Reviews with content warning for Death - The Secret Garden

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

48 reviews

jacksons_books_and_music's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

Lots of problematic content, considering it was published 1910-11. Its messages of hope, care, love, and emotional healing are all beautiful, though. If you haven’t read it, or it’s been a while since you have, I definitely recommend reading it! I read it many years ago and there was a lot I had forgotten about. I love just how active Martha and Dicken’s mother is in the story, for instance. If you’re giving it to a child to read, I recommend reading it along with them and being prepared for discussing racism, colonialism, corporal punishment, domestic abuse, and things like that.

Content Warnings

hazamelis's review against another edition

3.5

emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

pozo67's review against another edition

3.75

emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

There's an ideology running through the book that's hard to ignore as an adult and that I don't entirely agree with. At parts that gets into ableist territory which is a shame. She should have focused on how the fresh air and friendship and "mucking in" improved the emotional well-being of the characters without commenting on physical stuff.

I started out really not liking the book, a lot of focus on physical appearance, including an "ugly" toddler. But I grew to really like it. It's a heavily descriptive book, with a lot of pride in Yorkshire, lovely feasts and lovely places, best of all being the garden!

I like how Mary's initial racism was an example of how she was a spoilt little girl when she arrived and was immediately corrected by Martha, who was an adult and kind of in a maternal role.

This book mostly made me smile all through, with the feasts, the rooms, the gardens, the people. It made me hungry for current buns! I loved how magical everything seemed. It also made me sad, sad for the poor little girl left without her parents and all alone, sad for the poor little unloved boy without a mother - I ended up rooting for them a lot! As well as Dickon.

I read a lovely edition and it had beautiful illustrations. Going to watch the 1993 film to complete the experience- oh and going to get a current bun next time the opportunity arises!

Content Warnings

stories's review against another edition

3.5

hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A clear moral: Fresh air and exercise are the cure of all ills. Effectively and evocatively told, but I can understand criticism of overly saccharine. At times the plant descriptions seemed equally excessive.

A lasting classic, yes, but definitely also shows its age (classism, racism, ableism). The classism in particular hit me hard in this one.

Bonus points for ALL adult characters being well-intentioned and wanting the best for the children.

I prefer Little Princess.

Content Warnings

maraialou's review against another edition

4.5

hopeful inspiring 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

Content Warnings

argeraint's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

I've always been curious about this book. I don't know why. I guess it's because I grew up with a garden at home. My mother loves gardening. I don't think we have the best relationship but it's a functioning one, at least. Then again, when have mother-daughter relationships been great? This book makes me think of her as well as my nephew who I think have become a bit like Mary and Colin considering that he has been stuck at home and has been used to have all his whims be done. This book really got me thinking about children of today and how they aren't really all that different from children of years ago. They really do need their family, especially their parents, to be with them. They need to go out. They need to be bored and find ways to entertain themselves. They need to meet with other kids or other people. They need interaction with the physical world.
As a recent board passer for professional teachers, this was really eye-opening for me and it inspired me to teach children considering that I currently have no intention to do so at the moment from burnout. As a reader, I now understand why this book is so iconic. It's such a wonderful and heartfel book. When you look back on it, nothing much really happens but when you study the characters, a lot change within them. It's like a mirror of human life. We go through everyday not really paying mind to mundane things until we wake up and realize within ourselves that we have changed. This book was really enjoyable for me and there were times that it almost made me cry.

I really love this audiobook. I love the narrator. She was amazing and it really immersed me in the story that sometimes I can see it happening right before my eyes which used to be the norm whenever I read books but I somehow lost the skill due to grief and life somehow gotten hold of me. This also makes me want to buy the book and I probably will when I have money and when I make my soonest visit to the bookstore.

Content Warnings