Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix by Cherie Dimaline

5 reviews

crystalisreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Confinement, Racism, and Ableism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Cursing, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Lesbophobia, Car accident, Genocide, and Forced institutionalization

Threats of being sent to Indian boarding school

brooketreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I thought this was pretty good. I will say, I’ve never read The Secret Garden though. 😅 I loved Mary and Olive developing a friendship. I may love found family (quite literally in this case). I thought the very end with them was so sweet.

I did find the story predictable. As I said, I haven’t read The Secret Garden so I have no clue how closely it follows that. I found the pacing a little off - this may be just me. I’m not really a fan of historical fiction, so this may have been some of my issue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Death of parent and Classism

spacerkip's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.5

It's been a good 16 years since I read the original, so I remember the plot well enough, but the finer details are a bit too fuzzy for me to really critique this as a Secret Garden remix. Even if this retelling didn't grip me the way I hoped it would, I still very much enjoyed it! The new cultural context (and the sapphic romance) breathed fresh life into a story I remember loving as a child.

Some of the reasons this didn't quite click are entirely personal - I found the third act conflict pretty triggering (child abuse involving isolation and subjecting someone to harmful medical treatments), so I skimmed through a lot of the last chapters. I also wish there was more time spent in the titular secret garden. I remember there being a lot of attention drawn to different plants and how to tend a garden in the original, and I would have enjoyed seeing this translated with Ontarian plants and wildlife.

All in all, an enjoyable read! Gonna keep going down the list of these remixes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Racism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Classism and Sexism

tlaynejones's review

dark emotional slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Death of parent, Confinement, Chronic illness, Classism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

fanboyriot's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Read For:

Retellings

Hurt/Comfort

Historical Fiction

Angst with a Happy Ending

The Secret Garden but Make it Sapphic

Normally, I’m not a big classic reader and only a handful I’ve managed to like but this was such a lovely rewrite of the classic: The Secret Garden with a queer theme woven into it.

"But there was one person who could speak up, that would make them listen, and it was her." (Page 157, Chapter 18)

There was an overall magical vibe to the settings in general and while there are some depressing and darker moments in this book it really had such a nice charm to it.  The writing style was really nice to read, the characters (other than a few) were all quite lovely, and the ending was really satisfying to read.  Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(Third Person POV)
Spice: None

Rep: Lesbian MC, BIPOC LI/SCs

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexism, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse