A Review of A Wrinkle in Time

So Kid_Lysol and I have decided to start a book exchange of sorts in which we choose what the other person will read every two months and then we post a review of our respective books.  His first pick for me is "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle.  The children's or perhaps teen's novel was first published in 1962 and is part one of a quintet of novels.  It holds up pretty well for being written over 40 years ago surprisingly enough.  Of course some of the language is a bit dated as well as the sections that deal with technology, but all in all it has aged well.  Ms. L'Engle admits in the back of the novel that she had a very hard time getting this published and I must say I can see why.  I won't go into the details of the plot, if you want those just click on the link above.  The books gets very melodramatic, sappy and childish towards the end.  The dialogue becomes stunted, abrupt and seemingly forced between the characters.  The funny thing is I was really liking the book throughout most of it. It was like a ride at Six Flags that starts off slow because the ride has to take you up the hill so that you can be rushed forward at mind numbing speeds for a few minutes only to then suddenly stop with out a really great "Oh Crap" moment.  Honestly, in rethinking about the book for the review I am actually really disappointed with the entire last act of the book.  Kid_Lysol said the same thing about it ending abruptly, but it is more than just that.  The author seems to have just stopped caring towards the end.  Perhaps she begins to care in the next four books or perhaps she did not want to put too much in the first book, who knows?  I can say that this book did not make me want to read any of the other ones.  The strange thing is that it won the John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children.  Well, this proves that every one really has there on opinion because it would not have gotten my vote.  Hell, this review, what little there is of it, kind of sucks too.  Thus, let's just get to the scale shall we? I give it a 3 out of 5.  If you want the book for yourself let me know and I will be glad to stick it in the mail for you if I still have it.  Cheers and the next review will be "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World" by Haruki Murakami.  I've never read a book that had to be translated from Japanese into English so this might be fun.  My wife read the summary on the back of the book and said, "I can't even tell what the hell the thing's supposed to be about."  If that is not a vote of confidence I don't know what is.