Sci-Fi Book Review A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine Lengle is an adventure packed story about a high-school girl named Meg Murry who is accompanied by her intellegant brother Charles Wallace and friend Calvin O'Keefe on a quest to find her father. At the beginning of the book, you are introduced to Meg who is troubled by personal insecurities and her concern for her father. Meg is always getting in trouble at school for talking back and giving attitude to her teachers, and her mom is concerned. On one dark and rainy evening, Mrs. Whatsit appears at Megs house, at first Meg is very sceptical about Mrs.
Whatsit, but Charles Wallace explains that she was a very nice lady. During Mrs Whatsits stay she suprises Meg's mother by reassuring her of the existence of a tesseract, a sort of 'wrinkle' in space and time. Meg is confused about what a tesseract is, but Meg's mother says that she will explain it to her another time. The following afternoon Meg and Charles walk over to Mrs. Whatsit's Cabin, and on the way they run into Calvin O'Keefe, a popular boy at Meg's school. When arriving to the house the kids are introduced to two of Mrs. Whatsit's friends, Mrs. Who, and Mrs.
Which. They explain to the kids that the universe is in danger by a great evil called the Dark Thing and it takes the form of a giant cloud, destroying everything around it. Among the stars that are being engulfed by the Dark Thing is Camazotz, the planet on which Mr. Murry is imprisoned. The three Mrs. W's teleport the children to Camazotz and explain to them that they must remain always with each other while on their quest for Mr. Murry. On Camazotz, everything appears exactly alike because the whole planet must be equal, says IT, a giant disembodied brain.
Charles Wallace tries to confront IT with his exceptional intelligence but is overpowered by the evil and is put into a zombie-like trance, saying what ever IT tells him. Charles leads Meg and Calvin to Mr. Murry and together they try to fight IT, but they,too, are unable to withstand IT's power. At the last minute Mr Murry comes and teleports the kids to a safe planet called Ixche. On Ixchel the three Mrs. W's appear, and Meg realizes that she must travel back to Camazotz to save Charles from IT. Before returning to Camazots the three Mrs.
W's tell Meg that she has one power that IT does not have, and Meg discovers that it is the ability to love. Thus, by concentrating on her love for Charles Wallace, she breaks the clutches of IT on Charles and he is once again free. Once Meg releases Charles from IT they tessers through time and space, appearing in their vegetable garden on Earth. Mr. Murry and Calvin are waiting for them there, and they all chear for their victory. The Mrs. W's visit the scene while on route to further travels, but do not say where they are going.
Charles Wallace Murry is the youngest Murry child, the most extraordinary and the smartest of the Murry family for his age. Charles has an extraordinary vocabulary and can 'read' certain people's thoughts and feelings. 'I think i want to be exclusive about her for a while,'(13). Charles Wallace, being only five-years old is always using very big words, and sounds like he would be an adult. He is intellectually curious, loving, and is always helping one another. The boys at school make Charles, calling him a 'dumb baby brother' because he did not begin to speak until the age of four, at which time he began to speak in full sentences.
Right away at the begining of the story you can tell that Charles is an exceptional boy, already cooking meals for his family and Mrs. Whatsit. Many of the book's messages and themes are embeded in the lessons of life that Meg must learn in order to successfully complete her quest. First, Meg must learn to overcome her desire for conformity and accept her own uniqueness as an individual. In the begining of the book you can see Meg struggling at school, she feels left out and 'awkward'. She is always getting in trouble with the principle at school, and explains to her mom that she hates being different.
When Meg and her friends arrived at Camazotz, she sees that everyone and everything is the same, and there she relizes how much she appriciates being unique. Another theme within the book is light vs darkness. This is showed through the three W's, Meg and her friends as they battle against IT,the Dark Thing and the Man with the Red Eyes. Mrs. Whatsit is also refered to the 'jesus' figure, as she is a fighter against evil and turn into a celestial creature. Madeleine shows the readers to just be unique, just because you arn't the same as everyone else, does not mean you need to conform to fit in or be loved.
I would definetly reccomend this book to anyone, at any age and who loves fantasy and adventure type books. Every page I read I was hooked more and more because Madeleine's writting was always interesting. When you think one thing is going to happen, something interesting and cool would pop right around the corner. Madeleine also had a very nice way of portraying her characters, every one in her book was interesting and unique, and all had their own litle back ground story. Before I knew it, I was done with the book, craving for more and hoping that there would be a next series.
Author: Robert Burns