Rating: 
Summary: Lovely - Madeleine L'Engle at her best
Review: This is a wonderful book about Poly and her journeys through time. She learns to forgive and love, and to trust in herself and her friends. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you so much, Madeleine!
Review: This is an awesome book! Madeleine once again uses facts to write fiction. She obviously has an exceptional knowledge of history, and she has made a great book with her knowledge. This book is also cool because there's suspense, science, romance and drama all wrapped into a neat and tidy book! This is another one of Madeleine's best, so read it now!
Rating:
Summary: Best Book L'Engle's written!
Review: This is the best book by Madeleine L'Engle I've ever read! Fantastico! I loved this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This was the first book by Madeleine L'Engle that I ever read and I fell in love with her writing and her characters. I was ecstatic to find out that she had written more books about the same characters and I now own nearly every work of fiction she's ever written. I love this book so much because I discovered it at that time of life when you bumble through adolescence and you aren't really sure who you are and where you're going yet. You also aren't exactly sure anymore where you stand with people. Reading this story of Polly helped me to realise the same thing she does through the course of the novel: Friendship works both ways. Friends will always try their best to help each other and support each other. Friends do not sacrifice one another for personal gain. Friends love each other because of who they are. True friendship is forever and can cross time and space.
Rating: 
Summary: No.
Review: Unnatural dialog (does anyone actually say things like "Delightful, utterly delightful!"? According to Madeleine L'Engel, yes. Yes they do.) The characters barely feel real. A slow book with random parts that are slightly interesting.
It also strays too far from A Wrinkle In Time. Mr Murray has "tesseracted" all over the place into different dimensions in A Wrinkle In Time, and yet he has a hard time believing that Polly went back 3000 years.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Adventure From Start to Finish
Review: When Polly O'Keefe goes to stay with her grandparents, doctors Kate and Alex Murry, she expects life to be fairly sedentary. Kate is a microbiologist and a Nobel Prize laureate, and Alex is an astrophysicist studying the space/time continuum. Polly has come to live with them to study for a few months. However, life at the Murry residence isn't quite what Polly expected it to be. Far from being quiet and relaxing, strange things begin to happen, with no believable reason behind them.
With an earthquake and a brilliant flash of lightning, everything Polly has felt was certain in life, and has even taken for granted, is changed. A time gate has opened on the Murry property and three people are caught up in the tesseract's sphere of influence: Bishop Colubra, Polly, and her acquaintance Zachary. Leaving the area of its influence could well mean death for them all. The time gate leads to a period roughly three thousand years in the past. A time when people still believed in human sacrifice in order to appease the gods and bring about their desires. A time when nothing could be certain, not even the safety of love.
Bishop Colubra has found three ogam stones and believes the site of the Murrys' indoor pool was once sacred ground. His avid interest in ogam enables him to be able to speak and understand the language of the people on the other side of the time gate, and Polly is a quick study with languages. Neither had thought they would actually encounter Druids on the other side of the gate. The Druids, however, have no more control over the time gate than Polly or her companions. And their friendship may not be enough to keep Polly from becoming the next Samhain sacrifice.
Madeleine L'Engle builds the suspense up extremely well. And not everything is quite what you'd expect from the clues she expertly drops along the way. Although this book is written for children, it too is a wonderful adventure from start to finish, and complex enough to keep an adult mind occupied and guessing at the outcome. I certainly had problems putting it down for any length of time, and even when I did manage to, I was thinking about it almost constantly.
Review Originally Posted at www.linearreflections.com
Rating:
Summary: More than acceptable! Find the time to read it!
Review: With "An Acceptable Time", the "Time Quartet" (beginning with the award winning "A Wrinkle in Time") became the "Time Quintet". And what a terrific addition to the series this is! This is certainly one of the more outstanding entries in the series! Unlike some of the earlier novels, it is not hampered by speculative theology or attempts at Biblical science fiction, but is very much plot driven. It features an exciting and generally plausible plot where the idea of time travel is central, carrying the suspense until the last pages. The heroine is Polly O'Keefe, daughter of Meg and Calvin. Polly is spending the summer with her grandparents, Meg's scientist parents. Using her familiar twelve-chapter formula, L'Engle describes Polly's adventures as she enters a time gate and goes back 3000 years together with her friend Zachary and her grandparents' friend Bishop Colubra. But as Polly's grandparents remark: "Wandering about in time doesn't strike me as particularly safe." Back in time Polly finds both friends and enemies. Here she befriends Anaral, Karralys and Tav, part of the People of the Wind, who are in the grip of a tribal struggle with the People Across The Lake. As she crosses the threshhold of time on several occasions and moves through the circles of time, Polly herself becomes intimately involved in this struggle, because her blood is being sought as the necessary sacrifice in order to bring rain. Can Polly work peace between these two warring peoples? Can she bring rain and avoid sacrifice? And what role will the enigmatic Zachary play in the events that follow? These questions and more result in a spine-chingling tale of suspense and excitement. In the process, L'Engle weaves a tale with important implications about a very real spiritual struggle: "The bright angels and the dark angels are fighting, and the earth is caught in the battle." Even the title itself is derived from Psalm 69:13. Perhaps more than in the other books, L'Engle affirms the validity of a Christian worldview and the importance of Jesus Christ: "I am not turning to the old gods. No, the God I have tried to serve all my life is still good enough for me. Christ didn't just appear as Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago don't forget. Christ is, will be, and certainly was ... just as much as now." Despite the assertion of the the abiding validity of Christianity, L'Engle's apparent acceptance of primitive Celtic religion is still somewhat troubling. The religion of the People of the Wind in serving "Earth Mother", "The One", "The Presence", "The Maker of the Universe" is not presented as erroneous paganism, but as a valid and simplistic shadowy form of the true religion. What particularly made me uncomfortable was the apparent legitimization of various terms and practices in this primitive religion, by the incorporation of occultic elements such as All Hallow's Eve (Samhain). As in some of the other books, there is a strange and persistent emphasis on the patterns and lines in nature, where "The stars will guide you. Trust them." Polly herself also has no clear perception about the afterlife. In my view, these elements detracted somewhat from the Christian element of the novel and a consistently Christian worldview. Of the many important themes running through the novel, two especially struck me. Firstly, the notion of human sacrifice has obvious allusions to Christ's sacrifice. L'Engle makes this connection explicit, pointing out that the sacrificial death of Jesus was a voluntary act of love "I don't think that God demanded that Jesus shed blood unwillingly. With anguish, yes, but with love." The parallels with the human sacrifice demanded by the People Across the Lake are not fully worked out, but perhaps they are best understood as a contrast. They demand that "the sacrifice must be unblemished" in order to provide healing and rain, but ultimately the sacrifice that saves is not one that is demanded, but given freely in love. Polly's willingness to return to her captors to attempt to save Zachary typifies such selfless sacrifice. Unfortunately this important theme is not sufficiently worked out to be entirely successful. The bishop's words "It is never expedient that one man should die for the sake of the country" added to the confusion, because they seem to conflict with what John 11:50 says. Rather than focus on the gospel, L'Engle seems to focus more on the need for us to break down the barriers of division by showing selfless and sacrificial love to others. Secondly, Zachary needs physical healing and hope because of his heart condition, and is terrified of dying. His physical condition becomes an important metaphor for his need for spiritual renewal from selfishness. "Can you say that only his physical heart was healed?" In working out this important image, L'Engle makes some important observations about the significance of the heart as the source of spiritual growth: "The rites themselves cannot give life. Indeed, they can be hollow and meaningless. The heart of the people is what gives them life or death." These and other important spiritual themes, as well as a gripping plot, make this novel easily one of the best and most enjoyable reads in the series. There is a great deal of fantasy here, but what is cloaked in the garb of fantasy are eternal truths, and a great story to boot. It's a modern fairly tale that speaks to adults as much as it does to children, perhaps even more. So when you have some acceptable time, make sure you read it!
Rating:
Summary: More than acceptable! Find the time to read it!
Review: With "An Acceptable Time", the "Time Quartet" (beginning with the award winning "A Wrinkle in Time") became the "Time Quintet". And what a terrific addition to the series this is! This is certainly one of the more outstanding entries in the series! Unlike some of the earlier novels, it is not hampered by speculative theology or attempts at Biblical science fiction, but is very much plot driven. It features an exciting and generally plausible plot where the idea of time travel is central, carrying the suspense until the last pages. The heroine is Polly O'Keefe, daughter of Meg and Calvin. Polly is spending the summer with her grandparents, Meg's scientist parents. Using her familiar twelve-chapter formula, L'Engle describes Polly's adventures as she enters a time gate and goes back 3000 years together with her friend Zachary and her grandparents' friend Bishop Colubra. But as Polly's grandparents remark: "Wandering about in time doesn't strike me as particularly safe." Back in time Polly finds both friends and enemies. Here she befriends Anaral, Karralys and Tav, part of the People of the Wind, who are in the grip of a tribal struggle with the People Across The Lake. As she crosses the threshhold of time on several occasions and moves through the circles of time, Polly herself becomes intimately involved in this struggle, because her blood is being sought as the necessary sacrifice in order to bring rain. Can Polly work peace between these two warring peoples? Can she bring rain and avoid sacrifice? And what role will the enigmatic Zachary play in the events that follow? These questions and more result in a spine-chingling tale of suspense and excitement. In the process, L'Engle weaves a tale with important implications about a very real spiritual struggle: "The bright angels and the dark angels are fighting, and the earth is caught in the battle." Even the title itself is derived from Psalm 69:13. Perhaps more than in the other books, L'Engle affirms the validity of a Christian worldview and the importance of Jesus Christ: "I am not turning to the old gods. No, the God I have tried to serve all my life is still good enough for me. Christ didn't just appear as Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago don't forget. Christ is, will be, and certainly was ... just as much as now." Despite the assertion of the the abiding validity of Christianity, L'Engle's apparent acceptance of primitive Celtic religion is still somewhat troubling. The religion of the People of the Wind in serving "Earth Mother", "The One", "The Presence", "The Maker of the Universe" is not presented as erroneous paganism, but as a valid and simplistic shadowy form of the true religion. What particularly made me uncomfortable was the apparent legitimization of various terms and practices in this primitive religion, by the incorporation of occultic elements such as All Hallow's Eve (Samhain). As in some of the other books, there is a strange and persistent emphasis on the patterns and lines in nature, where "The stars will guide you. Trust them." Polly herself also has no clear perception about the afterlife. In my view, these elements detracted somewhat from the Christian element of the novel and a consistently Christian worldview. Of the many important themes running through the novel, two especially struck me. Firstly, the notion of human sacrifice has obvious allusions to Christ's sacrifice. L'Engle makes this connection explicit, pointing out that the sacrificial death of Jesus was a voluntary act of love "I don't think that God demanded that Jesus shed blood unwillingly. With anguish, yes, but with love." The parallels with the human sacrifice demanded by the People Across the Lake are not fully worked out, but perhaps they are best understood as a contrast. They demand that "the sacrifice must be unblemished" in order to provide healing and rain, but ultimately the sacrifice that saves is not one that is demanded, but given freely in love. Polly's willingness to return to her captors to attempt to save Zachary typifies such selfless sacrifice. Unfortunately this important theme is not sufficiently worked out to be entirely successful. The bishop's words "It is never expedient that one man should die for the sake of the country" added to the confusion, because they seem to conflict with what John 11:50 says. Rather than focus on the gospel, L'Engle seems to focus more on the need for us to break down the barriers of division by showing selfless and sacrificial love to others. Secondly, Zachary needs physical healing and hope because of his heart condition, and is terrified of dying. His physical condition becomes an important metaphor for his need for spiritual renewal from selfishness. "Can you say that only his physical heart was healed?" In working out this important image, L'Engle makes some important observations about the significance of the heart as the source of spiritual growth: "The rites themselves cannot give life. Indeed, they can be hollow and meaningless. The heart of the people is what gives them life or death." These and other important spiritual themes, as well as a gripping plot, make this novel easily one of the best and most enjoyable reads in the series. There is a great deal of fantasy here, but what is cloaked in the garb of fantasy are eternal truths, and a great story to boot. It's a modern fairly tale that speaks to adults as much as it does to children, perhaps even more. So when you have some acceptable time, make sure you read it!
Rating:
Summary: An acceptable time
Review: With the comtinuing series of a Wrinkle in time , the book An Acceptable time is the last book of the series. It is an amazing attribute to the series. This exciting science fiction book will please you all. The story's main character , Polly , is the type of person who is willing to risk her life for someone else: like when she orered her Indian friends to to take her back across the lake to save her friend. I liked the part when the two tribes made peace and the fighting stopped. If you liked Madeleine L' Engle's other books, you'll love An Acceptable Time.
|
