A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle (book review).
I had never heard of Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007), but upon researching her, I discovered that she was a prolific American writer spanning various genres. My copy of ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ was in its 12th printing and had received an award, according to the indicia. In many ways, ‘tesseract’, a 4-dimensional hypercube, should take the place of ‘wrinkle’. There are even several diagrams in one chapter that attempt to explain this concept. Really, it just means there’s a hi-cup in the flow of time displayed by a cube within a cube.
Meg Murry is a disruptive student at school, mostly because she’s intelligent and bored. Both of her parents are scientists, and her father is currently away on a scientific mission, preventing him from contacting her. She finds herself drawn to a mysterious house, where she meets three women, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, who seem to hold the secret to her dad’s actions. They also have their own secrets, but that’s a spoiler; they are the stars of the book. Sort of.
Meg, her young brother Charles Wallace, and her friend, Calvin O’Keefe, appear by tessering, a form of teleportation through the 5th dimension, to Camazotz, where they discover her father and a bigger danger from the IT brain, which tries to mind-control them. Charles Wallace successfully escapes, but the others manage to teleport to Ixchel, a planet engulfed in perpetual darkness. The tentacled creatures there heal Meg after she sustains an injury. I find it amazing that anyone can see anything there. Even the glasses worn by one of the ladies lose their visibility in the dark.
The solution is obviously a spoiler, so let’s get straight to the point. This is an odd book. While the book incorporates elements of science, it also contains elements of fantasy. When they first see the tentacled creatures in the light, their reaction is total acceptance, not even fear or apprehension. Despite Meg’s supposed intelligence, she reverts to a typical schoolgirl when necessary, indicating a slight ease in plotting and following the necessary steps to progress the story. L’Engle’s dialogue distinguishes the characters by telling them apart. I wish there had been more plot development, but considering that it was written in 1962, when authors were required to write fewer than 200 pages, this might have been challenging. I can understand their desire to address the growing dominance of the IT brain, but this seems like an odd solution, even though the Beatles would have likely appreciated it. Don’t be afraid to try new authors from any generation.
GF Willmetts
October 2024
(pub: Dell, 1962 12th reprint 1980. 190 page paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 0-440-99805-0)