"A Real Pain"

I've been re-reading A Wrinkle in Time on my lunch breaks because I happened to find it in the office where I'm working. I haven't read it since I was maybe nine or ten, at which time it scared the shit out of me. It still sort of does; man, is it ever a bizarre and excellent and gripping book. Maybe it's just because my nostalgia buttons are being pushed, but I think it contains scenes that are heavier with fear and dread than just about any adult sci-fi I've ever read.

There are some issues with it, nonetheless. It's blatantly classist and sort of reactionary. It really fetishizes the idea of having a perfect nuclear family, and I think that that put me off even as a child (especially a child from a decidedly imperfect family structure). It sort of implicitly equates being "gifted" with being "good". (If I remember right, Madeleine was sort of an elitist jerk.) There's also a heavy dollop of semi-Christianity thrown in there, but I can live with that. Despite such annoying crap, I encourage all of you to pick it up again and read it as an adult.

Of course, Ochlocratic Osculation welcomes the opposing viewpoint in all arguments, so in the name of editorial fairness I am copying some fellow critics' less-than-glowing reviews of A Wrinkle in Time from Amazon:

i hate this book, November 29, 2001

A Kid's Review. I didnt like this book because it was boring. I thought that it was boring because it didnt make any sense to me because it would be talking about one thing and then it would talk about something else. I would have liked it more if it would have had more exciting and had more action. I don't like books like this; they are boring. The ending was the best part.

Unexplained., September 5, 2000

A Kid's Review. We didn't like this book because it was boring and didn't make any sense. The people kept wrinkling and they didn't explain how they wrinkled. Also Mrs.Who kept using phrases that no one understood. Mrs.Which kept streching her words so you couldn't understand what she said.

A Real Pain, November 28, 2005

A Kid's Review. My teacher is making me read this book for class. I love to read, and until now I have never hated a book. The characters are confusing, the plot talks too much about other dimensions, and the story is bery boring. I don't see what is so exciting about this book that everyone loves, and I have always liked fantasy books. I can't wait until this part of the course is over and I don't understand why this is such a classic. If anyone asks me to read another book by this author I would say no way.