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A review by tampojo
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
4.0
I remember reading this book when I was young, so I made the decision to re-read it for a bit of fun, and to be honest, it was actually a lot better than I expected.
The characters aren’t exactly fully fleshed-out, and can be slightly one-dimensional, but I think that’s understandable considering this book is intended for a younger audience.
The plot is pretty straightforward, and the writing style is far from complex, so it makes for a good bit of light reading. Even while being fairly simple, and at times predictable, the characters and settings are unique, and written about in a very engaging and descriptive way, and I find a lot of moments from this book to be very memorable.
The planet of “Camazotz” in particular has always stuck with me, the description of identical houses, and everyone acting hypnotically in accordance to this ominous entity referred to only as “IT” is truly uniquely creepy. Additionally, I really loved the “Mrs W…” characters- their quirky personalities, and strange supernatural abilities were really fun to read about.
That being said, there was one thing I did not remember being in this book, that being the very strong religious/Christian undertones. In multiple scenes, the characters mention God, angels, Jesus, etc…and I’m sure the book has some overarching Christian themes that probably went over my head. I found this a bit unexpected, especially seeing as it's entwined with many scientific themes, such as the whole idea of “tessering”, and lots of references to physics and math. Trying to combine ideas of science and religion harmoniously is certainly not an easy thing to do, especially in a children’s book, and I know this book has faced many controversies because of that. Personally, I don’t really take issue with the religious/scientific themes of this book either way, and mostly just find it interesting, even if it was not executed in the best way.
Overall, this book is a classic piece of science fiction/fantasy, and a fun nostalgic read if you're in a bit of a reading slump.
The characters aren’t exactly fully fleshed-out, and can be slightly one-dimensional, but I think that’s understandable considering this book is intended for a younger audience.
The plot is pretty straightforward, and the writing style is far from complex, so it makes for a good bit of light reading. Even while being fairly simple, and at times predictable, the characters and settings are unique, and written about in a very engaging and descriptive way, and I find a lot of moments from this book to be very memorable.
The planet of “Camazotz” in particular has always stuck with me, the description of identical houses, and everyone acting hypnotically in accordance to this ominous entity referred to only as “IT” is truly uniquely creepy. Additionally, I really loved the “Mrs W…” characters- their quirky personalities, and strange supernatural abilities were really fun to read about.
That being said, there was one thing I did not remember being in this book, that being the very strong religious/Christian undertones. In multiple scenes, the characters mention God, angels, Jesus, etc…and I’m sure the book has some overarching Christian themes that probably went over my head. I found this a bit unexpected, especially seeing as it's entwined with many scientific themes, such as the whole idea of “tessering”, and lots of references to physics and math. Trying to combine ideas of science and religion harmoniously is certainly not an easy thing to do, especially in a children’s book, and I know this book has faced many controversies because of that. Personally, I don’t really take issue with the religious/scientific themes of this book either way, and mostly just find it interesting, even if it was not executed in the best way.
Overall, this book is a classic piece of science fiction/fantasy, and a fun nostalgic read if you're in a bit of a reading slump.