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A review by maeverose
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Did not finish book.
1⭐️
I’m logging this as a dnf because I heavily skimmed the last seven chapters and don’t feel like I can fairly count it as read.
I want parents who plan on reading this to their kids to read this review please. You’re absolutely allowed to read this to your kids if you want, but if you do, you need to have a conversation with them about how some of the themes in this book are wrong and offensive. Especially if you’re white or able bodied. (This review is by a white disabled person).
I loved the 1993 movie growing up and wanted to read the book for that reason, but wow this book was painful to read. Not only is it incredibly slow and repetitive but it’s full of racism and ableism. With classics I always go in prepared for problematic things so I wasn’t surprised that those things were in there, especially since the movie is very ableist as well. But it was so bad in the book.
The racism
I found it problematic that it opens up with a cholera outbreak in India, followed by some other comments about Mary always getting sick from having grown up in India. To me this implies the author thinks India is a dirty place full of sickness. Mary physically abused the enslaved Indians who cared for her when she was mad and treated them as if their sole purpose in life was to serve British settlers. Mary says at least once that Indians aren’t human, they’re servants. This is never corrected in the book at any point, by other characters or the narrative. Even after she learns to be nice she never seems to change that belief, unless I missed it. It’s kind of just dropped. There are also several racial slurs used casually throughout the book.
The ableism
I have scoliosis so it was both hilarious and annoying anytime Colin freaked out about feeling a lump in his back and cried over becoming a ‘hunchback’. He acted like it was the worst possible fate anyone could have. Which I’m sure was intentional because he’s a very dramatic kid, but it was still clearly coming from an ableist place. At one point they straight up say kids are better of dead than bedridden from illness or disability. And the icing on the cake is the scene where Ben Weatherstaff sees Colin outside and refers to him as crippled, then Colin and Mary are all offended that he dare say such a thing, and Colin proceeds to stand up for the first time to prove he’s ‘not a cripple’, and it was supposed to be this heartfelt, groundbreaking moment… Imagine how that feels for wheelchair users to read? It shows that able bodied people see disabled people as miserable and undesirable. (I re-watched the movie after reading and this scene is in the movie too). There was also a whole message about ‘willing yourself to get better’ and essentially saying that if you’re disabled all you gave to do is go outside and stop being disabled actually. Just try harder. There was absolutely no point to Colin’s whole storyline of being ‘fake sick’ and getting better. The overall message of the book is to be a nice person and you’ll make friends that way. He could’ve just been either able bodied, or better yet, actually disabled and never magically ‘cured’, while still learning to be nice and getting his happy ending.
I understand if you have sentimental attachment to the story, I still have an attachment to the movie even if it’s also very ableist. But it’s important to acknowledge these things, especially if you’re reading or watching it with kids. Personally it shocks me when I see people reviewing this book without pointing that stuff out. Lots of white able bodied people seem to be desensitized to these things, which is very concerning to me.
I’m logging this as a dnf because I heavily skimmed the last seven chapters and don’t feel like I can fairly count it as read.
I want parents who plan on reading this to their kids to read this review please. You’re absolutely allowed to read this to your kids if you want, but if you do, you need to have a conversation with them about how some of the themes in this book are wrong and offensive. Especially if you’re white or able bodied. (This review is by a white disabled person).
I loved the 1993 movie growing up and wanted to read the book for that reason, but wow this book was painful to read. Not only is it incredibly slow and repetitive but it’s full of racism and ableism. With classics I always go in prepared for problematic things so I wasn’t surprised that those things were in there, especially since the movie is very ableist as well. But it was so bad in the book.
The racism
I found it problematic that it opens up with a cholera outbreak in India, followed by some other comments about Mary always getting sick from having grown up in India. To me this implies the author thinks India is a dirty place full of sickness. Mary physically abused the enslaved Indians who cared for her when she was mad and treated them as if their sole purpose in life was to serve British settlers. Mary says at least once that Indians aren’t human, they’re servants. This is never corrected in the book at any point, by other characters or the narrative. Even after she learns to be nice she never seems to change that belief, unless I missed it. It’s kind of just dropped. There are also several racial slurs used casually throughout the book.
The ableism
I have scoliosis so it was both hilarious and annoying anytime Colin freaked out about feeling a lump in his back and cried over becoming a ‘hunchback’. He acted like it was the worst possible fate anyone could have. Which I’m sure was intentional because he’s a very dramatic kid, but it was still clearly coming from an ableist place. At one point they straight up say kids are better of dead than bedridden from illness or disability. And the icing on the cake is the scene where Ben Weatherstaff sees Colin outside and refers to him as crippled, then Colin and Mary are all offended that he dare say such a thing, and Colin proceeds to stand up for the first time to prove he’s ‘not a cripple’, and it was supposed to be this heartfelt, groundbreaking moment… Imagine how that feels for wheelchair users to read? It shows that able bodied people see disabled people as miserable and undesirable. (I re-watched the movie after reading and this scene is in the movie too). There was also a whole message about ‘willing yourself to get better’ and essentially saying that if you’re disabled all you gave to do is go outside and stop being disabled actually. Just try harder. There was absolutely no point to Colin’s whole storyline of being ‘fake sick’ and getting better. The overall message of the book is to be a nice person and you’ll make friends that way. He could’ve just been either able bodied, or better yet, actually disabled and never magically ‘cured’, while still learning to be nice and getting his happy ending.
I understand if you have sentimental attachment to the story, I still have an attachment to the movie even if it’s also very ableist. But it’s important to acknowledge these things, especially if you’re reading or watching it with kids. Personally it shocks me when I see people reviewing this book without pointing that stuff out. Lots of white able bodied people seem to be desensitized to these things, which is very concerning to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Ableism, Body shaming, Colonisation, and Racial slurs