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Theresa's review

Meet the Austins (Austin Family, Book 1)
by Madeleine L'Engle

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80349.Meet_the_Austins?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Meet the Austins (Austin Family, Book 1)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1170981641m/80349.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80349.Meet_the_Austins?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Meet the Austins</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/106.Madeleine_L_Engle">Madeleine L'Engle</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6964968?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>I wonder how I would have felt about this book if I would have read it as a kid?  I haven't read much of L'engle outside of A Wrinkle in Time, which I loved as a kid.  I read this after people started talking about all the books of hers they loved after she died this year.  There were a lot of things I liked about the book, the fun jumble of this family's life together, the adventures they have, the love that they have and share with the new girl.  But as I was reading I was bugged by some of the ways in which the story was told.  Vicky was supposed to be narrating the book, and yet sometimes the narrative voice would shift beyond Vicky or reveal more than Vicky would know.  Some of the chapters meandered all over the place without focus.  As a writer, some of it felt like sloppy writing to me.  Or maybe it was just more acceptable to write this way back in the 60s.  Or maybe when you've written as much as Madeleine L'engle, you can get away with this kind of thing once in awhile.  
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<br/>So, as a kid would I have noticed this?  Hard to say.  
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<br/>Also, it was interesting to read the Austin parents' parenting style.  Kind of strict and authoritarian in some places, but also equally loving and forgiving in others.  
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/196670?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Theresa's review
rating:

I wonder how I would have felt about this book if I would have read it as a kid? I haven't read much of L'engle outside of A Wrinkle in Time, which I loved as a kid. I read this after people started talking about all the books of hers they loved after she died this year. There were a lot of things I liked about the book, the fun jumble of this family's life together, the adventures they have, the love that they have and share with the new girl. But as I was reading I was bugged by some of the ways in which the story was told. Vicky was supposed to be narrating the book, and yet sometimes the narrative voice would shift beyond Vicky or reveal more than Vicky would know. Some of the chapters meandered all over the place without focus. As a writer, some of it felt like sloppy writing to me. Or maybe it was just more acceptable to write this way back in the 60s. Or maybe when you've written as much as Madeleine L'engle, you can get away with this kind of thing once in awhile.
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message 1: by Wendy (last edited 10/19/2007 07:19AM)

10/18/2007 10:31PM

This was pretty early L'Engle, so I don't think it's that she could get away with that stuff then--she saved that for Certain Women and Troubling a Star, late in her career. I really don't think there's anything kids would have noticed writing-wise. And it's definitely an old-fashioned writing style. But for my money, the next book, The Moon By Night, is picture-perfect.