[review] A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

When Meg and Charles Wallace’s father goes missing, it’s up to them and their new friend Calvin to rescue him by tesseracting to a different world.

I’ve heard the word “classic” bandied about with reference to this book, and now I understand why. It is magical and nostalgic all at once. It reminds me of the kinds of stories I like to think I was read at bed time.

Listening to it being read by the author made me feel as if I was being read to by grandmother (if my grandmothers had ever read to me). L’Engle did different voices in that way that adults reading a book to a child will do: not trying to sound like a character but trying to make the book more interesting. It made my drives to work much more enjoyable.

The title of “classic” can also be used to reference other elements in this story: the characters, the moral, etc. It was easy to see that this was a children’s book. There are lessons found in these pages, and in general I think they are good ones. There are also some elements that felt outdated, or maybe just not applicable to my own life. The familial element and the interaction between Meg and Calvin had an old-fashioned feel to it. It didn’t necessarily detract from the story, but it definitely reminded me that this was a story. I wasn’t able to sink into the world as much as I can with some stories.

Books with similar aspects

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

The Giver by Lois Lowry

recommended to those looking for a good, old-fashioned story

not recommended to those looking for something more contemporary