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Summary: My review on An Acceptable Time by, Madeline L'Engle
Review: An Acceptable Time
by, Madeline L'Engle Polly O'Keefe, a brave girl who is well known to be wise beyond her years, gets trapped in an exciting and almost deadly experience. Polly, Bishop Colubra (her grandfather's friend), and her beau Zachary Grey get caught in a thrilling adventure that takes them through a time gate to 3,000 years in the past. Polly and bishop have both been through the time gate before and have returned safely to the present. What happens when Zachary crosses over with them could end up in a tragedy. The three of them enter the past, but this time once they're there the threshold closes behind them, leaving them in the past while two tribes are fighting over the best land (The People of the Wind and The People Across the Lake). Polly and the bishop know a few of the members of the People of the Wind from their previous visits that have been filled with even more exciting adventures. This time have they been trapped for a reason? Will the healers of the tribes be able to fix the murmur in Zachary's heart, even though modern medicine in their own time can't? Would they be reborn in the "future" if they died in the past? If you read An Acceptable Time by, Madeline L'Engle you will find some of the answers to these questions, but some will still remain a mystery.
An Acceptable Time an exhilarating and suspenseful science fiction novel. If you enjoy being rapt in a book that you just can't seem to put down, you will definitely like this book. It will take you on a wild ride into the past where two Indian tribes have totally different views on life itself. They struggle to find patterns in the stars to explain what happens in their lives.
Madeline L'Engle tends to write in a style so that no matter what age or gender that you are you can become one of the characters in the book. As this happens you grow and change as the characters do, leaving you with a little more insight on how to overcome obstacles in your life. An Acceptable Time "taught" me to be a more open minded person and that if something is worth fighting for, fight for it, but keep your mind open to the fact that you may need your opponent to help you in the future. Some events were predictable, but the best thing about this book was that the ending could not have been foreseen. This thrilling and adventurous book will give you a few more questions to ponder about and a little different aspect on life.
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Summary: another great addition to the time series
Review: My friend Kristen let me borrow her copy of an acceptable time because I'm a huge fan of Madeleine L'Engel and I missed this book some how. The story starts off by us meeting Polly, the daughter of Meg and Clavin O'Keefe. If you remember from the previous books, Meg is the oldest of four children(Meg, the twins Dennys and Sandy, and Charles Wallace) and she has already been in four books(aka the time quartet). This story is about Polly, the first born from the O'Keefes. Polly discovers a time warp in which she travels back 3,000 years before when what we'd consider Indians lived. Also in the story is Zachary. If you've read other L'Engel books you'll remember him from A Ring of Endless Light. In this book, he's sort of Polly's boyfriend but he's got a really bad heart. Also in the story are Polly's grandparents, Dr. Louise, and Louise's brother who happens to be a Bishop. The Bishop, Polly, and Zachary all end up going back to the time when Annie and Karayls lived and what happens, well you'll have to find out for yourself.
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Summary: A typical adventure, but worth it.
Review: After carrying off "A House Like a Lotus" so gracefully in the first person just a few years before, it is a bit of a comedown to see Polly O'Keefe relegated to third-person narrative viewpoint in "An Acceptable Time". This woman who matured so vividly in a book that was unique to the Murry-O'Keefe family series of novels is handed a more standard Time Quartet plotline of time travel, somewhat akin to Sandy and Dennys' trip to the time of Noah's Ark in "Many Waters". As a result, Polly feels less alive and less real, although she is unquestionably the same mature young woman we see at the end of "A House Like a Lotus".
This novel, at least, puts Polly one up on her mother by giving her a tessering adventure during the bloom of adulthood -- something that I missed with Meg. Although Polly's character doesn't get as good of a treatment in "An Acceptable Time", the character of Zachary Gray (seen in "A House Like a Lotus" and two Austin Family series novels) sees major development. In "A House Like a Lotus", he was relegated to the status of temptor and comforter to Polly, bemoaning his riches, his poor relationship with his parents, and his weak heart. The uneasy chemistry between him and Polly remains, but here, his health takes a turn for the worse, and Zachary is forced to face up to his mortality. By the end of the story, this man who once hated life is bitterly ashamed at what his fear of death leads him to do.
The story is typical L'Engle: well written, and deeper than one would expect given its target readership. While it is good, little makes stand out among the stronger stories of the Murry-O'Keefe series of novels, like "A Wind in the Door", "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" and "A House Like a Lotus".
In a way, it is good to have Polly lead this story, as opposed to Meg or some other character, for it ties the O'Keefe family series of novels closer to The Time Quartet. Previously, they had remained separate in style, with the second generation receiving more action-oriented, less fantastical storylines than the first. I always thought that Polly was missing out in not having the same type of fantastical adventures that marked her mother's teenage years. It also suggests to me that now that Polly has dabbled in Meg's universe, it is time for Meg to shine in Polly's type of story.
At last word, Madeleine L'Engle was working on an adult novel staring Meg Murry-O'Keefe at fifty, tentatively entitled "The Eye Begins to See". Now that Polly has had her tesser, I would be very happy to see Meg carry off in the first person a story about complex human relationships.
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Summary: The first book that made me cry after reading it
Review: After finishing this book for the first time, I cried and put it back in the shelf. After reading A Ring of Endless Light, I read it again, thinking "Yeah, it was sad. But not really that sad..." After finishing it a second time, I could see why I put it away. Not just the sadness, the BETRAYAL. It almost made me cry again. One thing I did notice is that Zachary changed a lot since he was with Vicky. In A Ring of Endless Light, he wanted to die. In this book, he was afraid of it. Very good book, but beware: It's a tear-jerker.
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Summary: L'Engle's Best Book!
Review: Brandishing their spears and howling incoherent imprecations, the band of savages stormed into the peaceful village, scattering its inhabitants like leaves.... No, this is not a scene from the book. It describes the jaded reviewers descending upon this marvelous book from their yellowed ivory towers, people who can no longer respond to the warmth of love this story brings to us. I was misled to expect something less than profound, but Madeline comes through like almost never before. (If you can love even Zachary, you don't need me to convince you. If you can't, I'll never make you understand.) Yes, I'm a L'Engle fan, because I believe the world desperately needs her clear firm and simple message: You have to care. You even have to care about pitiful people like Zachary, and care about your enemies too. That's the only way you'll stop having enemies. A lot of what is wrong with America is DIVISION. It's something we need to think about, and Madeline surely helps. This book moved and delighted me like no other has done for a long time.....
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Summary: Lemme get a word in
Review: Theres some much explanation to the story, you can practically think its non-fiction! It was pretty good, something I kept on reading, and no one continues to read a book if it's dull. I really like how she thought love between people are drawn in lines, all connected. Original. I guess my favorite part would have to be when Polly goes swimming in her pool against her grandparents wishes, and finds a necklace that takes her back through time. Who knew your house could be placed on historical ground. Anyway, good book, needed s'more love in it ^_^, other than that it was good.
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Summary: Worst L'Engle Book
Review: Perhaps I am a bit harsh with this book but from my favorite author I expect a bit more. In "A House Like a Lotus", Polly had a personality, but in this book she acts like a wishy-washy version of her mother. As Thomas Wolfe says about never being able to go home again is the case in this book. Having Louise the Larger in the book seemed useless. Dr. Colubra was herself, but Mr. and Mrs. Murry seem odd, off-beat to their former loving parent characters. The house is too different. Nase is almost an obnoxious version of Canon Tallis. Zachary Gray played the same role as in "A Ring of Endless Light". You'd think that after what he experienced he would develop a bit and quit the poor-me-'cuz -i-have -a heart-condition -and-i'm-a-little-rich-boy act. But no, he acts that way again. Also, druids are not explained and a big deal is made about Ogam. My final gripe about this book is that this is the third time Madeleine used the "Early Unknown Europeans and Natives Getting Along" scenario. She used it with the Welsh and Quaztino Indians in "Dragons in the Water", and Welsh and New England Indians in "A Swiftly Tilting Planet". It gets old. Snore. A Disapointing Read. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
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Summary: A really, really good book!
Review: I read the book "An Acceptable Time" and completely loved it! I was totally impressed on the indepth story of Polly and her adventure back 3,000 years ago. This is the first book I have read from Madeleine L'Engle and it certainly won't be the last!
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Summary: A dissapointment
Review: As a fan of L'Engle I was looking forward to an Acceptable Time. All the other Murry books had been fun and interesting and I thought that an Acceptable Time would be up to their quality. Unfortuanatly it's not. At times it is interesting but overall the book as quite boring at times and fails to draw the reader in like the others have. The characters are good but seem less human than some of L'Engle's other books and are not as endearing. An Acceptable Time is worth reading if you are a fan of the Murry books but nothing more.
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Summary: Good but mind-numbing
Review: I thought that the essential plot of the book was wonderful. The only thing that I didn't like about it was the scientific "mumbo-jumbo". Being thirteen and not particularly interested in the space/time continuum, I usually got a head-ache during those parts. It was very sad when she had to leave Tav. I wish Madeline L'Engle had written more books about Polly.
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