Revival Review | A Wrinkle in Time : Madeleine L'Engle

It is always unsettling when you don't much care for a book that has been praised to the heavens. It obviously reflects on you because everyone else seems to have liked it. I remember a friend telling me she didn't like Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Judgement washed over me like a ten foot wave and am sure the same happens to others when I tell them I could never get through, God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy), Fountain Head ( Ayn Rand ) and of course the most sacrilegious of all, The Catcher in the Rye.

A Wrinkle in Time is a young adult science fiction novel that was written by Madeleine L'Engle in the 1960's. It is an extremely popular american young adult novel and is a subscribed reading text for high school.  I am in the middle of a Young Adult reading phase, 'research' is what I call it. What it is is a shameless way to spend weekdays reading books- my favourite part of the novel writing process. A Wrinkle In Time was part of a 'must read' young adult list.

The book tells the story of Meg, her little brother Charles Wallace and a new friend Calvin and their search for Meg's father. The book has a rather promising start. We find Meg, her extremely intuitive brother Charles Wallace, two little twins and a beautiful mother stuck in a small town still reeling from the sudden untimely departure of their beloved father and husband. Meg is awkward, her brother far too intuitive for his own good and their mother who happens to be living in a bubble of denial. One day three old women sweep into their lives and take them on a journey to bring their father back, one that will lead them through multiple planets through the universe to fight 'The Black Thing' that is somehow connected to her father and the future of the earth. 

It is no doubt an intelligent novel that is very much a product of its time. The 1960's was a torch bearer for space exploration and also the cold war which in its heart was the fight against communism which is probably what 'The Black Thing' refers to. The main theme is about the triumph of individuality and the debilitating nature of sameness which is not similar to oneness or equality. The Black Thing seeks to remove all creativity and individuality from the universe. The argument is that sameness keeps order and leads to no disease or sadness. But without sadness there is no joy or love. And therefore love, is what sets everything free in the story. 

With regards to science, it uses much of the modern quantum theory to support the story. The concept of pinching the folds of the universe to jump through it is quite ingenious and I think I will be using the tesseract image before long. The worlds themselves are marvellous and Madeleine L'Engle's writing is extremely compelling and never contrived, which is so much the problem with fantasy these days.  So essentially we have a beautiful story of the zeitgeist of the time. So what's wrong?

All three children were insufferable. I found Meg infuriatingly smug, Charles Wallace a young know it all and Calvin,  insipid. The only saving grace, or rather three of them came in the form of the three old women, Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Which,  and Mrs Who who act like fairy godmothers. The author has created three wonderful children's characters and I am sure they are the reason why the book was so successful.  Perhaps if Meg hadn't been such a winger the book would have a winner.

Next Week: Go Ask Alice! 

Review | The Hunger Games

Anytime Stephen King tells me to read something I read it. Most of you know about The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. The first book in the series was published in 2008 and the sequels, Catching Fire and MockingJay, followed swiftly. It's a Number one New York bestseller, has been translated into 26 languages (why is it always 26?) and is the base for the third largest grossing movie of all time or some such thing.Again, Stephen King told me to read it. It's BIG. So a giving it a great review here is akin to telling you it's going to rain in the monsoons or you should really read Harry Potter. Pointless. But here's the thing. The Hunger Games never got very big in India unlike Harry Potter or Twilight and I kept putting it off because it came under the realm of science fiction, usually off my radar. So the point of this review is to tell you to please read it before you watch the movie.

The story is simple, horrifying but simple. Children are picked from 12 districts to fight each other to the death in an arena that is filmed 24/7 to provide entertainment for an extremely rich and decadent audience.   So our beautiful poignantly funny protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, steps up when her sisters name is called and we follow her as she figures out how to survive and kill a twelve year old girl named Rue and a boy who literally turned her life around when she was at her most vulnerable.

Suzanne Collins' prose is riveting from the very beginning and the suspense never cedes. It is at heart a young adult novel and the romance is a little awkward, but a book hasn't made me shed a tear since Dumbledore died and just for this I thank Ms Collins. She says she was inspired by watching reality tv and also the greek myth of Theseus as he battled the six entrances of the underworld.  You have romance, action and an underlying theme that addresses the possible consequences of having the gulf between have and have nots become so wide where one side views the other as fodder for entertainment. Anyone thinking Slumdog Millionaire or the many books on the Mumbai slums that entertain us? The futuristic world of Panem is quite reflective of how we live today- our overwhelming need for voyeurism and celebrity and the huge disparity between people who tile their bathrooms in gold to starving children. But let reality not depress us. This is  fantastic entertainment that should NOT be missed. Perhaps I am the last one to arrive at Ms Collins party, but am so glad I finally came. 

Verdict- MANDATORY READING! Buy it NOW! 

For bookworms like ourselves, trilogies are the ultimate indulgence and there is nothing better than having all of them waiting for you on a bookshelf to devour in one sitting. The sequels  Catching Fire and Mockingjay - I have to say that Catching Fire threw me off a little and I did skip a few pages. The writing seemed a little lazy but she was back in the game in the final book- Mockingjay.

And here is the movie trailer. DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE BEFORE READING THE BOOK!