So my grandma gave me this book back when I was a kid and ungrateful sod that I was, I never bothered to read it until now because it didn't align with my reading interests at the time. As an adult I have much broader tastes and I'm not so quick to reject a book just because it's not like my favourites. This book contains three books about Anne and her life, so I'm going to give my thoughts on each separately.

Anne of Green Gables
I liked Anne a lot more than I thought I would, with her imagination and big speeches. I also became very fond of Mathew Cuthbert, the quiet gentle man with a soft heart. I did sort of feel like the middle of the book became a bit episodic without an overarching plot, but that would probably make it quite good for reading kids a chapter each night before bed. I saw Anne's big decision coming at the conclusion and wasn't very happy at the idea she might have to give up her education, but I think it was handled well.

Anne of Avonlea
Anne's continuing adventures as she becomes a school mistress in her home town, and she and Marilla acquire a couple of new orphans - twins. I sort of feel like Dora was a wasted character - why bother having twins if one of them has basically no character and doesn't matter to the story in the slightest? I know she is a foil for Davy but it would have been nice if an episode had focused on her, maybe getting in some sort of trouble by being too prim and proper. I liked the romance and the wedding as well as Anne's maturation and character development.

Anne's House of Dreams
Anne is newly married and moves to a new town with her husband Gilbert. This book is a bit darker and seems to be more Leslie's story than Anne's. The idea of a disabled person being a curse and terrible burden would not hold up well today I think, although nowadays I don't think anyone would judge Leslie if she chose to divorce "Dick" and move on with a new partner. I was dreading the possibility that they might resolve the situation by killing off the disabled guy, but thankfully that's not the direction the author chose to go. Phew.

Overall
One of the best examples of character development I've seen with Anne becoming more mature and sensible throughout the books, but not losing her vivacity or imagination. Beautiful depictions of the settings as the seasons change, like a love letter to the place and time of the story.

Thanks, grandma.

( )

Anne is just so captivating. One of the best stories. The characters, the dialogue, the description of the scenery. Everything is divine. It never grows old reading about Anne, her family, friends and her life. ( )

read in childhood. I can hardly remember... ( )

Revisting childhood favorites hasn't been a good exercise for me, tarnishing my hazy & happy memories of, among other things, Thundercats, state fairs, that flannel nightgown I loved, and the smell of curry powder.

I'm so glad that Anne is still a girl I would like to be friends with, Prince Edward Island still sounds like a wonderful place to live, and I still want to wrap the stories and people of Avonlea around me like an nubby, comfy blanket.

I pulled this down off the shelf because of booze - a friend couldn't remember if it was strawberry cordial & elderberry wine in Anne & Diana's disastrous party. It's raspberry cordial and currant wine, btw. After the fact-checking, I kept reading. And reading, and reading. I reacquainted myself with all the schoolchildren and nosy neighbors. Anne's feud with Gilbert was so silly. I floated romantically with Anne*, hah. Her insecurities, I felt them. Her indomitable optimism, I wished I had that. Her indomitable chattering, I do have that. I felt heartache over Marilla's unspoken love of Anne and heartbreak as Matthew died once again. God. I love these stories.

I couldn't quite float away on nostalgia fumes. The story is an idealization, as if a mountain is drawn with two straight lines or love is represented by a red rose. It takes the spherical world and flattens it into a disc, disappearing all the truly horrible realities. It seems so innocent and pure, where most children knew lying was wrong and most people cared for each other. So...immune to cynicism and sarcasm. Sigh. As I read, I kept noticing the lack of diversity in Avonlea. George&Rue's tragedy was probably only a couple decades away, a few hundred miles to the west. So many twss opportunities went unnoticed in Avonlea! Could anyone really transplant themself to this Eden and live there? When I read this, I wanted to (although I'm not white enough or, or, true enough).

I'm glad to know I can come back to this without the Thundercats effect.


*I'm embarrassed to talk any music, not having a strong sense of what I like. Most of what I nod to ends up being near-universally acknowledged as overrated and dumb. But the next day after I re-read this, I heard this song on the radio - a tenacious earworm now lodged in my earhole. It winds together with Anne and Avonlea in my mind, a stray lock of hair tossing in the wind and tickling my nape. I'm not bothered by having it stuck on repeat. ( )

I was sitting at the round table at church with some young people over a Sunday noon meal at church. A young lady made a reference to Anne Shirley, and I said, “Anne who?” Her jaw dropped. You’ve never read Anne of Green Gables?!” I confessed I hadn’t. It was on my bookshelf at home, though, and I put it on my mental “To Read list. I finally got around to it, and I’m glad I did. Anne Shirley is an orphan who is brought to the Cuthbert home by mistake. Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, elderly brother and sister, are looking for a young boy to help around the farm, but the orphanage sends Anne instead. She is almost sent back, but is so crestfallen at the prospect that they pity and keep her. Most of the book is taken up with Anne’s antics and escapades, from which she learns to grow up, and Marilla learns to parent. The parenting is the more important, it seems. The moral seems to be that for girls growing up there are certain things they must and will learn, and for adults there are some things to learn about parenting that they must, but don’t necessarily learn. The lessons are quite good, though. “Folks that has brought up children know that there’s no hard and fast method in the world that’ll suit every child. But them as never have think it’s all as plain and easy as Rule of Three – just set your three terms down so fashion, and the sum’ll work out correct. But flesh and blood don’t come under the head of arithmetic…” Add in some small town busybodies and romance, and it’s a cute little story. Some of the writing is a bit formulaic. Each chapter starts with a paragraph of rhetorical flourish describing nature, moves on to some action or event, and closes reflecting on that event. But all in all a good read for an 8 year old girl like mine. ( )