It was a dark and stormy night. - A Review of Books by Madeleine L’Engle
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I read two books by Madeleine L’Engle. I had read “A Wrinkle in Time” ages ago. So long ago that I remembered about zero details of the story. I had also never read any of the other books from that series so about two weeks ago, Joel got me a copy of “A Wind in the Door”. Over the weekend, I was ready to get started on it, but I decided to refresh my memory by reading “A Wrinkle in Time” again. I’m glad I did.
“A Wrinkle in Time” is a “children’s book” about a girl named Meg and her brother, Charles Wallace. Together with her friend, Calvin, they meet crazy characters and are whisked away to a different galaxy to fight an evil darkness and save Meg’s father. Charles and Calvin are no ordinary boys, but Meg learns that she can be a hero and be as important and special as they are by just being herself. Madeleine L’Engle includes some important lessons for children (and adults) in regards to being happy with who you are and the importance of love, but the thing that stood out for me the most was the way she forces you to stretch your imagination and think outside the normal realm of science fiction and fantasy.
“A Wind in the Door” might be an even better story to me. The familiar characters of Meg, Charles and Calvin are once again present in this story, but there is the addition of several interesting characters such as Proginoskes, the cherubim. The science fiction in this story gravitates towards cellular biology, specifically the biology of the ailing Charles Wallace. Meg and Calvin are sent on a mission to save Charles (and the world), and the situations that L’Engle forces them into defy Meg’s understanding of the world, life and the mind, as well as the reader’s. It is truly remarkable how far the author is able to stretch your imagination so that what things physically look like and where things physically are can no longer be important or the method of understanding what the characters are going through. She goes beyond physical limitations and forces you to imagine things in a metaphysical sense.
If these books had been written today instead of over 40 years ago, they would still be innovative and progressive novels that can make make you think and change the way you view things. I can strongly recommend these books to anyone, whether you be 10 or whether you be 80. I think these books can appeal to a vast audience and should be added to everyone’s “To Read” list.
Yeah…I grew up on those. Talk about changing one’s perspective on life, the universe and everything.
Cat
[...] reading two of the Madeline L’Engle books, I was in the mood for another story in the children’s fantasy novel realm. I have a store of [...]