The Long Secret

This sequel to Harriet the Spy is, in my opinion, a better and more enjoyable book than the original. The frame of the novel is the mystery of who is sending pointed notes anonymously to residents of a summer holiday resort. Harriet is a main character and is determined to find out who is doing it, but she is no longer the focus, as a lot of the book is from the POV of her timid friend Beth Ellen.

A major part of the book deals with the return from abroad of Beth Ellen's ghastly mother who has abandoned her for years to be raised by her grandmother, but now waltzes in, with her latest boyfriend in tow, and proceeds to treat her daughter like a possession while continuing to neglect her and dismiss her wishes. The book also has some show more vividly realised minor characters such as the members of the Jenkins family, and these provide the humour in the story. The final resolution is satisfying also as the clues have been there, but deftly sidestepped. show less

This book starts out wonderfully, with a mystery worthy of Harriet's particular skill set. Someone is leaving notes for people around town, usually biblical quotes with an amusing relevance (though unsettling to the recipients!) But after a while it's all but forgotten and the story shifts to mousy Beth Ellen and her vacuous, self-absorbed mother, who is returning after years spent away in Europe. We are supposed to hate this woman, of course, but these situations go on and on and are quite unpleasant. Beth Ellen, though we can tell she has something bubbling beneath the surface, is too wishy-washy to be of interest. Harriet herself is rather horrid, always yelling at her friends, no more the likeable rogue she was in the first book. show more The only appealing character is Janie, the intellectual, but she is only in the book briefly. There are strange digressions about religion and menstruation that seem out of place. The mystery of the notes is finally solved as an afterthought in the last few pages. There are a lot of good bits throughout the book, which still earn it a decent rating, but it's not nearly as enjoyable as Harriet the Spy. show less

This Harriet the Spy book is all about Beth Ellen's coming into herself.
Sometimes hard to follow, but Beth Ellen's journey to self knowledge is interesting.

Worst cover ever short-list. Why? The author made it perfectly clear what the girls look like with her own interior illustrations. Well, it's an awful book anyway. I suppose it's meant to have some humor in it, but most of the jokes are so mean-spirited, making fun of what people like Mama Jenkins and Wallace look like, for example. I miss Sport; he was the only redeeming feature of the first book imo. The only redeeming feature of this is the mystery. It's worse than Catcher in the Rye, and Harriet screams and throws temper tantrums even more, and there's a lot of tears and even a lecture on menstruation, and there's not even a nod towards Lord of the Flies like there was in the first book. I do like the few instances of Mouse showing show more spunk, though, so I guess I'll give it two stars instead of one. show less

Read during Spring 2004

It was a few years back when I read Harriet the Spy so I can't recall if I found Harriet as annoying as I did this time. I can see how it was fairly daring for the 1960's but now seems like most of the 70's pre-teen novels. Enjoyable.

#2020unreadshelfprojet. As much as I loved Harriet the Spy, I really did not enjoy this one. I’m finding it hard to imagine a young reader enjoying it either. It wasn’t the fun, quirky story like Harriet the Spy, this was mixed up and really did not compel me to read on. I felt like the characters were all over the place, so many if them didn’t matter. I will not be picking this one off the shelf to recommend to readers

told mostly from beth ellen's point of view, this book was kind of harsh on harriet. i feel like it was mean of fitzhugh to dump on the admittedly obnoxious heroine of her previous book.