Wrinkle In Time Book Review
A Wrinkle In Time (1962)
Cover of A Wrinkle in Time
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Genre: Science Fiction
Point of View: 3rd Person
Pages: 211
Age Recommendations: 8 and up.
Main Characters: Meg Murray, Charles Wallace Murray, Calvin O’Keefe, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which
Plot: Meg Murray’s father has been gone for some time. People in her community believe that he is not coming back, but both her and her family believes hope in not lost. One rainy night an old eccentric woman visits the Murray’s house and announces “there is such a thing as a tesseract.” Later, while Meg and her younger brother Charles Wallace are in the woods attempting to visit Mrs. Whatsit, they stumble upon an older boy named Calvin O’Keefe whom Meg knows from school. After meeting with Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who they head home for dinner. As they are walking Calvin back home, three old ladies meet them in a field and are suddenly transported through time and space. The Mrs. W’s reveal to the children that the galaxy is under attack from a dark cloud, which is the visible manifestation of evil. Meg’s missing father was working on a secret government project to achieve faster-than-light travel through a tesseract, and accidentally wound up on Camazotz, an alien planet inside the “Black Thing.” The children rescue their father, but Charles Wallace gets hypnotized into staying with “IT” (alien brain controlling all the residents on Camazotz). Meg has to return alone to save her brother whom she loves more than anything. Confronting IT, Meg realizes that she can free her brother only through love, because love is an emotion that the evil IT cannot understand. Charles Wallace is freed, and the three Murray’s and Calvin return home.
Theme: Love can overcome and conquer anything.
Impressions: There is a strong underlying religious theme throughout the entire book. It is evident when the Mrs. W’s come to save the day. Meg treats them like guardian angels. When describing the fight against the darkness, L’Engle references deity and higher powers that have been fighting the darkness for centuries. L’Engle does a superb job describing the experiences the children are going through. As you are reading you can feel yourself being tessered through time and space. The end of the book seems anti-climatic, and the story seems to end abruptly.
