“A Wrinkle in Time” graphic novel
I really, really wanted to love the graphic-novel version of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, adapted and illustrated by Hope Larson. So I was surprised and disappointed to find I didn’t even much like it. And I feel terribly, terribly guilty about this. I love the novel–it was one of my first favorites as a kid. I love Larson’s work. In Gray Horses, Chiggers, Mercury, she’s a great artist and storyteller. But for me, this adaptation didn’t work.
The aspect that gave me the most trouble were the character depictions. I’ve held this book so close, for so long, that I have my own pictures in my head of what the characters look like, even the minor ones, and many of Larson’s clashed with the ones in my head. Obviously, someone coming to the book for the first time via this adaptation wouldn’t have the same issue.
Related to that, though, was the trouble I had with the character of Meg. When I’ve read the book, which I did last summer, I’ve related to gawky, socially inept Meg. When I read this book, I was irritated by her. Seeing her on the page made me less able to identify with her.
I am torn as I write about the book. I wanted to like it. I don’t want others to skip it. But it didn’t work for me. Here’s hoping it works better for you.
October 17th, 2012 at 11:21 am
I think a lot of people could feel the same sense of disorientation if the Meg-on-the-page for Hope Larson isn’t the reader’s Meg-on-the-page. I re-read AWiT recently too…so maybe I should wait for awhile before checking this one out, when the Meg-ness isn’t quite so fresh. Besides, I really do need to re-read the second volume anyway, and finally get to the rest which will be fresh reads for me.
October 17th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
I loved this book when I was a kid. I think I read it three or four times in a row. But when I re-read it last year along with some of my students, I was surprised to find that I didn’t like it much. I still liked it, but I kept finding little things to quibble with. However, my students loved it.