Title : The Railway Children
Author: E. Nesbit
Publication year : 1906 (click here to download the e-book on Project Gutenberg).
As you might have known, I have a thing for middle grade books. I find them to be heartwarming and of course, addicting. Classic books, however is another story. I am still very picky with this beauty. So, I tried my luck with this book and just hoped for the best.
When reading the summary, I found out that the story is about the children that live in poverty. I love reading stories about people who struggle. Those children are Peter, Roberta and Phyllis. The move to a countryside near a railway station after their father is being send to prison.They grow to love the railway and do exciting adventures. They also get to know the employees and people who live nearby.
My first impression of The Railway Children is that it's the typical sweet children from previous century. If you've read Anne of Green Gables or The Secret Garden, you'll get the idea. They are somewhat alike.They make mistakes and they constantly try to do good. I understand that it's the authors way in teaching morals to the young readers, but to my ahem, modern point of view, this is excruciatingly dated. I find the children are like machine, they have no personality, all they do is do good or sometimes quarreling with each other and of course apologizing after it, it's a never-ending circle.
The plot on this book is also repetitive, which is a shame. The children act as heroes and save people who need help to bring to their home later, because their mother is sweet and kindhearted like an angel *sighs* This goes on and on the entire book, very annoying. Speaking of the mother, she's the character I dislike the most on this book, despite of her angelic qualities. Her children believe in her, but she treats them as if their feelings don't matter. She doesn't want the children to find out about the whereabouts of their father and they are not to ask questions about it, which I think is downright mean. Those children have the right to know, don't you think? He's the father, for God's sake. See, this is 21st century reader talking, please bear with me, I can't help it.
It is also said that she sells stories to make ends meet and she writes all day and night. Yes, she neglects her children and let them roaming around the countryside, talking to strangers and even going to dangerous places. I guess the rules "don't talk to strangers" and "always have an adult when going outside" don't apply yet back then?
"So you've made another lot of friends," said Mother; "first the railway and then the canal!"
"Oh yes," said Bobbie; "I think everyone in the world is friends if you can only get them to see you don't want to be UN-friends"
I could go on and on, so I'd stop right here. It's pretty clear that The Railway Children is not my cup of tea, despite of my love of children literature. I enjoyed The Secret Garden, I hoped this was a similar story, but it's not. Mary is much more likable than these railway robots.
Quite an irony, the favorite quote, in fact, comes from the Mother:
Oh, and this one touches my heart and make me realize that this book isn't all bad :"Don't you think it's rather nice to think that we're in a book that God's writing? If I were writing the book, I might make mistakes. But God knows how to make the story end just right -- in the way that's best for us"
They ran. And once more they waved their handkerchiefs, without at all minding whether the handkerchiefs were clean or not, to the 9.15.
"Take our love to Father!" cried Bobbie. And the other too, shouted: -- "Take our love to Father!"
2 rating for The Railway Children. I wanted to love this book so bad, but I just couldn't. If you are trying to find classic children book, try The Secret Garden instead, if you haven't read it. Now your turn, do you like classic books? What's the last classic you read? Was it good?
