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heatherer's review against another edition
4.0
A solid honoring of the spiritual legacy of Madeleine L’Engle and for me, a recalling of the grace she was in my life at a critical juncture in my faith. Sarah Arthur does a terrific job of capturing Madeleine with the complexity a human being deserves - beautiful and worthy of honor and flawed and broken. I’m looking forward to reading new L’Engle works and rereading a few favorites after being exposed to their richness in this book.
kendranicole28's review against another edition
4.0
Unlike many of my fellow book lovers, I did not fall in love with A Wrinkle In Time as a child, and when I finally read it as an adult, I liked but didn’t love the science fiction tale; I was much more taken with Madeleine L’Engle’s memoir A Circle of Quiet that I devoured two years ago. I had no idea that L’Engle was such a complex woman, and I was intrigued to learn more about her through this biography that examines the author’s life, work, and legacy.
Madeleine L’Engle was a complicated individual: in her lifetime, her views were generally considered too progressive for conservative Christians and too Christian for the non-religious. She held definitive views of art and literature that rarely aligned with the ideas of her fellow authors, and her imagination was so vivid that she tended to merge fact with fiction in some problematic ways. In this book, Sarah Arthur takes a look at the paradoxes seen within the author who was an icon AND an iconoclast, an advocate for truth AND story, a writer of books that celebrated religion AND art and faith AND science. Arthur makes sense of these seeming incompatibilities for L’Engle and illuminates ways that her work can inspire fellow creatives and Christians seeking integration between various parts of ourselves and our work.
Arthur does an excellent job of painting an accurate portrait of this often controversial figure—celebrating her strengths without downplaying less commendable parts of the author’s story and her work. Arthur shows us ways that L’Engle can serve as a role model and a cautionary tale. My favorite portions of the book were those that focused on L’Engle’s ability to blend her faith into her writing in ways that highlighted the truth and celebrated story in ways that could appeal to audiences of all ages and beliefs. The discussion of L’Engle’s unfortunate tendency to prioritize story over fact was enlightening, if potentially difficult for many of L’Engle’s devotees who may prefer not to read about the the writer’s shortcomings.
This was a quick listen that gave me a lot to ponder about the nature of the books we read, the stories we tell, and the gurus we choose to follow.
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Audiobook
Madeleine L’Engle was a complicated individual: in her lifetime, her views were generally considered too progressive for conservative Christians and too Christian for the non-religious. She held definitive views of art and literature that rarely aligned with the ideas of her fellow authors, and her imagination was so vivid that she tended to merge fact with fiction in some problematic ways. In this book, Sarah Arthur takes a look at the paradoxes seen within the author who was an icon AND an iconoclast, an advocate for truth AND story, a writer of books that celebrated religion AND art and faith AND science. Arthur makes sense of these seeming incompatibilities for L’Engle and illuminates ways that her work can inspire fellow creatives and Christians seeking integration between various parts of ourselves and our work.
Arthur does an excellent job of painting an accurate portrait of this often controversial figure—celebrating her strengths without downplaying less commendable parts of the author’s story and her work. Arthur shows us ways that L’Engle can serve as a role model and a cautionary tale. My favorite portions of the book were those that focused on L’Engle’s ability to blend her faith into her writing in ways that highlighted the truth and celebrated story in ways that could appeal to audiences of all ages and beliefs. The discussion of L’Engle’s unfortunate tendency to prioritize story over fact was enlightening, if potentially difficult for many of L’Engle’s devotees who may prefer not to read about the the writer’s shortcomings.
This was a quick listen that gave me a lot to ponder about the nature of the books we read, the stories we tell, and the gurus we choose to follow.
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Audiobook
alisse's review against another edition
5.0
“Madeleine showed us how to rejoice in the smallest atom, the farthest galaxy, all the amazing works of our creator—and also to rejoice in the creative tasks God has given us to do.”
So writes Sarah Arthur in this beautiful look at Madeleine L’Engle’s life, including the professional, creative, and the deeply personal. She doesn’t stray from the not so pretty parts of L’Engle’s life, but in doing so she makes this literary (and faith) giant all the more real and tangible for readers. Including reflections from a who’s who of religious publishing was a treat for me personally—like many, I’ve always felt like Madeleine was a friend (given all her many books), but there are many other friends in these pages, too. I’ll be coming back to many snippets from this book again and again.
So writes Sarah Arthur in this beautiful look at Madeleine L’Engle’s life, including the professional, creative, and the deeply personal. She doesn’t stray from the not so pretty parts of L’Engle’s life, but in doing so she makes this literary (and faith) giant all the more real and tangible for readers. Including reflections from a who’s who of religious publishing was a treat for me personally—like many, I’ve always felt like Madeleine was a friend (given all her many books), but there are many other friends in these pages, too. I’ll be coming back to many snippets from this book again and again.
becmatho's review against another edition
4.0
This was an extremely balanced and lovely insight into Madeline LeEngle’s work, influence and personhood. I am inspired to read more of her non fiction and grateful for a legacy well left. This is a really well written work and kept my attention completely - I rarely read biographies of any kind but was very happily surprised at its well rounded approach.
kelswid's review against another edition
3.0
https://bookshouting210423985.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/sandra-oh-at-a-dj-table-and-other-goodnesses-1-23-19/
toniapeckover's review against another edition
4.0
Arthur does a really nice job of showing L'Engle's influence on modern writers and thinkers. I loved the picture she paints of a complicated, stubborn, devout woman who believed that her fiction writing was a spiritual vocation.