book data
1,054 ratings,
3.70
average rating, 39 reviews
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published
November 1st 1989
(first published 1968)
by Laurel Leaf
binding
Mass Market Paperback, 288 pages
isbn
0440999197
(isbn13: 9780440999195)
description
They had been standing around the lamp, looking at Emily holding it in her strong fingers, rubbing it. Certainly none of them, not even Rob, exp...more
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avg 3.70
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in January, 1987
recommends it for:
L'Engle fans
One of the things L'Engle does best is carefully intertwine her otherwise disparate tales. I delighted in stumbling across peripheral characters whom I recognized as well-loved protagonists from her other series. The Austins serve as a homey, grounding backdrop for the story of a gifted, troubled former gang member in 1960s New York City. I read and reread this tale as a young adult but was saddened to discover upon picking it up again maybe a year ago that it doesn't age as well as I'd hoped. B...more
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Read in January, 1970
I found this book quite unnerving when I first read it, and it made a profound impression. However, my proudest (most shameful?) moment was in college taking Shakespeare when the final exam included a question about Coriolanus, which I had not actually had time to read because so busy writing in my journal. I had a moment of terror, then gritted my teeth, and began, "The noted writer, Madeleine L'Engle, in her tribute to Coriolanus..."
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Square Fish is re-releasing the entire Austin Family Chronicles, handsomely repackaged. I read this one first, and it was like a wrinkle in time meets the hardy boys in St. John's Cathedral. Interesting in that it's both edgier and younger than her more popular series (and that the protagonists are more tragically fallible). good read; i'm excited about the entire set.
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Read in July, 2002
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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10/08/08
Sam Palmer
added it
This book was very interesting because it didnt really talk about unicorns. It was about this family and how lots of mysteries make their way in to the story. Like how Josiah Davidson, Dave was what almost every one called him, was an ex gangster. He had turned his life around and joined the local boys chorus. He quickly became a trusted friend of a "normal" family.
Emily is this blind girl that sings and plays the piano. She was not always blind. It was a very sad night when ...more
Emily is this blind girl that sings and plays the piano. She was not always blind. It was a very sad night when ...more
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Read in January, 1980
recommends it for:
everyone!
Although I'm not a big reader of fantasy, I absolutely love Madeleine L'Engle's books. It doesn't matter if you are a grown-up, and this book is billed as young adult; read it anyway!
L'Engle explores the topic of a powerful gang in New York City (not your typical shoot-out gang, but more psychological and sinister), which meets in an abandoned subway station. The leader has come into the possession of a powerful laser, which he uses to control his subjects. He obtained the laser b...more
L'Engle explores the topic of a powerful gang in New York City (not your typical shoot-out gang, but more psychological and sinister), which meets in an abandoned subway station. The leader has come into the possession of a powerful laser, which he uses to control his subjects. He obtained the laser b...more
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The Austins have ended their roadtrip in the wilds of NYC, where intrigue awaits in L'Engle's employer, the Cathedral of St. Paul.
This book tries to explore the same issues of a Wrinkle in Time, but in a much less well thought out way. The story's interesting but ridiculous, and not in a high quality fantasy way. The Austins, except for angelic Rob, take a back seat to native New Yorkers Dave and Emily, but it's not really clear why. Are they going to appear later? Why involve the Austins...more
This book tries to explore the same issues of a Wrinkle in Time, but in a much less well thought out way. The story's interesting but ridiculous, and not in a high quality fantasy way. The Austins, except for angelic Rob, take a back seat to native New Yorkers Dave and Emily, but it's not really clear why. Are they going to appear later? Why involve the Austins...more
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Read in March, 2009
New York City is odd at best, but when the Austin family start having strange encounters with the other residents of the city, things get messy. Suzy and Rob, the youngest, are convinced they saw a genie. Dr. Austin is being followed. And Vicky's new friend was blinded in a theft of valuable papers. The entire Austin family is in trouble, but if they don't tell each other what's going on, they might just be killed...
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Read in March, 2009
Because L'Engle changes the point of view in this book from Vicky Austin to a young man the family has met while living in New York City, it takes some getting used to the difference in style from her previous novels. The theme of good and evil prevails, as in most of her books, and L'Engle provides a rather contemporary mystery with the innocents abroad, the Austins, who encounter gangs and evil within the church and on the mean streets of New York. Well worth reading, and look for the crossove...more
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Read in August, 2008
I'm starting to think that L'Engle's various series are largely interchangeable. Characters cross back and forth and don't really have a "home", references are blithely made to any and all previous books, and there isn't much individual identity in subject matter or approach that separates the different series. This is more a mystery-suspense story, which I had previously thought was the province of the O'Keefe stories. Vicky, who is the protagonist of the previous Austin series books,...more
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Read in March, 2009
I thought this was a very interesting mystery. You do have to remind yourself that the science is a little behind, because it was written decades ago, but I think the overall theme remains. Agency cannot be taken away from man even though it would eliminate a lot of heartache and sin; it would also eliminate joy and blessings.
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Read in January, 1985
Even taking the Time Quartet into consideration, this is just about my favorite L'Engle book. Emily Gregory is an amazing character and the plot -- including shenanigans around St. John the Divine -- remains one of the strangest, most involving I've read, since I first read this at age 11.
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Didn't finish. I'm not really a big fan of "A wrinkle in time" by the same author. I only picked this up because I am on a quest for books set in New York City. This is the third novel in a series, which I didn't know. I read 100 pages. I gave it my best shot.
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I really give this one like 2.5 stars. I didn't like it as much as the others in the Austin series (though I was sick while I was reading it, and that might have influenced my opinion of it). It just doesn't seem to fit with the others: It isn't told from Vicky's point of view. It couldn't really be from Vicky's point of view, since so little of it actually involves her—another flaw in my view. Vicky is the whole reason to read the series. The subject matter didn't seem to jive with the other ...more
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I read some of the earlier Austin books as a kid, but was too old by the time this one came out. I enjoyed it because it takes place in my neighborhood --- several decades ago.
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Read in March, 2009
Love this one, too. The family interns in New York, and is stretched from small town to big city. This one reads more like a mystery.
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This book was hard to put down. I don't know that I'd read it again of my own accord, but it is a mystery with staying power.
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01/15/09
Ashley
marked it as to-read
Austins Family Book 3 I believe.
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Read in July, 2008
This book was very well-written in a way that most books just aren't any more.
The title is misleading; the book has nothing to do with unicorns or even fantasy, it just comes from a quote about how young people can be like unicorns - wild and uncommitted, and can only be tamed of their own free will.
Toward the end it got a little creepy with the bad guys doing some horrible things. Not in a graphic or bad way, but just slightly scary.
It gave me a lot to think about. I really ...more
The title is misleading; the book has nothing to do with unicorns or even fantasy, it just comes from a quote about how young people can be like unicorns - wild and uncommitted, and can only be tamed of their own free will.
Toward the end it got a little creepy with the bad guys doing some horrible things. Not in a graphic or bad way, but just slightly scary.
It gave me a lot to think about. I really ...more
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Read in June, 2008
the most bizarre of the austin family stories- first we have two first-person narratives of vicky's coming of age, then we have the young unicorns- and then we have two more first-person narratives of vicky's coming of age.
as a hard-core l'engle fan, though, i can't help but enjoy this strange story of the austin's mix-up in an evil plot to reform new york city. it's weird, it's quaint, and it involves a medical doctor pretending to be a genie in a lamp. hee!
as a hard-core l'engle fan, though, i can't help but enjoy this strange story of the austin's mix-up in an evil plot to reform new york city. it's weird, it's quaint, and it involves a medical doctor pretending to be a genie in a lamp. hee!
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