Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

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

8 reviews

nimeneth's review against another edition

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

2.5

I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I think some of the conflict I feel about it is due to the fact that it just doesn't... Feel right compared with the original. The other books of the Remixed Classics series I've read have at least carried over some of the same feeling as the original tales they're based off, but this one turns the story into a Cinderella story mixed with a mystery and it just doesn't work for me.

I also didn't love the characters. Mary was alright, and I liked Flora, but the rest of the characters just felt a little shallow? Not sad I read this overall but I think I set my expectations wrong.

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jashanac's review against another edition

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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. 

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brooketreads's review against another edition

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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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spacerkip's review against another edition

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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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tlaynejones's review

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dark emotional slow-paced

3.75


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caidyn's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was quite a cute and lighthearted read. It has some difficult and tough topics, but overall it shines as a sweet read.

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citrus_seasalt's review

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

At some times endearing, at others on-the-nose. The cast of characters was charming, but I can see the story working better if Mary was just a year younger. If you're a fan of the author, I recommend you still check it out, but I can't say it'll be the strongest work in her catalog. I also have not read the original Secret Garden story, some of the negative reviews came from aging Mary up but I cannot comment on (most of) it for that reason.

I did, however, really like the pacing of the queer romance. I was appropriately happy when Mary realized her feelings for Sophie, the two's dynamic was genuinely cute, and I liked that unlike a few YA novels, this wasn't a first love scenario. Mary's sapphic identity was revealed earlier on in the story, she originally spent the time thinking about a former crush-slash-almost-friend(which doesn't go anywhere, lol, it's just nice to see childhood crushes represented like that), but later on she develops an actual love for Sophie.

Easily, the Indigenous characters were the most fleshed-out besides Mary. (Which isn't surprising, considering the author.) Flora was a fun addition of much-needed snark when Rebecca was introduced.

Some of the story notes felt repetitive, though, like the titular "bright open" motif. I get that it was used only when needed, but my annoyance came from the tell-not-show writing. Some of the themes of community, loneliness, and different kinds of love could've been gathered from analysis and not spelling them out imo.

Works very well as a children's/middle-grade book, though, if you remove the occasional cursing.

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kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.5


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