he is "a moron". One of Charles' many talents, is being able to emphatically or telepathically "read" certain people's thoughts and feelings.

     The story begins with the unexpected visit of Mrs. Whatsit on a dark and stormy evening. Although she appears to be just an ordinary elderly woman wrapped in layers of clothes, she's actually a celestial creature and her true form is a centaur-like winged being. Just like Mrs. Which and Mrs. Who, she once was a star, who sacrificed itself by exploding in order to destroy a section of the Black Thing, an evil being attacking the universe. After drying her feet and having a snack with Meg's family, Mrs. Whatsit is ready to leave. However, before she does, she tells Mrs. Murry that "there is such a thing as a tesseract". This seems to upset Meg's mom a lot and nearly causes her to faint.

     Meg is set on discovering what this term refers to and how is it related to disappearance of her father. The following morning, accompanied by her brother, Charles, and a school friend, Calvin O'Keefe, she goes to visit an old haunted house near town, where Mrs. Whatsit lives together with her two friends, Mrs. Who and Mrs.Which. There Mrs. Whatsit reveals to children that the universe is under attack of evil forces. She tells them that their father, while working on a secret project to achieve faster-than-light travel, was accidentally trapped on Camazots, an alien planet controlled by the Black Thing. She also explains what a tesseract is and that they could use it to travel to Camazots in order to save Mr.Murry.
     This will be the beginning of their great and dangerous adventure through time and space.

     Wrinkle in Time is no doubt one of the greatest works of literature for kids. It's an inspiring and empowering book, that teaches us about friendship, love, courage, importance of individuality and non-conformity. If you ever felt "different" or lonely, if you had to deal with loss of someone close to you - this is the book for you.
     It's one of the very few books I will surely be re-reading in the future! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series.



Other titles in the Time Quintet series are:





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