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katisha93's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
langeletta's review
4.0
I read this book because I missed out on it when I was a kid, and saw the movie. And I never watch a movie without reading it's book. It was a wonderful child's story with a great lesson embedded into it.
bbingham's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
5.0
jtorres118's review
1.0
It was a cool winter in 2018 when my college professor assigned me to read this book for my Children's Literature course. I was an aspiring novelist, and I was looking forward to discovering what elements of this book were so charming that it is considered one of the best children's stories of all time, even earning the New York Times Outstanding Book Award in 1964.
It has been six years since reading "Harriet the Spy" and I am still traumatized by it.
This is a story that left me feeling so upset, that I'd rank it one of the scariest books I've read in my life. It does not depict violent scenes with death and assault, but it carries a different type of nausea, one where as a reader, I was left hating everyone in the story for their acts of selfishness, cruelty, and in Harriet's case, sociopathic tendencies. I do not say this lightly; I remember clearly how disturbed I was when I read certain scenes involving this quirky protagonist.
She is an emotionally neglected child who spies on her classmates, writing down her most honest thoughts about them in a journal. Many of her feelings are negative and insult those who have done nothing wrong. She criticizes their appearances, their lifestyle, intelligence, anything you could think of, she is more than happy to rant about. I found it most disheartening when she insulted her supposed best friend, Sport, who was raised in a poor family, and she ridicules him for this. She doesn't take a stab at things people can change, but at their very being, and this behavior goes on for YEARS!
By the time we meet Harriet, she's well versed in snooping on people's privacy. But eventually she is caught by her classmates as they find her journal and read all the horrid things she said. Her mean-spirited words even make Sport cry, and because of this, Harriet is shunned.
This would be the perfect point where the author could have let Harriet realize the error of her ways, and attempt to make up to her friends. But what follows is a viscous back and forth where she and the rest of the class bully one another. It goes beyond just the silent treatment, but there is physical harassment that made reading so painful. While years have passed, I will never forget two scenes that solidified not only my hatred for Harriet, but my realization that if she were an actual person, she'd be a monster.
First is when she confronted a classmate that she knew didn't have her father in the picture. She pokes at this insecurity to the point where the other girl cries, and this is done not with teasing laughter, but with a stoic, cold expression. When Harriet is brought to a therapist, she continues to be stone-faced, never opening up to the adult about what's going on, plus, not acknowledging her responsibility for why this bullying cycle began. The therapy scene could rival "Silence of the Lambs" for its eerie atmosphere, and unlike that movie, I worried that the therapist didn't have a glass wall to separate themselves from this broken child.
I don't recall the details of the ending, but I do know that Harriet reverts back to her normal self and she comes out of this experience feeling vindicated. She meets with her best friends and they silently agree to make up and move forward with their lives. If I was either of them, I couldn't let the things that happened go. It went on for way too long, and way too intensely for that to be something to sweep under the rug. Harriet's classmates were wrong for snooping in her book; I will agree she's allowed to have feelings and write them down. But Harriet is still worse because she actively sought out private information under the guise of being a great spy.
Every child has some bad thoughts about other people, even I did, so this isn't me ranting about a child for being immature. When I was little, I was caught by my cousins writing about how annoying they were while they stayed at my house. I felt really bad about it, to the point where they told me to get over it, and that it's not as big a deal as I was making it.
Where was THAT empathy from Harriet? She never had any sort of remorse, nor an understanding of why her actions are wrong. Though she didn't deserve to be bullied so harshly, she is still let off the hook in the end, and continues to have this holier-than-thou attitude among her peers. She probably grew up to be a 'Karen', a manipulative girlfriend who needs to check your phone everyday, or best case scenario: an employee at TMZ.
This book really affected me in a way that I never want to think about it again, but I returned to make this review because I want others to know, DO NOT READ THIS! It is not whimsical or positive, but annoying and depressing. Nobody is really a good person, and the latter half has some of the most brutal bullying I've ever read. If I was a student at that school, I'd beg my mom to move far away, and God willing, Harriet wouldn't follow me to my new house.
It has been six years since reading "Harriet the Spy" and I am still traumatized by it.
This is a story that left me feeling so upset, that I'd rank it one of the scariest books I've read in my life. It does not depict violent scenes with death and assault, but it carries a different type of nausea, one where as a reader, I was left hating everyone in the story for their acts of selfishness, cruelty, and in Harriet's case, sociopathic tendencies. I do not say this lightly; I remember clearly how disturbed I was when I read certain scenes involving this quirky protagonist.
She is an emotionally neglected child who spies on her classmates, writing down her most honest thoughts about them in a journal. Many of her feelings are negative and insult those who have done nothing wrong. She criticizes their appearances, their lifestyle, intelligence, anything you could think of, she is more than happy to rant about. I found it most disheartening when she insulted her supposed best friend, Sport, who was raised in a poor family, and she ridicules him for this. She doesn't take a stab at things people can change, but at their very being, and this behavior goes on for YEARS!
By the time we meet Harriet, she's well versed in snooping on people's privacy. But eventually she is caught by her classmates as they find her journal and read all the horrid things she said. Her mean-spirited words even make Sport cry, and because of this, Harriet is shunned.
This would be the perfect point where the author could have let Harriet realize the error of her ways, and attempt to make up to her friends. But what follows is a viscous back and forth where she and the rest of the class bully one another. It goes beyond just the silent treatment, but there is physical harassment that made reading so painful. While years have passed, I will never forget two scenes that solidified not only my hatred for Harriet, but my realization that if she were an actual person, she'd be a monster.
First is when she confronted a classmate that she knew didn't have her father in the picture. She pokes at this insecurity to the point where the other girl cries, and this is done not with teasing laughter, but with a stoic, cold expression. When Harriet is brought to a therapist, she continues to be stone-faced, never opening up to the adult about what's going on, plus, not acknowledging her responsibility for why this bullying cycle began. The therapy scene could rival "Silence of the Lambs" for its eerie atmosphere, and unlike that movie, I worried that the therapist didn't have a glass wall to separate themselves from this broken child.
I don't recall the details of the ending, but I do know that Harriet reverts back to her normal self and she comes out of this experience feeling vindicated. She meets with her best friends and they silently agree to make up and move forward with their lives. If I was either of them, I couldn't let the things that happened go. It went on for way too long, and way too intensely for that to be something to sweep under the rug. Harriet's classmates were wrong for snooping in her book; I will agree she's allowed to have feelings and write them down. But Harriet is still worse because she actively sought out private information under the guise of being a great spy.
Every child has some bad thoughts about other people, even I did, so this isn't me ranting about a child for being immature. When I was little, I was caught by my cousins writing about how annoying they were while they stayed at my house. I felt really bad about it, to the point where they told me to get over it, and that it's not as big a deal as I was making it.
Where was THAT empathy from Harriet? She never had any sort of remorse, nor an understanding of why her actions are wrong. Though she didn't deserve to be bullied so harshly, she is still let off the hook in the end, and continues to have this holier-than-thou attitude among her peers. She probably grew up to be a 'Karen', a manipulative girlfriend who needs to check your phone everyday, or best case scenario: an employee at TMZ.
This book really affected me in a way that I never want to think about it again, but I returned to make this review because I want others to know, DO NOT READ THIS! It is not whimsical or positive, but annoying and depressing. Nobody is really a good person, and the latter half has some of the most brutal bullying I've ever read. If I was a student at that school, I'd beg my mom to move far away, and God willing, Harriet wouldn't follow me to my new house.
momoj8's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
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
4.0
children. There also needs to be a Carrie, Matilda, Harriet pipeline connection because if you have read or seen the movies to either of these classics, you will root for these menaces to society to get revenge on the people who harm them. This children's book definitely roots for bullying, but I will say, everyone needs an Ole Golly.
tpaolinelli's review
4.0
i also used write nasty things about people in my journal i understand you queen