A Wrinkle in Time: (Newbery Medal Winner)

I am now in the middle of the first sequel to this book, going through the Time Quartet (don't understand why it isn't called the TIME QUINTET, the only logic I can come up with is AN ACCEPTABLE TIME deals with Polly and not one of the four Murry children) for the first time. A WRINKLE IN TIME is one of those books that have a sterling reputation, and a book I had been meaning to read for a long time. It was worth the wait, being one of the most memorable and unusual books I've read. For you old school gamers, perhaps Mother Brain off Metroid came from the villain here? Just a thought. The story is tightly written, very good buildup of characters, dominant themes very apparent (acceptance, curiosity, and very importantly: love), plausible resolution. All the characters are very memorable, people you would love to meet in real life. Charles Wallace is one of the most intriguing of all characters I have met in literature, and it's a shame we don't get to see more of the REAL C. W. (to those of you who have read the book you know what I mean). The images and story are so diverse, so far reaching I consumed the story rather quickly. To those of you familiar with C. S. Lewis, he said one of the purposes of literature, and primarily myth, is to give you `stabs of joy', awaken a spiritually yearning that ultimately is consummated in the character of Christ Jesus. This book is myth. I wanted to go to the land of the centaurs and bask in that glory. This story awakens a longing and a yearning for things of the supernatural. It certainly did for me. I would end it at that, but I do have some issues or problems with this book. One largely rests in the fact that the three Mrs. Ws are maintaining the illusion of haunting and witchcraft to scare away people. No angles of God would do this, as described in the book, for "a joke" (its in the passage where Meg is attempting to help Charles Wallace at Camazots). I do not object to magic in literature depending on how it is handled. But I do object to this simply because they are painted as such wonderful servants of God, and there's the whole feel to the book of goodness and holiness, and then this element which for me goes completely against everything L'Engle otherwise consistently maintains in this work. Another is the inclusion of The Happy Medium. Medium is generally associated with sorcery and evil, and wish she had chosen a better title for her than this. Yet another is the feeling of universalism that predominates a particular passage in the book where Charles Wallace is describing the heroes who have fought against the encroaching darkness. One is Jesus. Since the book plays with the time element extensively, L'Engle should have said the Jesus won the battle already, even though we must fight it. This I do not hold against L'Engle, simply because the doctrine is complex and very difficult to understand, but I do resent the inclusion of Buddha as one of the people who have fought against the darkness, which, oddly, is included a few lines down with a lists of artists. My own thoughts on universalism are clouded (no, I do not believe full-blown universalism: the one I waiver back and forth with is found in THE LAST BATTLE). But Buddhism is a false religion, and he did not fight the darkness, although he had been deceived into thinking he had. While, for me, those things I've cited above do detract from this book, the story is wonderful, and one of the most remarkable books I've read. You will be changed by this book if you allow yourself to be. It's such an unusual book. I just soaked it up. Well done, L'Engle. Another impression I have of L'Engle, and which she herself supports, she has a very large curiosity about the world. There's a definite shift from NARNIA to WRINKLE. With Lewis you feel like he's an uncle telling you this wonderful story, but he's wise. With L'Engle, you get the feeling she's just as amazed at this world that's been uncovered as you are. In an interview with L'Engle here on Amazon, she said Lewis had a lot more answers, and she had a lot more questions. Lets see what she can turn up. Mike London (P. S. Have you seen those dreadful illustrations, the cover art, to the other paperback edition? That edition has the three children standing in an egg-shaped circle with a white creature flying over. They are much to young looking for this book - I don't like the cover art at all on those. I much prefer the one with the centaur on the cover or the hardback edition).

I had wanted to read this book for quite a while now. I had in 2015 bought the 50th anniversary edition with some more material, an interview with the author and her Newbery Medal acceptance speech and now finally got around to read it. The story of this book is quickly retold: Three children, siblings Meg and Charles Wallace and Calvin, are recruited by three "beings" to go onto another planet to rescue Meg's and Charles's father. They teleport to this planet, Camazotz, succeed in rescuing the father only to leave Charles Wallace behind. Meg herself has to go back to Camazotz herself to rescue Charles Wallace. The story is difficult to categorise; I would say fantasy rather than science fiction. I found thereby the beginning where the story seemed to be more an adventure story more interesting than when they started to tesser. And the end was also something of a letdown: The whole book through, I had the idea that the father was an active fighter against darkness, that he had always done that and that this was not his first time doing it. Then, it turned out that he was just involved by pure coincidence because he tessered onto the wrong planet. Moreover, what I found really interesting was her inclusion of God. Which God is she talking about? In the book, Jesus is mentioned as one of the great men who fought darkness, next to Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Ghandi, Buddha and others and I read that she was criticised therefore. But the reason God is not involved in stories that involve different planets is, if a planet had no Jesus, are people there just Jews? Jesus is crucial to Christianity, but Jesus lived on Earth. Other planets cannot know God as people on Earth do without Jesus. Generally, scriptures and processions are very important for a religion, they basically define it. As said, Christianity is nothing without Jesus. So, if you talk on other planets about God, you might as well mean Erū Ilúvatar, Odin or Zeus. Still, this was definitively a story well worth reading and I am considering reading some of its sequels.

I think I read this long ago when I was a child, but I didn't remember that this is one out of five books in the series. I decided to reread this and I loved it, from the characters (I loved Meg and Charles Wallace), to the different worlds, and how they were tested to the last battle. Must read!

Great buy! Came quickly and everything went smoothly. I recommend this. I love this book!

l'ho preso per mio figlio, a lui è piacito molto

j'aime bien le livre

Recomendo esta leitura! Comecei a ler para treinar o inglês mesmo, mas acabei gostando bastante do enredo e me envolvi com a história. Me fez pensar bastante, além de aprender novo vocabulário e relaxar.

I bought this book, and it did not come damaged. very good and interesting book definitely going to read the next one in the series!!!!