Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

70 reviews

bxnnny's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-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

3.0

this was such a cute, sweet, lighthearted book! i loved the descriptions of the garden coming to life as the children did - it made me wish i'd bought one of the illustrated editions. i liked the idea that nature heals the soul and body and i loved dickon's character and his deep connection to nature and animals.

i did expect the book to have more magical and fantasy elements, more similar to maybe a narnia type of thing. i did also find the story to become very repetitive and wish the focus had been kept on mary and not shifted so much to colin. there were also a lot of grammatical errors, like commas and periods in random places. it happened so much and was very distracting and annoying. i don't know if this is just the case with this edition or with all of them but i feel like the book's been out long enough where this shouldn't be an issue and it was very disappointing to see how frequent it was.

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ittybittybookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.75


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daja123's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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mousecat's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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admiralteaa's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

4.25

The story and narrative shows it's ages in places, but it's hasn't lost its timeless charm from when I was a child, even if it's abit more whimsical than I remember.

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place6o_ffct's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.25


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aasthaj's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75


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gracielou2000's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

You’d have to pay me to listen to this audiobook again. I couldn’t stand the accents and the pitch the narrator used to voice the children. It made them that much more unlikable. Narration aside, this is not a story I would let any child of mine read. It had racist and negative views throughout. I feel like the author would have to hate children to write them in such a nastily light. In addition to multiple racist instances, it was also ableist. The physically disabled main character felt like a disappointment to his parents solely because he was disabled and only until he overcame his disability would his father approve of him. 

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kriyon's review against another edition

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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

3.75


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allisonleora's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

3.75

This was really a surprising and lovely little read. I wasn’t intending this to be my first book of 2024, but it so Magically happened, and I think I needed it. 
 
I remember owning this book when I was a child, but never got around to reading it. I think I would have loved it, but would have found the Broad Yorkshire challenging. Two decades later and I had trouble even now. 
 
But it was really a beautiful story and one full of hope, which is something I needed at the beginning of the year. I found myself wanting to go back into the story to see how the garden was progressing. 
 
Some of the language did make me uncomfortable, and I think I would need to have a long discussion with my son about the racism and colonialism featured in this novel before he sets out to read it himself. I would for sure recommend it to him when he gets older, though. 

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