Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Secret Garden by Burnett,Frances Hodgson. [1997] Paperback by Frances Hodgson Burnett

80 reviews

tea_at_mole_end's review against another edition

2.75

lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Confinement, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Classism

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

3.75

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I found across this audiobook on Borrowbox and saw it was narrated by Indira Varma. I'd just finished Lords And Ladies which is also read by her and I thought she was so good I decided to listen to this as well. Her accents here were also brilliant and really brought the characters to life. I definitely read this book as a child but my memories of the story might have come mostly from the film because I didn't remember a lot of the details in this. It's still a nice story but it's very much of its time and it was impossible to ignore the way it handles class, disability and race, which did take away some of the charm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Classism

mathildem's review against another edition

3.75

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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3.75 ⭐️ - I liked it 

Or so I think, at least. I'm a bit up in the air about it, because for the most part I really like the story, the gorgeous writing and the slight magical realism; but at the same time there are (outdated) things throughout the story that really drove me crazy and made me not love the book.

Such as the conversations around race and ugliness, and also as a chronically ill person the way the ending suggested that all illnesses kind of stem from the psyche didn't sit right with me. If at least that point didn't feel so much as general advice to the reader/listener, but more as something that spoke to Colin it would feel better. Because it is good advice to not scare yourself sick, but at least I felt it insinuated more people could get healthy if they wanted too, which isn't always true and can put a lot of blame on the victim.

All in all, I kind of wished throughout the entire book that was reading a reworked version of it, made to fit today's conversations better. I wished it didn't have the obvious racism and ableist beauty standards (read disfigured by Amanda Leduc if you're not sure what I'm aiming at). wished I had the same gorgeous storytelling, the same plot of the children finding each other and themselves, and the escapism without the infuriating small details that always brought me out of the story. 

Carrie Hope Fletcher did a fantastic narration job.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Racism, Death of parent

solouncapitulomas's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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it is such a good story, too bad it is full of racism (and by too bad I mean fuck you Frances)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent

orchidlilly's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma

Minor: Colonisation

lucdiamant's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Racism

yrlaevelyn's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation

Moderate: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Slavery, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent

chiaralzr's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Colonisation

neni's review against another edition

4.25

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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What a lovely story. The prose was beautiful, in that extremely relaxing/wholesome way that makes you sigh with contentment, especially the nature descriptions. I ADORED the nature descriptions . Also, this specific edition of the book made the reading experience 1000 times more magical and special, it was a joy to read while enjoying all the lovely illustrations and the heavy paper. Such a great read for the beggining of Autumun, it was just what I needed

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Death of parent

soph22's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Death of parent