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Average Customer Rating: 
A Wrinkle in Time >
Customer Review #1:
 A WRINKLE IN TIME - THE ADVENTUER OF A LIFETIME
A Wrinkle in Time
lt;br /gt;By
lt;br /gt;Madeleine LEngle
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lt;br /gt;Review by Will
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lt;br /gt;"It was a dark and stormy night..."
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lt;br /gt;So begins the tale of A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the 1963 Newberry Medal. For a reader of science-fiction, this book is a thrilling adventure. For a seeker of knowledge, it is a journey into the kingdom of philosophy and inquiry. Even so, one thing is certain: no matter whom you are this book demands the readers imagination and requires critical thinking. But if you accept the test of your mind offered by LEngle, you will find great rewards.
lt;br /gt; Meg Murry, her friend, Calvin, and young brother, Charles Wallace, live a seemingly ordinary life. But ever since Meg was a child, her father has been away on a "special project" for the government. The three have also felt an unexplainable force around them. They felt something was coming, but did not know what. Then, one fateful night a stranger seeking refuge speaks to them:
lt;br /gt;"Wild nights are my glory. I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment and then I will be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there IS such a thing as a tesseract..."
lt;br /gt; From that moment on things would change for the threesome. Big things were about to come...
lt;br /gt; I, personally, was amazed with this piece of fiction. LEngle did an astounding job of creating a world so unusual, but real. For through the eyes of Meg, observations of Calvin, and the understanding words of Charles Wallace, I was able to visualize and really see the strange, other-worldly locations of LEngles universe.
lt;br /gt;"Below the town was laid out in their harsh, angular patterns. The houses in the outskirts were all exactly alike, small, square boxes painted grey. Each had a small, rectangular plot of lawn in front, with a straight line of dull-looking flowers edging the path to the door. Meg had a feeling that if she counted all the flowers, there would be exactly the same number for each house..."
lt;br /gt;A Wrinkle in Time will be a different experience for everyone who reads it. But there is no doubt-it is a fascinating story. It will thrill you, and fill you with wonder, joy, and horror. You will be taken on a heart-stopping journey. When you turn the last page your head will still be spinning with thoughts and question bouncing around the sides of the brain...
lt;br /gt;"Mrs. Murry went very white and clutched a chair for support. Her voice trembled,
lt;br /gt;"What did you say?"
lt;br /gt;Mrs. Whatsit tugged at her boot. "I said," she grunted shoving her foot down and in, "that there is," -shove- "such a thing," -shove- "as a TESSERACT."
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lt;br /gt;Now reader, will you take the challenge?
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A Wrinkle in Time >
Customer Review #2:
"There IS Such a Thing as a Tesseract!"
First published in 1962, Madeline LEngles classic book (and its subsequent sequels) remains one of the greats of childrens literature, and it is a testimony to her skill that she can get away with using the line: "it was a dark and stormy night" as her opening sentence. Widely considered the first science-fiction novel written for children, "A Wrinkle in Time" is a must for any serious young readers bookshelf.
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lt;br /gt;Margaret "Meg" Murray is a rather despondent child: her father is missing, shes having trouble at school and her little brother Charles Wallace is often gossiped about in the community for being "strange". This is not entirely untrue: after being silent for much of his first four years, Charles Wallace suddenly began speaking in complete and complex sentences when he turned five. Unfortunately, by this stage his father was not around to hear it and the family wait in agony for news of him.
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lt;br /gt;Mr Murray has been missing for some time, but Charles Wallace has come into contact with three strange old women (who call themselves Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which) who seem to have an idea as to where hes disappeared to. Stopping by on the aforementioned dark-and-stormy night Mrs Who introduces herself to the family and leaves with the following words to Mrs Murray: "there is such a thing as a tesseract." A tesseract is a wrinkle in time, and it is through one that Meg, Charles Wallace and their intuitive friend Calvin will be transported to another planet, with the mission to find their father and halt the progress of the terrible being known as IT.
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lt;br /gt;IT is the enemy of mankind that has been fought against by our worlds artists, thinkers and dreamers from time immemorial - and Mr Murray was one of these fighters, attempting to expand the worlds knowledge for the benefit of mankind. But now it falls to his children to save him, as they embark on an adventure filled with creatures that are best experienced by reading "A Wrinkle in Time" yourself.
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lt;br /gt;There are enough uplifting spiritual connotations here to shake a stick at (though they are not so overt as, say C. S. Lewis) and plenty of poignant moments in what is ultimately a coming-of-age story: most memorable is Megs realisation that her reunion with her father does not mean that the happy ending can commence and that not even parents can solve everything. The best stories are the ones that resonant even years after they have been published, and the monotonous lifestyle on Camazotz is as chilling now as it was back in the 1960s when Communism was on everyones minds. Now the threat comes from religious fundamentalism, and the image of those individuals forced into conformity remains as potent as ever.
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lt;br /gt;It isnt perfect however; I felt that Meg and Calvins little romance was started too suddenly and somewhat unrealistically, and the unmasking of IT as a (well, readers will already know) is considerably dated by now; it feels like it belongs in a silly sci-fi move-of-the-week. But the pluses far outweigh the minuses, and this is a book that demands to be read more than once, especially since this new edition includes an introduction by the author and an essay by Lisa Sonne that explores some of the real science behind the story.
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lt;br /gt;Ive said enough. Its time to go get your own copy of "A Wrinkle in Time".
A Wrinkle in Time >
Customer Review #3:
 "For thou wast a spirit too delicate..."
Madeleine LEngles classic A WRINKLE IN TIME presents itself as science fiction but it is pure allegory.
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lt;br /gt;Meg Murry is an awkward teenaged girl, clumsily trapped between immaturity and responsibility. She is the daughter of two highly respected scientists. She has three brothers, the typical Sandy and Dennys, and Charles Wallace, a child prodigy whom people believe is not quite bright. Charles Wallace is not only intellectually gifted but he is also spiritually advanced. The children are living with their mother while their father is away on a highly secret government project. As A WRINKLE IN TIME opens, Mr. Murry is not only away but has been missing for quite some time. The snide townspeople are snickering about his apparent decision to abandon his family, and are tormenting the family emotionally, especially Meg.
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lt;br /gt;Things begin to come to a head when the family is visited by Mrs. Whatsit, an old crone who lives with her two friends, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, in a supposedly abandoned house. While talking with Mrs. Murry, the strange Mrs. Whatsit mentions the existence of the fifth-dimensional tesseract, a concept in space-time quantum mechanics, the existence of which the Murrys have been trying to prove scientifically.
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lt;br /gt;Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which turn out to be creatures of a different order masquerading as old ladies, and take Meg, Charles Wallace and their friend Calvin OKeefe on a journey through the tesseract in search of Mr. Murry, who is being held prisoner on the planet Camazotz.
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lt;br /gt;Many people see Camazotz as a Communist or totalitarian state. Certainly the 1962 publication date places A WRINKLE IN TIME at the height of the Cold War, but LEngle is not merely anti-totalitarian; she is also speaking against mindless conformity by choice, and against unthinking reliance on purely Utopian and religious visions, all of which are presented as equally destructive to the human condition.
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lt;br /gt;Camazotz is hell, but a hell of absolute conformity, where the great controlling mind of IT has crushed any individuality out of the inhabitants. Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin must battle the overwhelming pressures of ITs control, and their own human flaws to not only free Mr. Murry, who is trapped Jesus-like in a transparent column of pure suffering, but also to escape Camazotz and the sentient Evil which is devouring the universe. In doing so, Charles Wallace learns a lesson about hubris, Meg comes to the adult realization that her beloved father is not omnipotent and that she must take responsibility for her life, and Calvin discovers the true meaning of family. They all learn a lesson in Love.
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lt;br /gt;Although LEngles idiom is overwhelmingly Christian, she also finds inspiration in all the great thinkers, Horace, Euripedes, Shakespeare, Bach, Schweitzer, and dozens of others who are referenced in this book. Although considered "Young Adult" fiction, A WRINKLE IN TIME is fiction for extremely literate young adults, and can serve as an introduction to the Classics.
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