Review: A Wrinkle in Time: the Graphic Novel

October 11, 2013 Books, Comics, Reading, Reviews 0 ★★★★½

One of the first books that I really remember reading over and over and absolutely loving is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.  I was probably seven or eight when I got my hands on it, and even though it sounds kind of clichéd, it really changed my life.  Like Meg, I wasn’t the greatest at math, but everything that Meg learns instilled in me a love of science and a wonder for the universe that’s still with me today.

So when I got the opportunity to review the graphic novel, illustrated wonderfully by Hope Larson, I jumped at it.  And boy, was I not disappointed in the least.

wrinkle_in_time page

The main thing I adore about this adaptation is the evocative use of color, or lack thereof.  The illustrations are rendered in a semi-monochrome with a cool blue as highlighting, and for some strange reason, that lets me keep my own mental image of the different worlds they visit in my head.  I love Larson’s renderings, and they’re actually quite close to what I’ve been imagining since I was a little kid.  And she does a really wonderful job of creating visuals for the story without being too overly slavish to direct adaptation.  I never felt bored with a panel or felt like it could’ve been cut to streamline the story.

Larson’s cartoonish style works very well with the sense of child-on-the-cusp-of-adulthood wonder that grows within Meg throughout L’Engle’s story, and I adored the little touches from the book’s narration that Larson incorporates into the artwork.  The one in particular that jumped out at me is the creaking seventh step on the staircase.  In a traditional book, you just say this, but in a visual format, typically you would have a little bit of onomatopoeia tossed in (like POW! or ZAM! in old superhero books).  However, Larson illustrates this in a different way:

creaking step

I’m not sure why that particular panel sticks out at me so vividly, but I absolutely adore it.

I’ve seen a few reviews of the graphic novel from people who have never read the original novel, and I do agree that if you’re an adult reader and you’re not already a fan of the source text, this graphic novel might not have the same impact for you that it did for me as a fan.  But it really is a gorgeous adaptation, and I’d recommend that everyone give it a try, whether you’re a lifelong fan of the novel like me or a complete newbie to L’Engle’s story.