#many waters

[rains-of-words]

“Some things have to be believed to be seen.”

— Madeleine L’Engle, Many Waters

[oreo-clark]

A Wrinkle in Time quintet by Madeleine L’Engle

[jimbo-clyde]

Characterization of Adults in the Time Quintet

I have been reading through the Time Quintet (beginning with A Wrinkle in Time) by Madeleine L'Engle recently, and the final two novels have been quite interesting, to say the least. Many Waters, while being the fourth book, appears to take place chronologically before the third book, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and yet Sandy and Dennys do not show evidence of their experiences (which, I admit, makes sense if Many Waters was written after A Swiftly Tilting Planet).

In any case, the biggest shift that I have seen is in the way that Mr. and Mrs. Murry (Meg's parents) (as well as the other adults) support or do not support the experiences of the children with whom they share a household. In A Wrinkle in Time and even A Wind in the Door, Mr. and Mrs. Murry are supportive and engaged in the goings-on of the children. In the first novel, Mr. Murry literally experiences much of what the children do, to such an extent that moving through space-time should not be news to him. In the second, Mrs. Murry (and, to a lesser extent, Dr. Louise) is actively studying the problems that the children are called to solve. The fantastical adventures of the Murry children should not be unknown and have been supported by Mr. and Mrs. Murry.

However, in An Acceptable Time, not only do Mr. and Mrs. Murry fail to believe in the fantastical tales that Polly (the main character) is telling them, they are actively pushing against such ideas. While there is mention of Mr. Murry's experience moving through space-time, he is also the main person pushing back at the idea that someone can move through time without moving through space (an idea that Charles Wallace explored quite heavily in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, but about which did not speak with his parents). Mr. and Mrs. Murry also discuss how Polly's parents (Calvin and Meg, who both went through many a fantastical adventure together as children) would react severely to their daughter going on similar adventures. I know of no other way to react to this than with confusion and abhorrence. The idea that these children who had these incredibly formative experiences would grow up to be totally and wholly against their children experiencing any of what they did growing up is- well frankly to dunk on J.K. Rowling for a moment- like writing a character that watched "the system" fail them over and over to such an extent that society crumbled due to the inaction of "the system" grow up and go on to join and re-form "the system" back into its' original state. It feels like poor writing.

In my humble opinion, based on the characterization of the adults in the earlier novels within the Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle, Polly O'Keefe should not have to fight them at what feels like every step of the way as she begins her fantastical adventures, just as her mother and father did before her.

[iviarellereads]

The Time Quintet Home Post

There aren't a lot of books written before the current century that I still really hold dear. Obviously, the Wheel of Time is up there. The Neverending Story was there as well, though I'd grown less familiar with it over the years. Not all, but some of Madeleine L'Engle's work was available at my local library, and it Spoke To Me in a way few other books did when I needed it most.

Though the series started in 1962, and the final book is actually the end of a second-generation series as well, the Time Quintet's first four books were extremely my middle school shit in the 1990s. They're coming-of-age stories, with fantasy, and science fiction, and science, and God, but not the CS Lewis kind of God, like, this one's more of a force of truly universal love and less of a preachy lion. (L'Engle was a Christian Universalist, and made no secret of her beliefs in her stories.)

I'm not going to be able to do a very good job of selling this one to a new reader. Partly, this series gets WEIRD in a delightful and occasionally horrific way. Partly, it's too close to my heart to push it away far enough to be objective. I can't even guarantee that if you've liked the other books I've covered, you'll enjoy this one. But, I'd be real honoured if you'd give it a try.

(Necessary caveat: I've still never read the fifth book in the quintet. See above: the point about it being second-gen. I read one of the second-gen books and it sat with me in my heart deeply, but I never got as far as An Acceptable Time because my library never had it, and it never felt like a high priority to finish anything about the series after Many Waters. So, we'll see if I add it to this post when I get closer to it.)

A Wrinkle In Time 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

A Wind in the Door 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

A Swiftly Tilting Planet 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Many Waters

[chapter-title-tournament]

Round 3, Match 14

Shot out of a Volcano at Last! (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne)

Virtual Particles and Virtual Unicorns (Many Waters, Madeline L'Engle)

Which is your favorite chapter title?

Shot out of a Volcano at Last!

Virtual Particles and Virtual Unicorns

Voting ended onAug 30, 2023

[wiirocku]

Psalm 29:3 (NKJV) - The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters.

[goofygoldengirl]

Ok storytime. So a long time ago when I was in the sixth grade, I read A Wrinkle In Time for language arts class. I really liked it, so I got the three sequel books: A Wind Through The Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters. AWTTD I was a little disappointed in because I wanted the three W sisters to come back, and I didn’t like the principal. ASTP, I couldn’t keep up with the time travel plot at that age and I thought the ending was a letdown. But Many Waters?

Hoooh boy Many Waters

Many Waters was the book where you could tell that the author had no idea if she was writing for kids or teenagers. It was written in the same register and style as the previous three books, but man oh man did Many Waters blow my twelve old mind. It had everything that made me blab about it to my friends for days. Semi polyamorous love triangles, seduction, making out, illegitimate children, the word virgin, the vaguest sex scenes ever written, description of topless characters, that one really scarring part where one of the characters spends three days in childbirth and nearly dies because her baby is half human-half giant. And wanna know the kicker? The whole book is a retelling of Noah’s Ark.You know, from the bible. And to this day, I find that to be very hilarious.