The Secret Garden

Rating:
Summary: A book where love for a friend conquers all.
Review: I read this book when I was in fourth grade in Taipei American School. No other books have touched me in such a way since then. The full expresssion of love and trust, of believing in what you can do...It serves as a spiritual guide to all that is emotionally wounded. It has confirmed my belief that despite every adversity that are placed in front of you, there is nothing that one cannot overcome. As long as you believe that you can. Many of us spent all our lives searching for a sanctuary to heal our wounds, like the "Secret Garden" that Mary has discovered. But eventually, you will realize that the real peace is what you find in yourself, especially after you have read this magnificant book. After reading for so many times, there are still so many things to discover in there

Rating:
Summary: This book can really hit home for some people!
Review: This book is a very sentimental book. Yet a very heartwarming book. I recommend for everybody to read it!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A timeless classic. . .
Review: Plain and colorless Mary goes to live at her great uncle's house after being orphaned. She meets Colin, the cousin she'd never known, Martha, who is always happy and sweet, Dickon, the boy who is magic with animals, but most of all she meets The Secret Garden, a garden locked up for several years, but now being opened by Mary and her new friends

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story...
Review: I first read this book when I was six years old. I fell in love with the secret garden, with the idea of a place that could cure broken hearts and restore health and happiness. I must have read that book hundreds of times, to myself, friends, children and grandchildren. It has a special place in my heart, and will earn one in your's, too. I honestly hope that anyone who needs hope in their life will share in the special magic of a forgotten garden

Rating:
Summary: A Secret Garden and a not-so-secret theological philosophy
Review: One question may pop up when thinking about Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden". How much of it is literature and how much is religion philosophy in disguise? This novel contains both of them, and while it can be annoying for some adults, the religion approach, kids may never realize that the book is trying to talk them into `a new form of religion'.

Many of the events of Mary Lennox's childhood depicted in the novel mirror those in Burnett's days as a child. However, "The Secret Garden" isn't only an autobiographical novel. When writing the book, this author was under the influence of the the influence of the ideas of the New Thought, theosophy, and Christian Science movements -- which were very popular in the turn of the 20 Century.

What Colin and Mary call "Magic" in the novel is much related to the idea that the spirit known as God held to be present everywhere, and especially in nature. These Christian Science and New Thoughts also believe in positive thinking changing people's lives, curing oneself of illness through this kind of magical thinking, or changing the character of one's fortunes. Bearing this in mind, it is clear that the characters search for a divine cure -- which might be found in the Garden.

While most of the novel is told in an almost magical tone, near the end, the real motifs are revealed, when the children gather to sing religious songs and prayers. Much of the Christian Science is explicitly present in this last part of the novel. When one character says that "say things over and over and think about them until they stay in your mind forever" it is related to the emphasis upon the power and necessity of positive thinking.

While "The Secret Garden" is not a bad novel, its religious content may bother many readers. It is not very preachy, but at some point, the writer abandons the shyness and spread her religion beliefs everywhere. It is her right of doing it, but it is also a reader's right to know that and decide if he/she wants to read about a group of kids finding religion and having their lives changed.