A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
I wrote about the movie A Wrinkle in Time here and here, but prior to going through the copious notes I took while rewatching the movie (using my hand-held "book-reading" miniature lamp) for an upcoming "movie critique" post, I bought the book on which the film is based. That too deserves a review, although a parallel critique (with the movie) might be a better approach.
Madeleine L'Engle the author of the book is described thus:
L'Engle was an Episcopalian and believed in universal salvation, writing that "All will be redeemed in God's fullness of time, all, not just the small portion of the population who have been given the grace to know and accept Christ. All the strayed and stolen sheep. All the little lost ones." As a result of her promotion of Christian universalism, many Christian bookstores refused to carry her books, which were also frequently banned from Christian schools and libraries. At the same time, some of her most secular critics attacked her work for being too religious.I thought the book would have the same allegorical character of C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia books (also later made into films). But no. It's closer to the Harry Potter series.
Her views on divine punishment were similar to those of George MacDonald, who also had a large influence on her fictional work. She said "I cannot believe that God wants punishment to go on interminably any more than does a loving parent. The entire purpose of loving punishment is to teach, and it lasts only as long as is needed for the lesson. And the lesson is always love."
In 1982, L'Engle reflected on how suffering had taught her. She told how suffering a "lonely solitude" as a child taught her about the "world of the imagination" that enabled her to write for children. Later she suffered a "decade of failure" after her first books were published. It was a "bitter" experience, yet she wrote that she had "learned a lot of valuable lessons" that enabled her to persevere as a writer.
I should have known better.
I asked my local bookstore cashier whether she had read the book. "Yes when I was a girl. I don't remember much about it except that I found it scary."
Me: "Well the film isn't a lightweight fairy tale either. I thought it was scary for an adult!"
I continued:
"At the very end, two little girls with their parents walked toward the exit. The parents were still focused on the screen. I guess to read the huge scroll of credentials. But the little girls - sisters, one was maybe three the other five - just stood there. Not talking, not moving. One looked back and saw me in the very back row. Who sits in the front row in an IMAX movie theatre! I was the only one up there by then. I could see a desperate look in her eyes. As though she wanted comforting. Then her sister followed her movement and also looked back and she had the exact same expression. Finally the parents moved on to the exit and left."
I bought the book anyway.
Oprah decided to join this project in the guise of a children's movie. She has allowed these evil forces to be unleashed. And to lay claim to the innocents.