A Wrinkle in Character Development

I’m late coming to Madeleine L’Engle’s The  Time Quartet.  I’ve heard about since college, but never was interested in reading the series.  This year, the book club decided to do a Science Fiction read and needed some help selecting a title.  This was one proposed by several of the members and ultimately won as the choice for November.  This pushed me to jump and see what A Wrinkle in Time was all about.

I had a mixed read of the novel.  On one hand it was entertaining and a quick read.  On the other hand it felt that it was too quick without developing characters or plot.  I was particularly disappointed in Meg, one of the protagonists. To me she started out with a complex foundation upon which to build an intriguing character.  The oldest child of two scientists, she’s struggling with growing up and processing the disappearance of her father.  Yet, as I progressed through the book, she quickly became quite flat.  It seemed she was constantly screaming and crying.Every time there was a new challenge or plot twist she seemed to be always stamping her foot, shouting, and bursting into tears.  I understand frustration and I understand as an adolescent there’s a lot of emotion, but when a character is only described as such, it becomes a superficial depiction of a character.  Halfway through the book I lost patience with Meg and wanted her to move into the background of the plot.

I liked the underlying message of the story and I think this is an important entry in the Sci Fi realm of YA, especially to middle school and Jr. high.