Good Books
A Beautiful (Stubborn) Mind
Ivy F. DeShield, contributing editor
For many avid readers (and writers), Madeleine L’Engle’s famed children’s work A Wrinkle in Time is a familiar and much beloved tale, but I honestly could not remember ever having had the opportunity to truly appreciate this fine piece of classic literature, so I purposely selected this particular text for my September review. It did not disappoint! And furthermore, I discovered an unfailing, kindred spirit in the unconventional and spunky L’Engle, a 1963 Newberry Medal Award winner for A Wrinkle in Time. Therefore, I must warn you in advance that this piece will be incredibly biased but only in the best possible sense of the word.
Meet our protagonist and heroine, Margaret (aka Meg) Murry. Like author Anna Quindlen stated in the May 2007 edition’s Appreciation, I, too, would like to have the opportunity to “find a Meg Murry just my age, a grown woman with an astonishing brain, a good heart, and a unique perspective on how our differences are what make life worth living.” Blessed with a beautifully inquisitive mind, stubborn will and caring heart, Meg is a character in distress from the start. Despite the brilliance of her parents, both renowned scientists; the extreme popularity of her ten-year old twin brothers; and the hypersensitive, but reclusive, genius of her youngest brother, Charles Wallace; Meg is physically and behaviorally limited in the prime of her teenage years by glasses, braces and an inability to control her faults — a brazenly forward mouth and impeccably obstinate humor. To make matters worse, L’Engle, aside from teenage woes, throws several wrenches into Meg’s existence, including the unexplained disappearance of her beloved father, the extraordinary and unearthly Mrs. W’s (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which), as well as a life-altering trip outside our solar system to the “inverted”, dark planet of Camazotz where Meg must reclaim all that is dear to her, including her brother and champion, Charles Wallace. Along her journey, Meg encounters a remarkable host of characters that serve to help her realize her self-power, ability to love and fulfill her mission in her final battle with IT, a gross personification of enmity and all that is evil in our world and beyond.
What I found most intriguing though about Madeleine L’Engle’s 50-year old prized tale is that it pushes the limits of the reader’s imagination, forcing us to refocus, refresh our minds, and discard our preconceptions. As you delve deeper into this phenomenal book, you are pulled or tessered through space and time within the blink of an eye or a wrinkle, like Meg, Charles Wallace and their newly found friend, Calvin O’Keefe. But what endeared me most to L’Engle, besides her own persistent nature, is that she confessed in her Newberry Medal Acceptance Speech for A Wrinkle in Time: “I can’t possibly tell you how I came to write it. It was simply a book I had to write. I had no choice. And it was only after it was written that I realized what some of it meant.” As the writer, she dared to brave this uncharted flight along with her audience with no promise of success but the hope of complete fulfillment. In the end, she achieved both. As a writer, L’Engle’s words are strikingly honest and refreshing to me, and as a reader, I was compelled to continue this time- and space-crossing with her page after page.
If you are a child who loves adventure or an adult who simply needs a chance to discover the self anew, your journey waits. Enjoy the read!