Melanie J. Fishbane

Welp, this one was almost a DNF, but I try really, really hard to always finish a book.
I picked this one back up after about 14 months of only getting through the first half.
It is a fictionalized, well-researched take on the teenaged years of one of my favorite authors, L.M. Montgomery.

Looking back, I *think* I waited so long to finish it because it was just too tinged with sadness, seeing how some of L. M. Montgomery's life experiences weren't quite so far off from those of Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, two of her beloved characters. The plight of girls/women in Montgomery's time and what limited aspirations they could hold dear was excruciating to read.

The second half of the book was quicker for me to get through. Finished the second half in less than a day. Light (happiness?) at the end of the tunnel for poor Maudie and her friends? The epilogue chapters and bibliography make for interesting reading as well.… (más)

This is very much a "based on a true story" rendition of L.M. Montgomery's teenage years. It was a fun read and does help bring Maud to life as a person during a period not as well covered in biographies and her journals. It's definitely a YA novel and, if it weren't about my favorite author, is probably one I would have passed by as an adult, but given the subject, I enjoyed it.

I appreciate how Fishbane included a section at the end discussing where she took liberties. The only one I disagree with was softening Montgomery's attitude toward the indigenous groups out in Saskatchewan. While Montgomery might have been a bit more sympathetic than most, her views were colored by the racism of the time, and the kinship Maud felt in the novel rang false to me, as someone who has read some of Montgomery's stories which haven't aged as well. Even if this is a YA novel, I don't think that's something we should ignore. Beyond that, the liberties Fishbane took were perfectly reasonable for turning messy real life into a story.… (más)

In this novel inspired by the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, 14-year-old Maud lives with her grandparents on Prince Edward Island, goes to school, and dreams of going to college and becoming a writer. Throughout the novel, we follow her as she grows, through her first love, through moving to rural Saskatchewan with her father and stepmother, and through her return to the island, as she learns more about herself and her ambitions along the way.

I won this in the Early Reviewers program. I think I might not have been the target audience -- I like the Anne books, but I'm not a superfan, and that colored my opinion of this book, I think. The first half of the book honestly just feels like Anne of Green Gables rehashed -- Maud goes to school, gets into fights with some of the students, gets into trouble at home, etc. I have read a few novels by Michaela MacColl that are inspired by the early lives of famous authors, but MacColl usually creates her own original story out of the factual base, and I think that's what I was expecting here -- but this book just didn't seem very inspired and stayed maybe a little too close to the source material for a work of fiction. Maud was also pretty annoying in the younger years. As the book progresses and she gets older and moves to Saskatchewan, I found myself my drawn in by the story and enjoying it more. 3 stars, recommended more for Montgomery superfans.… (más)