Frances Hodgson Burnett - A Little Princess

Sent to board at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, Sara is devastated when her adored father dies. Suddenly penniless, Sara is banished to an attic room where she is starved, abused, and forced to work as a servant. How this exceptionally intelligent girl uses the only resources available to her, imagination and friendship, to overcome her situation and change her fortunes is at the centre of this enduring classic.
First published in 1905, A Little Princess is a heart-warming tale of hope, hardship and love set against a backdrop of Victorian England, and is one of the best-loved stories in all of children's literature.

Comment: This is a small book which I wanted to read for a long time. I finally got the book and read it very quickly, not only because it is small but also because it was very easy to read and want to know how it would end.

In this classic story, better known for its public target audience, children, we meet Sara Crewe whose father brings her from India to stay at a girls' school in England. Sara is a wonderful child, with many virtues and also wealth and the love of her father. At first, her time at school is filled with the usual routines and relationships, even though the owner of the school isn't too fond of Sara, since she is wiser beyond her young years.

However, things change when the news of Sara's father death and the complete loss of his fortune reaches the school. Suddenly, Sara goes from favorite student to servant and her position is altered beyond possibility. But Sara is a princess inside, she never loses her empathy, her caring, her dedication, her friendly and fair personality... she is ready to endure what life is throwing at her until a benefactor starts to leave some surprised for Sara. Could it be that fate has something else to bestow on Sara, to suit her loving and good heart?

Who is to say adults cannot appreciate and be touched by children's literature? I liked this story a lot for two reasons: it did make me think about my childhood and all the innocent and easy thoughts of those days and because it can only be a good thing to read about friendly people overcoming bad things and become even better people.

Of course, through the eyes of an adult, the way this happened is just too fantasy-like to be really accepted, but that's fiction for you: the hope in something good.

I'd say the biggest issue, besides the dated elements of a story written when it was (1905), is the fact there are some unfair representations in this book and the main character, Sara, doesn't really evolve nor grows up. Even in the midst of much difficulty, she remains positive, she remains confident n her own self and her own abilities over others. She does not do this out of malice, for she doesn't have it; but she is too perfect.

We can now read this as its intended lesson: if children are good, if they behave and if they are witty and good-natured, then there will be a reward. Things aren't simplistic like this in real life, but the aim here is to teach, to shape and idea of good behavior into those who might not really be such way. By comparing this story with the other famous one by this author, The Secret Garden, one can say the main character in both is very similar except in personality. What to think when they both have a reward but Mary does evolve and Sara remains "perfect"?

But adult issues aside, and all the musings one could enter while discussing the message of the story, or the setting which infers a lot of prejudice and historical wrongs, this story is worth it for the images and the attempt to preserve a time when innocence was to be appreciated.

For me, all adult considerations aside, this story is worth it for the images it provokes in me. The nobility of someone being harshly and wrongly mistreated because there is no longer money, but who still maintains a pose, a dignity and a generous side (even though not aware of it) as Sara does is certainly something to appreciate. But this tale is made of moments, of feelings and if I couldn't imagine how it must be to lose a parent at such a young age, there was one specific scene that left me thinking and reminiscent on my own past.

When Sara's father brings her to the school and then leaves while Sara watches the car disappear I immediately thought about a similar experience, but to me it happened when I went to the university. My father left me and my roommate in the house we would be sharing and the apartment was in the third floor. I stayed on, watching him climb down the stairs. He stopped and said "goodbye" as did I. When he left, I entered and closed the door and went to the room's balcony, which would oversee the road he would take to drive away. Let me tell, you, it's an image that never leaves me: my dad's car moving further and further away to home while I stayed there. I was lucky I was not alone, I had a friend, but...this emotion never stops, the idea people we care about leave and might not return...

I think these little (big) moments are what makes the story amazing. We can imagine Sara or any other child like her in the same situation, how one must cope. There are beautiful images to be thought of in this little novel and I think that, if one reads this through the eyes of our inner child and focusing on the simplest things, this can be a great story indeed.

Of course there are just too many coincidences but this is fiction, so... It was still worth a read.

Grade: 8/10

Mini-Comments

Collection of twenty-four stories that generously expresses Murakami’s mastery of the form. From the surreal to the mundane, these stories exhibit his ability to transform the full range of human experience in ways that are instructive, surprising, and relentlessly entertaining. Here are animated crows, a criminal monkey, and an iceman, as well as the dreams that shape us and the things we might wish for. Whether during a chance reunion in Italy, a romantic exile in Greece, a holiday in Hawaii, or in the grip of everyday life, Murakami’s characters confront grievous loss, or sexuality, or the glow of a firefly, or the impossible distances between those who ought to be closest of all.

 

After losing her parents, young Mary Lennox is sent from India to live in her uncle's gloomy mansion on the wild English moors. She is lonely and has no one to play with, but one day she learns of a secret garden somewhere in the grounds that no one is allowed to enter. Then Mary uncovers an old key in a flowerbed - and a gust of magic leads her to the hidden door. Slowly she turns the key and enters a world she could never have imagined. 

Two more mini-comments on books that I liked enough to appreciate its value or "message" but that I probably won't feel like re-reading in the future.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami is a set of 24 stories which I've read in Portuguese. I liked other titles by this author in the past and I was trying to see if those had been a so-called fluke or if I really could love the author's work in general. 

I think I wasn't as successful because despite these stories being interesting, considering the whimsical and often magical realism style of the author, I just didn't find them all that captivating. Some were cute, some were well thought but most felt too much disconnected from reality that not even by accepting them as metaphors I could really enjoy them.

I won't talk about each one but I can say that from the 24, my favorites were, in order of appearance:

2nd Story: Birthday Girl (a girl asks for a wish and the reader must wonder exactly how it came to be true)

16th Story – The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes (it's clearly a metaphor for Murakami's experience with critics of his books and his writing path)
21st Story – Hanalei Bay (About a woman who loses her son to a shark attack and returns every year to that place as homage, I thought it was emotionally well done)

All in all, one could also notice the change in strength in the year each story was written, most of the last ones felt more consistent and all wee written in 00s. Something to think about regarding his style but I'm now not certain if I prefer his full length books or if my interest has diminished. I'll try another book eventually, to reach a conclusion. 

Grade: 6/10

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson  Burnett is a classic for children (and adults too, of course) and tells us the story of young Mary Lennox whose parents die in India and she is sent back to England to live with her uncle. However, her uncle doesn't seem to be that interested in her, which means Mary is pretty much alone except for the servants. At first Mary is very arrogant and ill mannered and quite spoiled from how she was treated back in India.  With time, though, she started to go outside, to become interested in the garden and by discovering an entrance to a garden which has been forbidden makes her discover a lot about herself and also in how others are worthy people and friends.As the plot progresses, Mary goes through an evolution of who she is as a person, as well as helping others doing the same.

There is clearly a lesson here, not that hard to understand but for children I can see why it would be a good way of letting you think about how to be nice for people and how having a sunny disposition can make you happier and those around you as well. From the point of view of a reader, I can see the appeal. From my own personal preferences, this was quite simplistic and I did assume it would be/feel even more special, so i do feel rather disappointed with the emotional impact. Perhaps the writing didn't convey as much feeling as I imagined it would. It was nice to read, though.

Grade: 6/10