A Ring of Endless Light

L'Engle knows how to braid the beautiful, scientific, and unearthly together like no other, and this book is no different. Vicky's special relationship with dolphins mingles with a hard summer of facing her grandfather's failing health and confusion over boys. One of my favorite L'Engles ever.

The title references a 1650 poem by Henry Vaughn, “The World,” that envisions all eternity as “a great ring of pure and endless light,” and urges humankind to choose the divine light instead of the earthly darkness. The title is totally appropriate as we see 15-year-old Vicky Austen struggle between optimism and devastating nihilism.

The Austens are spending the summer at Seven Bay Island since Mrs. Austen’s father, Reverend Eaton, is dying of leukemia. Throughout the summer, Vicky witnesses plenty of tragedy, sickness, death, plain bad luck; it shakes her to the core. I loved this book much more than I thought I would because author Madeleine L’Engle, although herself religious, doesn’t script this book as a pollyannish show more polemic on God’s behalf. Good things happen to bad people — just as in real life. The unjust get lucky — just as in real life. And that realization can be devastating. L’Engle does an amazing job in examining the eternal battle of light and dark in this world. Highly recommended. show less

This book, fourth in the Austin family series, is both sombre and thought-provoking in a way that's unusual in teenage fiction. Vicky, who narrates, is almost sixteen. Her grandfather is dying, and she has three very different young men asking her out on dates. She becomes involved in a project related to dolphin communication....

The book is character-based, and beautifully written in my opinion. There's a Christian theme, but no preaching; questions are asked about dying and what happens afterwards, but no 'answers' pushed. The romance theme is quite positive, showing Vicky confident in saying 'no' to pressure from dates to kiss (or more) or to drink alcohol under age. It's seen as a strength that she sticks by her principles, and is show more aware of her comfort zone.

Very highly recommended to teenagers and adults. All I could feel, when I had finished, was 'Wow!'

I wrote a much longer post about this on my book reviews blog here: http://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-ring-of-endless-light-by-madeleine... show less

Vicky Austin and her family are staying at her grandfather's for the summer, since he has untreatable cancer and not long to live. Added to that, an island inhabitant unexpectedly dies, and Vicky finds three young men vying for her attention.

The Young Unicorns was a bit of a departure in this series, focusing less on Vicky and written in third person during their year in New York. A Ring of Endless Light returns to Vicky's "not quite 16" point of view, including her adolescent struggles with faith and love and growing up. If I had read it years ago, I think I would've taken a harsh view of Vicky's doubts and wondered why on earth she had so much trouble making up her mind about boys. I might not have understood some of the descriptions show more of her grandfather's decline, either. But as an adult, I find myself understanding why Vicky's not sure she believes in God all the time. I remember being a teenager and not sure if a couple of boys liked me and not sure how to handle it. And a few years ago, I saw my grandmother decline in a similar way where by the end she was less present with the living and knew it was nearly time to go. Really my only complaint is that the ending felt less resolved than I would have liked. show less

SPOILERS

Departing from my formulaic L'Engle review here to say this book is one of my all-time favorites. There's so much going on, and so much grave and serious beauty, that if there are clunky bits, I never saw them.

I also never noticed, until this read, that L'Engle was a fan of Saint-Exupéry's flying books- one of which, Wind, Sand and Stars, is one of my desert island books. I think I was too caught up in the Vicky/Zachary drama to notice the pilot talking at the airport.

I love the last bit at the hospital, where Binnie/Robin dies and Vicky goes into a fugue state, I think it captures the moment exceptionally well. Having been in a similar situation, without a pod of dolphins to bring me back after, I recognised the bleakness and show more the darkness.

The casual erudition of all the adolescent characters in ML'E's works is a little bit laughable - but as a bright kid, I found hope there. So I can't mock too much since I drew so much comfort in thinking that there were other serious, thinking kids somewhere. If only fictional ones.

I love this book, with its unflinching attention to death and decay. I love its deep and dazzling darkness, its solemnity and sanctity. I love, of course, the conviction at the root of it that every life matters, every breath counts.

And, yes, I love Zachary with his grandstanding and his deathwish, his inability to adjust to his own adolescence, his helpless attraction to the Austins and their loving lifestyle, and his knee-jerk denying of said attraction. Adam is easy to love in the same way the Austins are easy to love, and the Rodneys. Zachary is not so easy to love, but L'Engle wants us to see that he's worthy of loving, just as worthy as the rest- in fact, she goes out of her way to make that point, I think.

This is one of my favorite of all L'Engle's works, and probably the one I've read the most. And I think the only book I ever stole. Now, in the spirit of L'Engle's honesty and transparency, I will confess that I told my childhood library I lost this book in 1981 and paid for the losing of it. It was never lost, it's right here. I could have bought my own copy from a bookstore, but this is the one with the magic in it. show less

Sometimes you hear about a book that sounds really dumb and you just have to read it. I remember liking A Wrinkle in Time when I was a kid and found out about this lame-sounding dolphin book and brought it home from the library on impulse.

I probably would have looooved this book when I was about 11. The reasons for this are twofold. First of all, it's packed to the brim with adolescent wish fulfillment that would thrill a tween or young teenager, but bores the life out of an older person. The main character, 15-year old Vicky, is a plain-Jane dreamer/poet who's not gorgeous or smart like her younger sister, but three good-looking boys have suddenly decided she's hot stuff and are competing for her attention. There's Leo, the devoted show more platonic friend that Vicky feels an emotional connection to but isn't attracted to. There's Zachary, the sexy troubled bad boy with more money than God, who takes her to country club dinners, rides in his Alfa Romeo, and plans on getting a private plane. Finally, there's Adam, her older brother's hunky friend with sea-colored eyes, who works with dolphins at the marine research lab. Ooh la la! Also, by hanging out with Adam she gets to ride dolphins. Yep. She gets to ride around on a dolphin's back, and it leaps out of the water and she flies through the air on the back of a gleaming dolphin. Isn't that another thing 11-year old girls get off to? I'm pretty sure that's the sort of thing I was drawing pictures of on my Trapper Keeper at that age. She also finds she can communicate with dolphins psychically for some unexplained reason. Yeah, whatever.

The second reason I would have liked this more as a child than an adult is that the religious overtones of the book would have gone right over my head at that age. When I was a kid, I loved the Narnia books. I had no idea that sneaky C.S. Lewis was trying to make me believe in Jesus. Talking animals, man! Flying around on the back of a magical talking lion! I was all about it. I know that Madeline L’Engle was Christian but I was barely aware of Christianity in 5th grade. But now: oh man. Vicky spends the book trying to come to terms with the inevitability of death and suffering in the world. Her minister grandfather, who has leukemia and does not have long to live, is Vicky’s bargain-basement source of and biblical wisdom and general cheap platitudes. Whenever she’s confused about something, she goes to grandpa, who reaches into the depths of his wisdom and soothes her with some passage from the good book. The first part of the book especially is full of heavy-handed Christian moralizing. I will give L’Engle credit for making her book not as awful as books that are intended as Christian fiction, where all conflict is resolved when the characters realize all they needed to do is put their lives in God’s hand. There are even some sympathetic characters that don’t identify as religious or believe in heaven. But overall, all the Christian stuff was hard for me as an adult to stomach.

I give this 2.5 stars. The stuff about death was actually pretty interesting. But all the boy-juggling and dolphin ESP communication? Not my cup of tea, and that was ¾ of the book. show less

I first read this book as an early teen--I can see now, reading it as an adult, that having read this book (along with all Madeleine L'Engle's other books) at twelve and thirteen clearly had a profound impact on my world view. L'Engle's writing has a depth and profundity that draws on emotions of which most writers only attempt to scratch the surface.

I think all developling adolescents should read this book and all the surrounding ones, if only to see that there is more out there than either complete surrender to the inanity of life, or conversely, that fantasy does not necessarily mean being out of touch with reality.

I am happy that I left this book on a shelf long enough that coming back to it all these years later meant it was fresh show more and new while being comfortingly familiar. show less