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A review by identitykrises
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
2.0
So my general rating system is 1 star = "fairly unbearable to read" and 2 is more, "I didn't like it, but it was tolerable/okay/I guess I can grudgingly see literary merit in this." This falls more in the realm of "this was readable and kind of a fascinating train wreck."
And what do her parents do when she does these sorts of things, antagonizes the cook into temporarily quitting, throws shoes at her dad, etc? They talk to the principal and rig some sort of deal to get Harriet made the editor of the school paper for her grade. Understandably, it would be a better and more constructive outlet for her, especially since her nurse was encouraging her to do creative writing and to write stories. But it's just like.. getting a reward thrown her way for nothing. And the things she ends up publishing? Things like this bit about a 14 year old girl in a local immigrant family that everyone knows:
“FRANCA DEI SANTI HAS ONE OF THE DUMBEST FACES YOU COULD EVER HOPE TO SEE. I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE GETS THROUGH THE DAY.” Before continuing to shit talk her as flunking school and being hopeless, and going as far as to mention the address of the store her whole family works at. Then she makes fun of her for being lonely and talking to pigeons and ends it all with “I HID BEHIND A TREE AND I STILL COULDN’T HEAR A WORD BUT FRANCA LOOKED LIKE SHE WAS HAVING A GOOD TIME. SHE DOESN’T HAVE A GOOD TIME AT HOME BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS HOW DUMB SHE IS AND DOESN’T TALK TO HER.”
Why did the school let her publish these things every week? God only knows.
She spends the whole book looking down on others and refers to everyone around herself as dumb, stupid, fat, and ugly. Right up to the very end. And the moral that Harriet walks away with in the long run? 'Keep doing exactly what you've been doing. Keep stalking people, sneaking into strangers' houses, keep writing nasty things about them, keep writing about your teacher living in the slums, your classmate's father being an alcoholic, another's father leaving them. Keep it all up! Just lie to your friends and family to smooth things over so that you can get on with your life without people staying pissed at you, and don't ever let anyone pick up one of your notebooks again.' It literally ends with her writing in her notebook after her two friends seem to forgive her:
Right as she stares her sheepish friends in the face. About 3 sentences before the book ends.
I'm just kind of amazed at the complete lack of character growth, and given that the main character is mostly unlikeable.. (Really, most of the characters are unlikeable.) It's kind of fascinating to just step back and look at this book at the end. I feel like.. had I read this when I was a bitter, angry child/teenager, I still would have been turned off by this character. And I was relishing in reading Stephen King and watching gory horror movies where you almost root for the bad guy because the victims feel so irredeemably stupid. (Still do!)
Spoiler
After her classmates shun her, steal a sandwich, and spill ink on her, Harriet becomes absolutely calculating in the damage that she ends up trying to do to others. At that point her notebooks turn from a brutally honest diary where she makes usually nasty and negative observations about everyone around her, to basically a burn book where she plots to do various things to her classmates, including antagonizing one girl about her missing father (which she does), beat on the most timid girl in class, and break her main female friend's finger (a plan that she brings up multiple times). At an earlier point in the book, she also writes to herself that if her precious nurse had a baby, Harriet wouldn't mind it staying in her room with her: "UNLESS IT WAS A VERY NOISY CHILD WHO TRIED TO READ MY NOTEBOOKS, THEN I WOULD SMASH IT." Honestly? There are so many red flags in this book. As a dear friend pointed out, if Harriet had been a boy, older readers might have been expressing concerns that she seems like the sort of child that would end up killing people.And what do her parents do when she does these sorts of things, antagonizes the cook into temporarily quitting, throws shoes at her dad, etc? They talk to the principal and rig some sort of deal to get Harriet made the editor of the school paper for her grade. Understandably, it would be a better and more constructive outlet for her, especially since her nurse was encouraging her to do creative writing and to write stories. But it's just like.. getting a reward thrown her way for nothing. And the things she ends up publishing? Things like this bit about a 14 year old girl in a local immigrant family that everyone knows:
“FRANCA DEI SANTI HAS ONE OF THE DUMBEST FACES YOU COULD EVER HOPE TO SEE. I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE GETS THROUGH THE DAY.” Before continuing to shit talk her as flunking school and being hopeless, and going as far as to mention the address of the store her whole family works at. Then she makes fun of her for being lonely and talking to pigeons and ends it all with “I HID BEHIND A TREE AND I STILL COULDN’T HEAR A WORD BUT FRANCA LOOKED LIKE SHE WAS HAVING A GOOD TIME. SHE DOESN’T HAVE A GOOD TIME AT HOME BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS HOW DUMB SHE IS AND DOESN’T TALK TO HER.”
Why did the school let her publish these things every week? God only knows.
She spends the whole book looking down on others and refers to everyone around herself as dumb, stupid, fat, and ugly. Right up to the very end. And the moral that Harriet walks away with in the long run? 'Keep doing exactly what you've been doing. Keep stalking people, sneaking into strangers' houses, keep writing nasty things about them, keep writing about your teacher living in the slums, your classmate's father being an alcoholic, another's father leaving them. Keep it all up! Just lie to your friends and family to smooth things over so that you can get on with your life without people staying pissed at you, and don't ever let anyone pick up one of your notebooks again.' It literally ends with her writing in her notebook after her two friends seem to forgive her:
OLE GOLLY [the nurse] IS RIGHT, SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LIE."
Right as she stares her sheepish friends in the face. About 3 sentences before the book ends.
I'm just kind of amazed at the complete lack of character growth, and given that the main character is mostly unlikeable.. (Really, most of the characters are unlikeable.) It's kind of fascinating to just step back and look at this book at the end. I feel like.. had I read this when I was a bitter, angry child/teenager, I still would have been turned off by this character. And I was relishing in reading Stephen King and watching gory horror movies where you almost root for the bad guy because the victims feel so irredeemably stupid. (Still do!)