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tmathews0330's review against another edition
5.0
I have to be able to slow my mind down in order to read this. It reads like a prayer while dealing with hard stuff of human nature and realities of daily life. I could read L'Engle every day.
ejpreads's review against another edition
5.0
Just finished reading this again (1/8/2012). So thankful for the grounded grace in this book.
melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
4.0
A book about writing, in many ways - and as such, it was a perfect book for me to read now.
There is a little nag about it, knowing that her children disliked the Crosswicks books, felt they did not tell the truth of their times there - but I think Madeleine is quite open about what she's doing. She's not writing a memoir: early in the book, she tells a story about some "new people" and one of the old villagers in their town in Connecticut, to it's affecting ending ... and then tells us that it isn't totally true. There were people like that, sort of, but the events didn't quite happen like that. But writing the story made her feel better about what was going on in her town. And I think the rest of it is like that: her using stories of her life, and making them fit the point she is trying to make, whether they really do or not. She was an only child and a lonely child, who often didn't fit in at school, and used writing to escape those realities and make sense of what was happening around her. I think she used her writing this way all her life, and that it is one reason it is so often very good: there is an element of truth behind the writing, of trying to make sense of very difficult times.
I think she is better at explaining God in her fiction - like A Wrinkle in Time - than in her prose. It is amazing to me that she wrote this book at age 51, younger than I am now, and at that time was a grandmother and had moved into the adult children phase of her life. She is a little condescending, I think, to the young adults of that time - around 1970 - but she is also truly fearful of the chaotic world they are living in. And while the concerns are somewhat different today than then, some of that fear of the chaos and darkness resonates in this world of pandemic and creeping fascism we live in today.
There is a little nag about it, knowing that her children disliked the Crosswicks books, felt they did not tell the truth of their times there - but I think Madeleine is quite open about what she's doing. She's not writing a memoir: early in the book, she tells a story about some "new people" and one of the old villagers in their town in Connecticut, to it's affecting ending ... and then tells us that it isn't totally true. There were people like that, sort of, but the events didn't quite happen like that. But writing the story made her feel better about what was going on in her town. And I think the rest of it is like that: her using stories of her life, and making them fit the point she is trying to make, whether they really do or not. She was an only child and a lonely child, who often didn't fit in at school, and used writing to escape those realities and make sense of what was happening around her. I think she used her writing this way all her life, and that it is one reason it is so often very good: there is an element of truth behind the writing, of trying to make sense of very difficult times.
I think she is better at explaining God in her fiction - like A Wrinkle in Time - than in her prose. It is amazing to me that she wrote this book at age 51, younger than I am now, and at that time was a grandmother and had moved into the adult children phase of her life. She is a little condescending, I think, to the young adults of that time - around 1970 - but she is also truly fearful of the chaotic world they are living in. And while the concerns are somewhat different today than then, some of that fear of the chaos and darkness resonates in this world of pandemic and creeping fascism we live in today.
authoraugust's review against another edition
5.0
Ahh, Madeleine. A staple of my childhood, with her Time Quartet (I didn't know about "An Acceptable Time" back then). She appealed to me for all the reasons a good author should: her characters were real and disagreeable yet worthy of admiration, in the end; her plots were full of mystery and adventure, but easy enough to follow; and she understands time. She speaks, in the last chapters of "A Circle of Quiet," about chronos and kairos, and it was her ability to express kairos without turning it into yet another scientific concept that hooked me on her literature in the first place.
This book is for growing-ups. Not grown-ups, because there's no such thing, least of all according to L'Engle; but growing-ups, the people who are learning to come into themselves as an unconscious yet deliberate journey. I can't express how grateful I am for the ways L'Engle weaves her narratives about those precious moments in life with the writing she was doing at the time. Knowing that it's possible to have a life so fulfilled by a significant other, children, friends of all ages and backgrounds, and writing itself -- that is an encouragement I needed right now. Written brilliantly and in her distinct style, "A Circle of Quiet" is a quiet book of love, acceptance, and a crumbling of those dangerous walls we build around our hearts.
This book is for growing-ups. Not grown-ups, because there's no such thing, least of all according to L'Engle; but growing-ups, the people who are learning to come into themselves as an unconscious yet deliberate journey. I can't express how grateful I am for the ways L'Engle weaves her narratives about those precious moments in life with the writing she was doing at the time. Knowing that it's possible to have a life so fulfilled by a significant other, children, friends of all ages and backgrounds, and writing itself -- that is an encouragement I needed right now. Written brilliantly and in her distinct style, "A Circle of Quiet" is a quiet book of love, acceptance, and a crumbling of those dangerous walls we build around our hearts.
laila4343's review against another edition
5.0
I heard about this one on the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog. I had no idea L'Engle had written a memoir, let alone four of them (The Crosswick Journals.) It's about the human condition, marriage, writing, Christianity, parenthood. Full of wisdom, this is a book that is a balm to the soul, a book one can return to again and again.
mollysticks's review against another edition
3.0
This book took a lot longer to read than it should. It did not tell any kind of story or have a plot which is why it took so long. She makes some points in her journey of life that I appreciated.
brandifox's review against another edition
4.0
What a sweet and companionable little book. If you have ever read and enjoyed L’Engle’s “Walking on Water” this is a beautiful chance to see similar thoughts unfolded in a conversational way.
I commend it especially to those balancing motherhood and making.
I commend it especially to those balancing motherhood and making.