artsycutie Review of The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden (2020)

The book was better but I still enjoyed it

[7/10 · 12 August 2020]

I still remember being a little girl and seeing my dad building my first bookshelf in my room and my mom putting my first book onto the bookshelf. Not knowing that the book was going to change my life, I read a book about loss and tragedy, but also about life and innocence. It was the first time I learned about the moral of the book, which was that a child's love and kindness can heal the emotional scars of their parents. I remember reading this book over and over again because it was so beautiful. As it was the first book I had ever read in my entire life, I would probably remember it for the rest of my life. I cried throughout the film, thinking about the first time I ever opened this book. I kept this book so close to my heart because it is about rejuvenation and healing. There's so many beautiful metaphors and symbolism in it; I remember that the children saved the secret garden, and in return the garden saved them. The grief and loss and despair of parents was something I didn't understand as a child, but I understood much later how important it is that even a child can teach an adult many lessons. At the end of the film, the father said: "How is it that we are taught by our children?" I thought this line was the most powerful one because he had made so many mistakes in his life, but his son taught him to forgive and think about life and how beautiful life can be, like the secret garden. Anyways, I prefer the book much more than the film, but I'm so grateful that this was the first book I ever owned and read