My rating: 4 / 5
“It was a dark and stormy night.” Truly a classic opening line for a novel!
Somehow, I missed reading this growing up. Featuring a female main character, Meg Murry, this is a story about family, about relationships and love, and about good versus evil.
Interested more in math than how she fits in, Meg Murry doesn’t have a lot of friends. Or maybe any. She is very close to her younger brother, Charles Wallace, who is quite gifted (imagine a 5-year-old who speaks like an adult).
Together, Meg and Charles Wallace go on an adventure to find their father, who has missing for quite some time. Meg and Charles Wallace travel through space and time to battle forces of evil.
What I loved about this novel was the mix of an atypical main character (female, “ordinary”, likes math and science) with science fiction and fantasy elements. It was also refreshing to see a complexly drawn teenage character in a children’s book. Meg has moments where is she brave and strong, yet she also doubts herself in a real, tangible, relatable away. It reminds me that no one is just one thing, and that it’s ok to have doubts. It’s what you do about those doubts that defines who you are, not the fact that you have them.
Now, on to the bad. I didn’t find the writing to be particularly great, and in parts, I thought it was sort of clunky. I don’t know if I’m just being picky, or what, but I felt that the writing and some of the writer’s choices (like the names of the supernatural beings who help them on their quest through space and time) really detracted from the story, rather than added to it.
There are a lot of reviews that criticize the religious overtones of this novel. One reviewer on goodreads.com commented that L’Engle was even more of a religious writer than C.S. Lewis. To be honest, I didn’t even notice. When I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a child, I had no notion of the religious tones of the whole series. Reading those later, as an adult, I found it oppressive and heavy-handed. I did not feel that way with A Wrinkle in Time.
Overall, it was enjoyable to read. If you haven’t read it, and enjoy children’s literature, give it a try!
Sounds like a good read and kind of light. I’ll look out for it =)