A book club that I have yet to attend recently read A Wrinkle in Time. At the recommendation of a friend, I have finally finished reading it. My overall opinion of the book is that I like a lot of the ideas presented, but overall I found it lacking for some reason.
My favorite chapter of the book was the part about Aunt Beast. She was by far my favorite character. I love the idea of a planet where they don't need eyes. They sense everything. "She (Meg) realized now that here on this planet there was no need for color, that the grays and browns merging into each other were not what the beasts knew, and that what she, herself, saw was only the smallest fraction of what the planet was really like. It was she who was limited by her senses, not the blind beasts, for they must have senses of which she could not even dream."
I also like the idea of a universe of planets who are all fighting in a cosmic battle. "All through the universe it's being fought, all through the cosmos, and my, but it's a grand and exciting battle." The great battle of good versus evil, and evil must be fought with truth and love.
In addition, I liked the quotes that were scattered throughout the book, and some of the overall images that the book left in my mind upon reflection.
But, while I was reading the book, I felt a sense of lacking during most of it. I think it is because of one of the following reasons. First, I didn't really like any of the characters (besides Aunt Beast). Charles Wallace was really weird and annoying. Meg was okay, but I found her relationship to Calvin to be a little unbelievable. Mainly, because I had glasses and braces at that age and there were certainly no popular basketball players trying to hold my hand:) In the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter I really come to love a lot of the characters, and that did not happen in this book. Also, I don't really like science fiction, and I think this book could potentially be put in that category. So again, I think the book is good, but it did not connect my soul in a way that a lot of books do.
2 comments:
Wrinkle in Time, while an excellent book, is probably my second favorite from L'Engle. My first is probably A Swiftly Tilting Planet. If you haven't read that, you might think about putting it on your list.
That bit in Wrinkle about the cosmic battle (good/bad planets) is very similar to the ideas in the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis. Another great addition to a reading list.
Yeah, I thought the immediate love interest was a little unbelievable too. But I love Calvin ;0) CW's supposed to be annoying but likable.
I also didn't feel like the book tied any loose ends together. The bigger fight got lost at the end...it just turned into happy family back togetherness. But maybe the rest of the series fleshes that part out.
I still love the book though :)
It's too bad you don't like SciFi b/c Lewis' trilogy is the BEST (as whoever commented above has mentioned.)
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