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A review by jashanac
Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix by Cherie Dimaline
3.0
Summary:
A Secret Garden "remix" set in Canada with Metis characters and a sapphic romance. Mary Craven's parents die leaving her orphaned and she is sent to live at the country manor of her uncle she has never met.
Re-Readability:
I don't see myself re-reading this one. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't find any element captivating enough to want to experience it again.
Writing:
There were some lovely lines and I do enjoy Dimaline's overall authorial voice.
Characters:
I enjoyed the characters overall, but there was something kind of bugging me and I couldn't put my finger on it until toward the end... someone mentioned hearing rumors about Mary's terrible tantrums... and I realized that in this book, she never actually had any. We saw a few moments in the beginning of her being a bit surly or snotty, and stomping her feet... but very much NOT the Mary that we know from the original story.
I'm not even very familiar with the original book -- I've only read it once, in adulthood -- but the 90's movie was a childhood favorite of mine (and very closely matches the original book).
So then I realized that not only was Mary watered-down... but so was Olive (meant to be Colin, from the original). Due to this their "growth" in this story was not actually very obvious and also any mention of it felt unearned.
Plot:
Another thing I felt was lacking a bit, was the actual garden itself. There wasn't enough description of it to set the magical atmosphere like there definitely was in the movie, and also was in the original book. I didn't feel the magic of the secret garden much at all, and I missed that.
The pacing also was a bit off for me -- the final few chapters felt very rushed and the reunion between Olive & her father was SO abridged that it was a bit odd to me. It felt awkward & stilted.
I do like the addition of more of a conversation happening around a minority group in this reimagining -- that is definitely an element of the original book that was very much "of its time" -- the racism on the page without much said about it. Having the servants of the house be Metis and therefore Mary having more interactions with them meant we got a deeper conversation in that regard and got to actually see some of their experience from their perspectives.
Themes:
Human need for companionship. Friendship. Found family. Bravery. Love. Colonization.
A Secret Garden "remix" set in Canada with Metis characters and a sapphic romance. Mary Craven's parents die leaving her orphaned and she is sent to live at the country manor of her uncle she has never met.
Re-Readability:
I don't see myself re-reading this one. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't find any element captivating enough to want to experience it again.
Writing:
There were some lovely lines and I do enjoy Dimaline's overall authorial voice.
Characters:
I enjoyed the characters overall, but there was something kind of bugging me and I couldn't put my finger on it until toward the end... someone mentioned hearing rumors about Mary's terrible tantrums... and I realized that in this book, she never actually had any. We saw a few moments in the beginning of her being a bit surly or snotty, and stomping her feet... but very much NOT the Mary that we know from the original story.
I'm not even very familiar with the original book -- I've only read it once, in adulthood -- but the 90's movie was a childhood favorite of mine (and very closely matches the original book).
So then I realized that not only was Mary watered-down... but so was Olive (meant to be Colin, from the original). Due to this their "growth" in this story was not actually very obvious and also any mention of it felt unearned.
Plot:
Another thing I felt was lacking a bit, was the actual garden itself. There wasn't enough description of it to set the magical atmosphere like there definitely was in the movie, and also was in the original book. I didn't feel the magic of the secret garden much at all, and I missed that.
The pacing also was a bit off for me -- the final few chapters felt very rushed and the reunion between Olive & her father was SO abridged that it was a bit odd to me. It felt awkward & stilted.
I do like the addition of more of a conversation happening around a minority group in this reimagining -- that is definitely an element of the original book that was very much "of its time" -- the racism on the page without much said about it. Having the servants of the house be Metis and therefore Mary having more interactions with them meant we got a deeper conversation in that regard and got to actually see some of their experience from their perspectives.
Themes:
Human need for companionship. Friendship. Found family. Bravery. Love. Colonization.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Child abuse
There's an element of a parental figure purposely keeping a child "sick" and confined.