A Wrinkle In Time: Review

     I had never heard of this book until the talk about the Disney film came about. So, like any normal Lit Kid, I thought "must read the book before the film comes out" and so I did. Very simple stuff.
    I absolutely adore Mindy Kahling and Reese Witherspoon, and who can deny the absolute prowess of Ada DuVernay at the realm?! I did picture Mrs Who, Mrs Whatsit, and Mrs Which as Mindy, Reese and Oprah respectively, but I'm kind of glad that I had these pre-conceived images of these characters: I think I would have found it difficult to comprehend anything else. That being said, even with these women in my head when reading, I still found it all a bit difficult to picture, because of the lucid descriptions L'Engles is so hellbent on using. It seems as if these characters do not really exist and what they look like is not at all integral to the story, which is a lovely little lesson about words over images or whatever, but when you're trying to create this world in your head as you read, it can be quite difficult.
    So, let's actually get to it!! (it being a coherent review... fingers crossed)

A very simple cover design, which I like. Love the pink/red tones too. 

 
Originally published in 1962 by American novelist Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in the four part 'Time Quintet' series, which follows Meg's family, as well as Calvin, who we meet in AWiT. Yes, I shall be purchasing the other three - I hope this means that Ava DuVernay will be directing the others too!!

    Once I got over the whole Margaret/Meg confusion, the first note I made about this book, no more than a couple of pages in, was that I thought this was a translated version. Based on the author's name, I assumed that A Wrinkle in Time was initially written in French, because at times I found the sentence structure and certain phrasings a bit odd. I had to reread a few paragraphs because I just wasn't sure what was going on. An example that comes to mind/that I actually wrote down for evidence for this blog post was towards the end of the book. The following sentence, I think, could be restructured better: "'You may say goodbye.' Mrs Whatsit was giving her not permission, but a command." For EASE, I would have edited that to say "Mrs Whatsit was not giving her permission, but a command." I understand that the emphasis was supposed to be on "not permission" but it still feels really clumsy to me. 

    On a more positive note, however, the vocabulary is fantastic - at a great level for the YA/teens reading, but also pushing them a little more. When describing the processes of the heart, L'Engle uses the correct scientific phraseology - systole and diastole. I had to Google these words because I only got a C in GCSE Science, but I loved that she didn't shy away from using scientific terminology - that's why this book works so well, and would be incredibly inspiring to children, especially girls, who are interested in science and all the physics stuff that I could never understand. Words like tesseract and other science jargon I can't remember really do help to make this book a quality and partly-educational science-fiction/fantasy book for young adults. 

Look what I found at the back!! My favourite thing!!!! A glossary!!!

   At times, the plot was painfully slow, and I wanted nothing more than a surprise attack or something to quicken things up. I would even go so far as to say that it was really slow until chapter 7. Despite the slow pace of it though, I did notice that I was page-watching, which is a thing I call when you constantly look down to see what page you're on. Every time I looked I was surprised by how quickly I was devouring the book, although it did make me even more aware that the pace was not quite as quick as I would have liked. Also, I didn't feel like any of my questions were being answered until right at the end, and even then there were a few left unanswered. So were the children definitely only gone a few minutes (like Narnia, I assume)? Why couldn't the 3 Mrs's go with the children to Camazotz (which I pronounced as comatose)? 

    Also, maybe it was something that I missed, but throughout the whole book, I feel like we all just danced around the fact that Charles Wallace can read minds. I wasn't even 100% sure about it until I read it in the back of the book (which Puffin did a great job with BTW). I knew, but I didn't know, if you catch my drift? I also don't understand Calvin and his relevance to the whole thing. Hopefully the other books clear this up. He seems to be like Charles Wallace in the whole reading-minds department, but again, I'm honestly not sure what's going on there. 

So casual - "he also has the ability to read minds"

THE MRS'S. (Is that the plural of Mrs?)

- MRS WHO - As a true Lit Kid, Mrs Who is OBVIOUSLY my favourite character because she just quotes a bunch of famous poets/philosophers/historians/writers and EVEN SHAKESPEARE. I hope they stick to this in the film. She even quotes a few people in their original language and then translates them and I really do think this intertextuality sophisticates the whole novel. This salvaged the lack of plot pace for me, replacing that lost button rating. UH-HUH, you heard me.  

- MRS WHATSIT - She is the ring-leader, I would say, mainly due to the fact that she is the only one who speaks like a normal human being. We also find out that she used to be a star which is lovely and has Stardust vibes about it all. Mrs Whatsit is the first of the Mrs we meet, and the kindest. Reese Witherspoon is a perfect fit for this character and I'm really excited about where she will take this role. She is also, I think, the only one who can shape-shift and fly? I hope the CGI department does her justice.

- MRS WHICH - She's an interesting one, and I wonder if they will keep her unique speech in the film. Whenever she speaks, L'Engle seems to elongate everything she says and ddoouubbllee uupp oonn tthhee lleetttteerrss for no apparent reason. I read it as a sort of extended whisper, like really soft but also with some gravitas so it kind of sounds like she is constantly out of breath. It will be interesting to see how Oprah does that, if at all. She also seems to be the character who plays Devil's advocate, especially at the end. She reminds me of my English teacher: someone who encourages a student's inquisitive side, and asks more questions than she answers because she knows her student has the answer. All it takes is a little goading and out pops the solution. 

VS. THE TRAILER

After I finished the book, I immediately allowed myself to watch the trailer and I have a few things to say about it, so please allow me to shout them into the void that is The Internet: 

1. Pretty much all black cast!!! Amazing! I'm so pleased about this! All children deserve to have  films with characters who look like them, with natural curly hair and darker skin etc.. Representation matters so much and I hope, like Black Panther seems to be doing recently, that this film does INCREDIBLY well, and inspires people of colour.

2. What the hell is Zach Gallifrackianas, or whatever his name is, doing as the Happy Medium? He seems like a comedic character - which is not the vibe I got in the book - I am trying to keep an open mind. TRYING. I'm just not sure how it is going to work?! 

3. It seems that in the film Meg already knows about tessering and does not need to be taught by the Mrs's/Charles Wallace/Calvin. For me, that changes the film quite a lot, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I trust Ava DuVernay's artistic ability and I'm sure it will be fab. 

4. Distressed Chris Pine makes me distressed. That is all. 

BUTTON RATING:

 
Ideally, I would like to give this 3.5 out of 5, but I just don't want to go through the trauma of trying to halve a minute picture of a button.

Bye x

P.S. The Disney film is out on 23rd March in UK. WHICH IS YEARS AWAY WHY CAN'T I WRINKLE TIME? UGH.

P.P.S. Can you travel through space without travelling through time and vice-versa? Or do you travel through both? I feel like I can't continue my life now that I care about this stuff.

Buy A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engles from Waterstones or Amazon. Or wherever you can be bothered to research yourself.