Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L' Engel

(sequel to 'A Wrinkle in Time'- quickly reviewed here. It is the seventh book mentioned)

Charles Wallace, Meg, and Calvin are back. This time, Charles Wallace is sure he has seen dragons by the star watching rocks, but that is not the least of his troubles. Charles Wallace is not well, his mitochondria are dieing. Mitochondria are a teeny tiny cell 'power plants' that humans cannot live without. Things don't look too good for Charles Wallace because no one is sure that mitochondria exist... his mother is trying to prove their existence so she can find a way to help cure him. But isolating the mitochondria is taking time- time poor Charles Wallace doesn't have. The Teacher and Proginoskes help the three children try to find a cure for the young boy by helping each other through a series of tests. These tests are a lot harder than Meg, especially, could have guessed. And if they do not pass the tests, Charles Wallace will not live.

In my review of 'A Wrinkle in Time' I talked a little about how the worldview presented was confusing to me, and the same goes for this book. So I wont bother re-typing everything- you can read it HERE though. Aside from that, I only had a couple qualms with the book. First, there were a lot of biological terms and circumstances that pulled me out of the story- it was hard to stay focused on the story when I am wondering what-in-the-world-does-that-term-mean??? and when some situations are completely unrealistic. Second, I really really don't like the main character, Meg. She cries too much, doesn't want to do anything hard, is stubborn, selfish, and self-pittying. I found myself only rooting for her because in order for Calvin and Charles Wallace to win (which I REALLY wanted) Meg had to, too.

However, I couldn't stop. I had to keep listing to the book. So, in the end L'Engel succeded.

4 comments:

Noël De Vries said...

you... really really don't like Meg? *gulp*

wow.

but aren't we all Megs? Don't want to do anything hard, stubborn, selfish, self-pitying...

anyway, you'll be happy to know she doesn't play into book 3 much, she's grown and CW is the main character.

but still. wow. my own cousin.

:)

Unknown said...

Yeah, I agree Noel, that is kind of strange that you don't like Meg. I have to say that the mitochondria and the kything are the coolest things ever. So cool.

Unknown said...

whoops, *I agree "with" Noel

Nicole said...

I agree that we all have Meg in us, but its not something I like... I mean, her complaining and stubbornness, and laziness got irritating- even if I see aspects of it in my own daily life.

And yes, mitochondria and kything are cool, but it took time and energy to understand the concepts (the lazy Meg in me ;) )

Maybe it isn't that I didn't like Meg, just that I liked Charles Wallace, Calvin and Proginoskes more.