EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite books growing up!  It had a female protagonist, Meg Murray, who was smart but struggling in school and caught a lot of shit for it, who wasn’t particularly attractive, who wore glasses.  And the premise of the book was great, too.  But I won’t go into that yet.

The trailer for the movie directed by Ava DuVernay dropped this weekend, and it looks fantastic.  I do have one or two bones to pick with it, but the casting is not one.

I am 100% ok with them having cast a black girl as Meg.  In no way does that detract from my identification with Meg when I was a kid and needed that identification most.  And if it helps some nerdy POC girls identify with her, all the better.  And the casting of the Mrs.s (not sure how to pluralize that) is great.

The only real bone I have to pick is with the Mrs.s’ costumes.

They’re supposed to look shabby.  But in the trailer they look pretty fucking amazing and gorgeous.  I think I can let that go, though.   The scene with all the kids bouncing all the balls in front of the identical houses is just as chilling as I hoped it would be.

Honestly that’s about it.  And I can’t tell from the trailer, but they had best have made Mrs. Murray a scientist as well or I am going to be very grumpy.

I am definitely going to see this movie opening weekend.

So, on to the book.  Meg Murray is a social outcast at school.  Her clothes are not fashionable, her hair is not neat.  She wears thick glasses.  But honestly, the book does not dwell there.  It just lets us know that this is who she is: super smart and a bit socially awkward.

Her father has been missing for quite some time. On a stormy night, Mrs. Whatsit turns up and informs Meg’s mother that tesseracts exist.  Meg’s mother is in shock.  And the next day, Meg and Charles Wallis go for a walk with their dog, and run into Calvin Harris, who Meg has a crush on, and run into Mrs. Whatsit.

I don’t want to give the whole plot away, but it is in turns harrowing and tense, with brief interludes of gentleness and beauty.  Oh, I do hope that they include the furry people with no eyes.  That is one of my favorite parts, when Meg tries to describe sight to beings with no knowledge of it.

I still have my original Dell editions of the original trilogy, as well as a lovely leather-bound version gifted to me by the lovely and talented Misha Bushyeager.  I have a suspicion that I’ll be re-reading this again before long.

For those of you who want to read it before you see the movie, I highly recommend this.  But I want to warn you, A Wrinkle in Time is the best of the bunch.  A Wind in the Door is good, but I still think A Wrinkle in Time is better.  A Swiftly Tilting Planet is the third of the original trilogy, and while again, good, does not quite live up to A Wrinkle in Time.  I’ve been warned by others not to bother with the books after that, as they get weirdly religious, and you see hints of that in A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

Like I said, I will definitely be seeing this movie, preferably opening weekend.  I cannot wait.

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