A Wrinkle In Time

[Dfsg]

Did you ever read this book? I read it last year because my math teacher told me that I had to. So, I finally did, and it was great. Now its 2 years later and I want to read it again!

My favorite character is still Mrs. Who.

Did you ever read the book? Tell me how you liked it.

[Film Hobbit]

Yeah I read it... the first book in the series was ok... at the time I really liked it (junior high) but then as you read further in the series the books get kinda freaky and wacked out and at some point they get to weird and you lose interest.

[Niffiwan]

Hmm... I actually like the weird and freaky :)
So far, I've read Wrinkle in Time (low 5-stars), Wind in the Door (low 4-stars; the plot started too late...) and A Swiftly Tilting Planet... my god, that book was a MASTERPIECE! Better than Wrinkle in Time! Everything in it falls into place, and come to mind many things that many of us have thought about in the past from reading it. The language in it is simply stunning. I don't agree at all with Amazon.com's rating for it as "ages 8-12"; the language is so complicated and the story so interwieving and complex that it would be very difficult for most people of that age to understand it (note that I said "most"). At least, I definetly can't think of any 8-year-old who wouldn't put the book down as being "too confusing" after the storyline begins to spread out in many strings that are all eventually tied in the end of the book into a spectacular knot.
So... what are your comments about that book?

[Film Hobbit]

Mmmmm definently 8-12 material... that is the age when I read them... though the later books like Swiftly Tilting Planet are definently upper level reading for someone that age... I read it in the Talented and Gifted program at my school in the 6th grade and remember that a few of the kids had trouble understanding some of it though I didn't. But I doubt if I were to read it now I'd like it much....

Correctly if I'm wrong but didn't the books start to drift into some sort of weird religious overtones after the first book? I seem to remember that.

[Niffiwan]

Yes, the first two are definetly 8-12 material. I was only talking about the third book.
And yes they do start to get religious. That was one thing that I didn't really like about them; the Echtroi just don't fit in with the "black thing" of the first book; the evil in the first book is one thing, while the Echtroi in the later books are many things that are actually alive and have minds. In Wrinkle, I seem to remember the shadow being described as "that's what it is. Evil". Nothing about it actually being many evil creatures. The "Echtroi" looked like a thing that L'Engle loosely put into her books in order to put a piece of herself (her religion) into the books somehow. Even more in Planet when she actually mentions Heaven and Hell.
I think that that's great in a religious novel but doesn't really have a lot of place in a sci-fi novel.
So I would have prefered that the "black thing" had stayed just that.
Still, I think that Planet is definetly better than Wrinkle.

[etherealunicorn]

I rather liked that trilogy of books. I think that they definitely bring up points worthy of dicussion and thought.

As to the nature of the evils, wouldn't you say that if the world and everyone in it evolves to fit the niche it occupies, then evil would also change to fit the circumstances? To an extent, I feel that the nature of evil is dependent upon the perception of the situation.

[arynetrek]

i haven't read any of these in years - need to re-read. Wind & Planet were by far better than Wrinkle, i think, but Wind was a little slow at first. Planet was absolutely incredible - one of those books that you wish you could read for the first time every time you read it. and the "weird religious stuff" i think added another dimension (he he) to the story - any book can do Good vs. Evil, but all 3 (esp. Wrinkle & Wind) go into what evil can happen in a battle for good. charles wallace nearly loses himself to IT because he's arrogant; Proginoskes (i know i misspelled that) & the farandolae & their sacrifice; & all the close calls Charles Wallace had while Within-ing. Ursula K Leguin used a similar theme in parts of Earthsea, if anyone's read that.

i'll have to re-read before i get into the religious debate. but on a similar subject, anyone read Many Waters? it as sort of a 4th book - Sandy & Dennys get thrown back in time & meet some religiously influential people

[dunedain lady]

Yeah, I've read Many Waters. It did seem much more religious-y than the previous novels, though still good. I wish my computer could do that--you know, just type in "Take me somewhere warm and sparsely populated" and you're there. Not being a religious person, I think I missed some of the significance of that book, but I still enjoyed it. For the rest of the books, I still enjoy reading them, even though I'm not "8-12" anymore. Someone in my school's forensics team did an exerpt from Wrinkle that had everyone absolutley captivated. It still can entrance people even when they're in high school or older. I definitly think that A Swiftly Tilting Planet was the best book, as it had the most complicated plot, but somehow managed to tie everything together in the end. I still wish that they had brought the Mrs's back, though. THey were my favorite characters.

[gatito]

I loved the Wrinkle in Times Series. I read all three books and also "Many Waters". Its been a long time since I read them so I can't recall mant details, though I still have the books stashed away :D

[biriwilg]

I read them all when I was 8, but... My brother thinks that the later ones are too weird, but I say BRING IT ON! The weirder the better! I don't know why...

[Elanor]

I'm definitely not 8-12 but I still love these books fiercely. The first three and some of the later ones, though definitely not all of them. Especially Wrinkle and Planet. The last scene with IT is one of my favorite scenes in all of literature, and I love the unicorns and characters in Planet. I really identified with Meg when I was a kid--the smart but self-conscious loner with thick glasses! Horrible at sports, emotional overreactions to cruel teachers . . . no space-time travel though. :D

[Niffiwan]

Elanor:

[qiote]no space-time travel though.[/quote]
When you go to your refrigerator to make dinner, for instance, you are doing space-time travel. You are travelling through both space and time. :)

[luvEyowen]

i love "A Wrinkle in Time" but I'm trying to get the other ones from the library

[Midge]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the books start to drift into some sort of weird religious overtones after the first book? I seem to remember that.

I definitely didn't think it was WEIRD religious overtones. It seemed to me that the Mrs.s were making vague references to one Creator. That's all I remember. "Not to me, Calvin. Never to me..." and the centaur-creatures singing are all I can remember. And that was IN the first book

I LOVE Many Waters! I like all the books, all the different things they make you consider. Wrinkle makes you think about exactly how big our universe is, how big.. whatever holds the universe is, that there might be other universes, maybe. Wind makes you consider the microscopic, and the concept of being and moving without actually doing anything physically (LOVE the idea). It also has some strong connotations toward the power of love (NOT the Celine Dion song!) and what it can achieve. Planet makes you think about time, about what has happened in the past. Many Waters makes you think about how things can change once they've happened.

Okay. So I like the books. They're small, easy to cart around, but fun, fun, fun to read!

[Lief Erikson]

"A Wrinkle in Time" is one of the very few books I've read all in one day. I was waiting for Thanksgiving celebration and for guests to arrive one Thanksgiving day, and I had several hours ahead of me with nothing really scheduled, so I just looked through my parents' library for something I'd never read and saw this unusual looking book. I lay down on the sofa and read and read and read and read and read :) :).

[GrayMouser]

Yeah, one of my favorites as a kid, though somehow I never read anything else of hers.

(It's kind of weird seeing all those names at the start of this thread; before my time here- who were they, and where are they now?)

[Midge]

If you didn't notice, this post hadn't been used since March of 2001!


Edit: This THREAD.