Carrie (brightbeautifulthings)'s Reviews > A Wrinkle in Time

I can’t remember the first time I read A Wrinkle in Time. I do know that I read it often growing up, and I find myself returning to it even as an adult when I need reminding that the universe is a place of love, that there are patterns to things even if I can’t see them, and that sometimes the attitude in which we face our tests makes all the difference. It’s ultimately a hopeful message, a love letter to the lost and confused, and a reassurance that there is something more. I’ll always love Madeleine L'Engle’s novels for that.

Meg Murry’s father has been missing for over a year. Shortly after a very strange stranger shows up one night in the middle of a storm, she and her friends whisk Meg, her younger brother Charles Wallace, and their new friend Calvin away on an intergalactic rescue mission. But there’s more at stake than just Alexander Murry’s life, and Meg and Charles Wallace may have to risk themselves in a battle against the shadow that is creeping over the universe.

Given some of the difficult concepts in this book, it’s a surprisingly easy read. I don’t often read books about space travel, but A Wrinkle in Time is less about space travel and aliens than it is about love and interconnectedness. It’s because of L'Engle that I know what a tesseract and mitochondria are (and why I waited in biology for an explanation of farandolae that never came).

Her writing style is simple and straightforward without distractions or over-complicating ideas that are already complicated. One has the sense that we have to intuit her explanations as much as understand them, just like the characters, who–despite all the oddness going on around them–are always the main focus of the narrative. They’re lovable, easy to relate to, and as brave, selfless, and flawed as anyone I’d like to know. Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace were among my first literary friends; I would not be the same without them.

The plot is quick-moving, and the resolution is all the more beautiful for its simplicity. Though it’s over fifty years old, the message is as innate and important as the first time I read it, and the writing itself feels surprisingly fresh. These are books that I would never give up and that I would recommend to readers of just about any age. I think the world needs them.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.