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A review by kendranicole28
A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine l'Engle, Author of a Wrinkle in Time by Sarah Arthur
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