Book Reviews

I may get flak for this, but I have to be honest. I just didn’t enjoy this novel at all. There’s nothing about it that’s bad per se. It just might be because I never read it as a child and for an adult to enjoy it, nostalgia might be a requirement. It’s not true of all YA novels. I liked “The Giver,” and didn’t read that one in my youth. “Wrinkle” one just doesn’t connect with me at all. I never really cared about the heroes too much and assumed they’d all just get into a sticky situation and end up dusting themselves off afterwards. To me, the witches were all just a confusing mess of characters.

Again, I can only evaluate it as an adult now. As a child, perhaps I’d react differently.

As for most YA novels that I read now, I’m mainly evaluating it for recommending to students. I always want to know what exactly a youth will read before assigning a book to him or her. And this one is fine. If anything, I hope the student really enjoys it, and I assume he or she would. There are nice things about the book. Those things just fell flat with me.

Notably, the opening cliché comes up in literature in the 19th century with “Paul Clifford,” and later used by Snoopy in his “novels.” Despite it becoming a beacon of bad writing, the opening sentence is rather descriptive and certainly captures a rainy and windy night in London:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

I’ll certainly pass on seeing the recent movie now too. Though it did not seem to go over too well with critics and viewers alike. Interesting that they cut out all the religious content which the author felt was important and perhaps integral to her novel. Hollywood may want to rethink such actions in the future. One must honor the author’s work and intent completely if one wants to make it into a movie.