Yesterday I re-read A House Like a Lotus, one of my favorite "young adult novels" by one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle. Sadly, I believe that it is becoming somewhat dated and L'Engle's flaw of incredibly precocious teenage characters actually irritated me. L'Engle's heroines are always teenagers who read, travel, question everyone's motivations, and speak multiple languages. That I find this irritatingly unrealistic rather than inspirational suggests that either 1) I am out of touch with my teenage self when I wanted to be these characters and thought I thought deep thoughts or 2) that I have become jaded by my current job working with young people who have not revealed their capacity for thought or sense of the world. Both are probably true and both bother me. I want to expect teenagers to think.
Despite a heroine who thinks too much and speaks five languages, I still highly recommend A House Like a Lotus. If you find an old paperback copy, don't believe the trashy romance cover (as is illustrated above from Madeleine's webpage).
Despite a heroine who thinks too much and speaks five languages, I still highly recommend A House Like a Lotus. If you find an old paperback copy, don't believe the trashy romance cover (as is illustrated above from Madeleine's webpage).
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2 comments:
Excellent choice of authors! Her best books are still her science fiction trilogy. Her adult novels are pretty darn good too!
I've always liked A Ring of Endless Light very best, perhaps because I read it first, and list Arm of the Starfish, Many Waters, and Dragons in the Water very highly because they are less read. A Wind in the Door is my favorite of the time series, but I'll happily read Wrinkle or Swiftly Tilting Planet Again. A Severed Wasp is my favorite among the adult novels, and I keep an unread adult non-fiction piece on my shelf in case of a spiritual emergency.
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