Book Review: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1911

Mary Lennox is a dreadful child. She's a sickly and frail orphan, but it's still not easy to feel sympathy for her because she has a strong streak of cruelty in her young personality. When a cholera plague strikes her part of India and kills both her parents, she is sent to England to live with her uncle Archibald (!) Craven (!??!) who I'm pretty sure spends his free time as a villain in the Marvel comic universe. She arrives at Misselthwaite Manor and meets the housekeeper Mrs. Medlock, but she is far from coming "home" because she's an unattended guest in a giant gloomy house full of dozens of locked rooms. 

But there are bright points. The housemaid Martha is a sunshiny older girl who speaks kindly to Mary. (Martha's lovely and nearly incomprehensible Yorkshire accent is wonderful.) She's a maidservant with the heart of a poet, and she'd make a great protagonist in another book. As it is, she's mainly a catalyst to get Mary to meet her younger brother Dickon, a 12-year-old who knows how to charm animals. Through spending time outdoors and spending time with Dickon, Mary's attitudes toward the world change and she finds herself able to help her uber-unpleasant cousin Colin by befriending him and showing him the secret garden she has discovered.

This is my fourth time reading this book, but my first time since childhood. Here are a few themes and subjects I noticed in this story this time around:


A Sense of Belonging: Mary wonders why she never "belonged" to anyone, because she sees children who seem to belong to their parents. However, she has never officially missed the sense of family camaraderie because she didn't know what she was missing. Martha and Dickon's family, the Sowerby's, are like the ultimate place of belonging--they reach out to others and make them equal to family. Martha's mom even uses money her family needs to buy Mary a jump rope because she feels sorry for the poor neglected girl.

Gothic trimmings: Somehow, moving to a 600-year-old gloomy mansion on the edge of a moor sounds awesome. Manor home full of locked rooms? Secretive uncle with a slight deformity and a broken heart? House with extensive gardens and a tragic history? Bring it on. Mary is rather excited about moving to such a mysterious and curious place, and I would be, too.

Unreasonable period of mourning: What is it with Englishmen and their unending grief in these old stories? In contemporary American stories (at least more romantic ones), a spouse dies and the remaining partner is conflicted about whether remarrying within the year is too soon. In 100-year-old British stories, a man loses his wife and spends the next twenty years ignoring his children, shunning his relatives, and generally making life miserable for everyone. Mr. Archibald Craven is a prime example of this phenomenon. His lovely wife passes away and he refuses to even see his ill son or his orphaned niece! Oy.

Growing up and growing healthy: Mary begins to physically grow at Misselthwaite, just as she is growing emotionally and psychologically. It's incredibly gratifying to see Mary becoming a stronger, faster and all-around healthier child even as she's becoming a more decent human being and developing her own personality. It's a wonder that she doesn't explode from all the positive changes she experiences on so many fronts.

Love of Nature: Mary's love for gardening is actually foreshadowed at the very beginning of the novel. When she is left alone to play in India, she sticks broken hibiscus flowers into the ground as if she's planting them. Mary has no idea of what to do with self-directed play and free time, but it's interesting that the first thing she tries is mock-gardening.

This book is just plain charming. You get a thoroughly unlikable protagonist who gradually transforms into a true young heroine. The garden scenes are breathtaking and every character, however minor, feels 100% real. This book is rightly regarded as a classic and it makes good reading for children and adults alike. None of us can ever get enough of fresh growth and personal discoveries.   Grade: A

Some quotes:

Ben: "Everybody knows him. Dickon's wanderin' about everywhere. Th' very blackberries an' heather-bells knows him. I warrant th' foxes shows him where their cubs lies an' th' skylarks doesn't hide their nests from him." (pg 41)

"Four good things had happened to her, in fact, since she came to Misselthwaite Manor. She had felt as if she had understood a robin and that he had understood her; she had run in the wind until her blood had grown warm; she had been healthily hungry for the first time in her life; and she had found out what it was to be sorry for some one." (pg 49)

Mary: "Dickon," she said, "you are as nice as Martha said you were. I like you, and you make the fifth person. I never thought I should like five people." (pg)

Book Review: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Link Free Download

Book Review: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Roald Dahl, 1972

Written a decade after the original book, this sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is very inventive and is a pretty big departure from the original. It's still wacky and fanciful, but more like a science fiction book than the sort of magical world shown in book one.

Charlie is flying in the Great Glass Elevator with Willy Wonka, his parents, Grandpa Joe, and three other grandparents who are sitting in a rickety bed they refuse to leave. But the grandfolks soon revolt against Wonka's weirdness, and a mishap causes the Glass Elevator to fly up into orbit. While in space, they see the flying Space Hotel luxury resort, have a battle with some Vermicious Knids, then finally come back for more adventures at the chocolate factory.

Hmm. I don't always enjoy seeing the rest of the Wonka-verse portrayed in this book, especially the subplot with the Space Hotel. So much of the book seems like an excuse to toss in clever puns and knock-knock jokes, mostly spoken by characters other than the main cast. Even Wonka's angry gobbledygook speech in "Martian" is one long word gag. And there's another downside--I know I shouldn't take it too seriously, but the treatment of the Chinese side characters seems very racist. Then again, almost every side character in the book looks like a total buffoon, including the president of the United States, so maybe it's equal-opportunity childrens' book satire.

But it is neat that the three grandparents besides Grandpa Joe form the new cast of Misbehaving Young'uns. They aren't as ill-mannered as Veruca Salt and the other kids from book one, but they do fill similar roles. Unlike Charlie and Grandpa Joe, they don't believe in Willy Wonka's crazy methods and they frequently label him as a loony. Which, yanno, is kind of an accurate assessment. But in the Wonka-verse, non-believers in the Wonka craziness are usually left out in the cold.  The grandparents also complain loudly when Wonka puts a stop to their fun, which is also reminiscent of the chocolate factory brats from the previous book.

I do still love how Wonka refuses to explain anything. He says that the elevator is powered by "skyhooks", but when asked to explain more about skyhooks, he just replies that he's getting deafer every day and ignores the question. And I also like when the cast finally gets back to the chocolate factory, and we get to see some more cool inventions like Wonka-Vite, a pill that makes you younger.

Things that Happen in the Great Glass Elevator that People Think Happened in the Chocolate Factory: 1. The mention of vermicious knids. They are mentioned in the 1971 film Willy Wonka, but not in the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In this book, vermicious knids are actually a main villain.

Villains that Look Like Guitar Picks, With Eyes.

2. The phrase "We have so much time and so little to do! No! Wait! Strike that! Reverse it! Thank you!" Again, the line is in the 1971 movie, but not in the original book.

There are some high points to this sequel, but unless you're a dedicated Roald Dahl fan, this might be one book to skip. Grade: B-

Best lines:

-"Charlie," said Grandma Josephine. "I don't think I trust this gentleman very much."

"Nor do I," said Grandma Georgina. "He footles around."

-"Oh my dears!" cried Grandma Georgina. "We'll be lixivated, every one of us!"

"More than likely," said Mr. Wonka.

[To my surprise, lixivated is actually a word: "Lixivate, to wash or percolate the soluble matter from."]

Book Review: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl Link Free Download