Yes, I’m one of those; I was going to reread A Wrinkle in Time because the movie is coming out, even before the book club announcement. I mean, I’m going to see it anyway (whenever my country gets it) because I trust Ava DuVernay, but I wanted to familiarize myself with the original again in advance. I first picked up the book in fourth grade, and I confess I did not appreciate at the time the opening line of “It was a dark and stormy […]
“A straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.”
I somehow managed to make it 30 years without reading A Wrinkle in Time. I was certain I had read it before, how could I not have, but the story didn’t seem familiar while I was reading. However, it did make me nostalgic to reread Phantom Tollbooth now. A brief summary (since everyone will be writing about this book in the upcoming two weeks): Meg Murry, her baby brother Charles Wallace, and their neighbor Calvin are sent on a journey through time and space by […]
That’s nothing like the book! And deeper lessons learned on re-reading decades later
When I found out Disney was adapting A Wrinkle in Time, I knew that I would read it to my daughter before the movie came out. We recently watched the trailer but hadn’t finished the book yet. Once the trailer finished, my daughter turned to me and said, “That’s nothing like the book!” I started laughing and responded, “Get used to that feeling, kiddo”. Later we talked about the challenge of adapting a written work to a visual medium and we both speculated on how Aunt Beast will […]
It’s such a relief when a childhood favorite stands the test of time.
I probably read A Wrinkle in Time for the first time when I was about eight or nine years old, and I have to say that for a book born the same year I was, it seems to have aged quite well. I was pleased to remember so much about the characters and the main story, though as a shy, young misfit myself, somewhat like Meg Murry, I imagine her personality resonated with me quite a lot at the time. As an adult, and a parent now, […]
Yet Another Childhood Favorite Ruined
I was so distraught by the fact that I didn’t enjoy re-reading one of my big childhood favorites that I couldn’t write a review for days. I feel HORRIBLE giving “A Wrinkle in Time” such a low review, but the story just didn’t hold up for me. Meg is supposed to be the main character and the heroine of the tale, but aside from her one job near the plot’s end, she doesn’t seem to do much more than get angry at everyone for […]
My twelve-year-old self might have loved this book, but we’ll never know
The problem with reading beloved children’s classics as an adult, especially having not read them as a child, is that you tend to find the outdated bits. Not outdated in the form of technology, which is also apparent, but in character development. The children seem to do what they are told without questioning here. Today’s literative children are a lot more inquisitive, and also less trusting. And the female characters are stronger and more developed. Fantasy and children’s literature have both evolved since this was […]