Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
I finished this a few days ago and as I said earlier I had not read it before but it was high up on my reading list. Apart from it being an interesting story I enjoyed it mostly, I think, because putting aside the extravagances of a children's book (the over-friendliness of the animals, etc.) the book was written by an author who keeps to the truth of the environment the story is set in and that backed by sound knowledge.
For example, how many authors would know that birds have nictitating membranes to lubricate their eyes? Hence the several mentions of Soot the crow's eyes going grey. Her comments regarding the various garden plants and their care always stack up.
Another example was with respect to the many mentions of the wind when setting scenes; how it felt, the smells carried by it, its sounds, etc. all of which matched reality in a very honest and knowledgeable way with no exaggerations. The references portrayed correctly how wind actually behaves and its effects on other things. I could not help but remember reading Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway where there are also many references to the wind, but where the references as to the behavior and effects of wind are commonly either dishonest for literary effect, or are imagined by an unknowledgeable Woolf (as she did with waves also).
Regarding the message of the story I read an eBook having the original great illustrations and some notes and activities at the end; in the notes on Burnett they state she is best remembered for her novel of renewal and redemption, The Secret Garden. I thought that she had delivered that message well, it unexaggerated within the extravagances of a children's story.
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There is a essay
My Robin (not
Robin) which talks about the robin that inspired the one in
The Secret Garden.
Having read some of her adult books I would say the extravagances are less due to the intended audience then the author. The children's books that she is best known for are restrained in comparison to her book
Robin. I read
The Secret Garden as a child and adult and felt I gained from doing so. I read
Robin as an adult and felt it was a enjoyable waste of a few hours.
(One reviewer at Good Reads stated that
Robin is absolutely sickeningly sentimental and utter bathos, the reviewer also gave it four stars. I happen to completely agree with both the evaluation and the rating. )