The Laughing Listener
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Hope Davis
Length: 6 hours & 26 minutes

Story Rating: 5 Stars
Performance Rating: 5 Stars
Overall Rating: 5 Stars

Well friends, A Wrinkle in Time is being made into a movie that’s only a couple weeks away from being released. Since I haven’t read this in FOR-EV-ER, I listened to the audiobook for a little brush up and I’m so glad I did! There was soooooooo much I didn’t remember (like, the entire thing) and I have a new appreciation for this book that I didn’t have before as a kid.



THE REHASH

Rumors have been spreading like mad. Meg and Charles Wallace’s father has been missing for way too long and the neighbors are starting to talk. As a scientist for the government, he left for a super secret, important mission and just never came back. He wrote their mother letters often, but they’ve slowly petered out and stopped completely. Meg is trying to be hopeful, but fears the worst.

Meanwhile, Meg and Charles have been having a rough time in school. As the children of genius parents, both kids are crippled with high expectations from their peers and their oddities give them a hard time. Charles Wallace doesn’t seem to mind so much, but Meg longs to be normal like her twin brothers Sandy and Dennys. She just wants to blend in and survive school—something that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for her.

When Meg, Charles, and their mother are up late one night, unable to sleep because of a storm, they get a visit from their new neighbor Mrs. Whatsit that changes everything. She appears to be an older, quirky, discombobulated woman, but it’s soon revealed that she’s much more. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which are all there to gather the children on a grand adventure to save their father. With their help, Meg, Charles, and their new friend Calvin all face their greatest fears in the name of love.

THE GOOD

First of all, I absolutely LOVED Hope Davis’s performance in this audiobook and she did an amazing job bringing these characters to life. Each character had a distinct voice that fit perfectly with their personality and she even did a great job with all of the odd fantastical things like Mrs. Which’s unusual speaking voice.

It’s so interesting reading something as a child and then reading it again as an adult, and I won’t lie, a large part of why I loved this is simply because of nostalgia. But when I was younger, I simply took this all at face value. This was just a fun story of three friends on a crazy planet that want to save their father. Now it’s easy for me to see beyond that and read the deeper meaning that I couldn’t before. L’Engle was making a statement about the world, about humanity, and pouring in her hope for future generations.

I can definitely understand why this book wouldn’t be for everyone. I mean, if I went into greater detail about what happens in the later chapters of the book, I would straight up sound insane. To give you a better idea of this, Meg and her friends end up on another planet that has nice aliens on it and she starts calling one “Aunt Beast.” The words “lovingly” and “tentacles” are used in the same sentence more than once to describe these aliens. Is this book trippy as hell?? Oh yeah, but that’s kind of the magic of it. Kids don’t see the weird stuff—they see the love, the fun, and the hope.

Legitimately have no freaking idea how this going to made into a movie, but it’s with Disney, Oprah, and Chris Pine, so OBVIOUSLY I’m here for it.



THE UGLY

The only real problem I had with this book is hard to put into words. There were a few minor moments that felt kind of old-fashioned in their ideas?? Nothing that bad was really said or done, but it was enough to make me feel… uncomfortable??? That word seems a bit strong, but it’s something I definitely noticed. An example is when the kids are first learning about Mrs. Whatsit. They don’t know who she is yet and think she’s a homeless drifter that’s passing through the town. I think the phrase Meg uses to describe her is “neighborhood tramp” (tramp meaning vagabond) and her thoughts about this homeless person are so negative, it shook me up a little. Especially because Meg was JUST complaining about how she’s not accepted by her peers.

I don’t know, it’s nothing really major and didn’t effect my overall love of the book, but it felt worth mentioning.

FINAL WORD

This was, and still is, one of my favorite books and age hasn’t changed that at all. I have no idea how this crazy story will be made into a movie, but I absolutely love this book and it’s message of love.