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catm9's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
gdaigle007's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
katebirdie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
spillie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is such a delightful story. Anne is now married and living in her house of dreams. This series is like reading a biography over a number of volumes. I have no memories of the books from this point on but I did read them all ages ago. The plot proceeds like gentle waves, with the occasional rough patch. Miraculously, the book feels timeless and it brings much joy to the reader. Strongly recommended.
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
2.0
Most of my criticisms have been articulated in some form in my other Anne book reviews. At this point, I have made my peace with it. Basically, this series is low-key to high-key misogynistic due to its time period and the quality can vary a lot because these books are actually just a collection of short stories bound together during a certain time in Anne’s life.
My least favorite Anne book up until this one was Anne of Avonlea. This, unfortunately, is a close second if not right on par with that one.
Right off the bat I was disheartened to find that after three books emphasizing the significance of Anne as an educated, working woman we get simpering housewife Anne. She and Gilbert have finally wed and moved to the seaside near a village where Gilbert has taken over his uncles’ practice. After all that schooling to become a BA, Anne now spends her days cleaning house, visiting friends, or having friends over killing time until the day she eventually has a baby to keep her busy.
I don’t mean to be dismissive of stay at home moms or choosing to make your lifes’ goal all about your husband/family being happy. If you’re happy and it’s a healthy dynamic then do whatever you want. However, it’s disappointing after so much time spent following Anne on her academic journey to see her trajectory cut off at the knees.
I’ve seen a few comments defending this aspect as they themselves have gone down this path; it’s not like the pursuit of knowledge is exclusive to a career. Some people like school, some people intend to use the degree only to change their minds later, and some people just want a degree to have one. Whatever the reason as long as you want to do it that’s a totally valid decision to make. The problem is that Anne choosing to be a housewife does not exist within a vacuum so it’s not as empowering as this may seem at the outset. Sure, in the year 2020 we have the perspective and freedom to say that this is a perfectly acceptable, completely legitimate choice to make. In context, it’s a different story.
Speaking purely in the confines of the narrative, the more feminist thing to do would have been Anne continuing to work rather than forsaking it. You can argue that Anne did what she wanted, but that’s only true to a point when you take into account how strictly women were held to traditional gender roles - not that this is not still the case, but we have certainly come leaps and bounds in a variety of significant ways. Anne loves being a housewife, but on a macro scale we have to consider whether or not she would have chosen to be a teacher as well if there was not tacit as well as overt societal pressure to remain in the home.
And looking at real life, let's assume just for arguments sake that Lucy Maud Montgomery didn't want Anne to be a housewife, how much influence would her probably all male publishers have on the book? They surely would have had an investment in upholding a specific view of womanhood in a series with such far outreach to young women, thereby limiting story potential.
(I am aware that Lucy Maud Montgomery is a woman of her time and most likely viewed this decision as perfectly respectable of Anne. I only mean to point out, even if she did have misgivings there might have been little she could do.)
For example, anything regarding pregnancy is shrouded so deeply in mystery that for the majority of her first one I didn’t realize she was pregnant at all. I assumed that they were speaking only as a general desire for children because there is no tangible indication of said pregnancy practically until Anne gives birth. The second pregnancy actually alludes to a stork bringing the baby.
I have no way of knowing if this was a personal choice by Montgomery or if it was a mandatory convention of the time period.
This is an extremely long-winded way of saying that Anne should have remained a teacher or at the very least kept up her writing to balance out the Blythe in her.
Anne doesn’t have much to do in this one. I was being negative for emphasis earlier, but a solid amount really is just Anne seeing friends or friends coming to see her ad nauseum. As per usual there is a brief appearance by previous well known characters at the beginning then Anne trades them in for new ones. This time we have retired salty seadog Captain Jim, matronly man-hating Miss Cornelia Bryant, and the utterly tragical Leslie Moore. Despite being her husband Gilbert is not particularly present. When he is present, he’s flat. Anne’s marriage is irrepressibly happy, but you’ll have to trust her word since there isn’t a lot of interaction between the two to prove it.
A large part of this book is taken up by a horribly sad story that is so tonally dissonant I was caught completely off guard once it began to unfold. Reframing it as Lucy Maud Montgomery using the character to vent some personal feelings about her own marriage allowed me to understand a bit better though.
I am referring to Anne’s closest pal for now; Leslie Moore. Leslie not only was coerced into a marriage she did not want, after her husband suffered brain damage that resulted in massive mental regression leaving him in a childlike state, she has been forced to be his sole caretaker for more than ten years. The middle chunk of this book is Anne and Leslie’s friendship. Leslie has not let anyone get close to her in that decade outside of the queen Miss Cornelia Bryant - my absolute favorite secondary character in this whole series.
Leslie is a surprisingly realistic depiction of caretaker burnout. She is a sweet, intelligent young woman whose youth was already marred by tragedy due to the loss of an adored younger brother and beloved, doting though ultimately useless father. Being forced to marry Dick West only for him to have his horrible accident, a year after abandoning her to the sea, was the icing on the cake. Montgomery actually takes pains to delve somewhat into how this has affected Leslie. She often becomes cold to Anne, the only true friend she has, because she is angry at how her own life has played out. Anne even picks up on these feelings telling Gilbert how sometimes she can feel Leslie completely shift in mood even if previously the two were having a good time. When Anne shares her pregnancy with Leslie, Leslie actually throws a bit of a tantrum, and doesn’t talk to Anne for a few weeks before apologizing through a gift, unable to bring herself to voice the depth of her despair at another sign of Anne’s happiness. Leslie also has a whole monologue to Anne wherein she details how truly awful it has been having this burden all these years. Knowing a bit of Montgomery’s personal history, I imagine this was quite cathartic for her to write.
I actually appreciated having this bit of realism in the story. While the Anne series has its shares of ups and down it largely luxuriates in wish fulfillment. It’s not like that’s inherently a bad thing nor am I saying that it isn’t enjoyable, but Anne is a grown woman now and I liked that some of the situations are starting to better reflect that. I noticed it in Windy Poplars too except it doesn’t technically count in the same way since that was written after this one. I’m sure there were plenty of women similarly trapped as Leslie was that found comfort in seeing their own story in the mainstream. In fact, Montgomery herself was one of them.
Though, I will say that the resolution of Leslie’s story made me hate Gilbert. A travesty, I assure you, considering how deeply my love for him ran before. It’s actually pretty interesting so I’ll use spoiler tags. Massive spoiler for a big storyline, skip if you want to experience it real time.
What makes me hate Gilbert is the nonchalant way he treats Leslie’s well being - a woman who is stated to be not just Anne’s good friend but his as well. Dick West was a drunk, verbally abusive cad. And Gilbert sees very little issue with potentially exposing her to an even worse situation than she already is in. Anne literally brings this up when begging him to let it go. He dismisses it entirely because they can just ‘deal with that when it comes’. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t even asked to give his medical opinion in the first place. He’s so concerned with being right, he doesn’t care at all if it’s actually the right thing to do. I’m not going to get into a whole ethical debate on whether or not Dick deserves the operation after what he’s done. But, I can’t get over Gilbert acting so cold as to ignore how dangerous a situation he was putting Leslie in. He was fine delivering her into the hands of her abuser all over again. He straight up turns into one of those ‘you’re being hysterical’ guys when Anne voices her fears. It’s immensely off-putting.
I hate Captain Jim. He tells a lot of old sea stories or stories about village history. I find these tales boring. The characters seem to think these are the pinnacle of storytelling for some reason. He even gets them published to widespread acclaim working in conjunction with young upstart Owen Ford as his ghost writer. As someone who hated his stories I found this mind-boggling. He’s also partially responsible for Leslie’s terrible life because he went looking for Dick of his own volition seriously for no reason? Most people assumed him to be lost at sea. And yet, Captain Jim decided to go look for him in the village near the port just because. And there’s a lot of casual period typical condescension in regards to women that annoys me.
He actually implies several times that women writers are lesser than their male counterparts. Anne has the perfect opportunity to prove him wrong by writing Captain Jim’s memoirs. I seriously thought that was where this was going and Anne not being a teacher at least would now return to writing. Nope. Anne declines implicitly agreeing with Captain that she’s not the right person for the job. Then Owen Ford comes out of nowhere. Excuse me, last time I checked this is your book Lucy Maud Montgomery Just make her a good enough writer to do it?
Anne’s dreams of being a writer have been so thoroughly buried I have no hope for the future. She has her first kid at the end of this book too meaning bye bye free time.
I’m five books in and if you’re reading this I’m thinking you’re five books in or at least a book in skimming ahead. I keep reiterating this, I don’t care, it bears repeating; if you’ve read one you’ve mostly read them all so it’s your own fault if you continue down this rabbit hole now if you’re not enjoying it. Admittedly, there is some variation. Just don’t expect too much.
My least favorite Anne book up until this one was Anne of Avonlea. This, unfortunately, is a close second if not right on par with that one.
Right off the bat I was disheartened to find that after three books emphasizing the significance of Anne as an educated, working woman we get simpering housewife Anne. She and Gilbert have finally wed and moved to the seaside near a village where Gilbert has taken over his uncles’ practice. After all that schooling to become a BA, Anne now spends her days cleaning house, visiting friends, or having friends over killing time until the day she eventually has a baby to keep her busy.
I don’t mean to be dismissive of stay at home moms or choosing to make your lifes’ goal all about your husband/family being happy. If you’re happy and it’s a healthy dynamic then do whatever you want. However, it’s disappointing after so much time spent following Anne on her academic journey to see her trajectory cut off at the knees.
I’ve seen a few comments defending this aspect as they themselves have gone down this path; it’s not like the pursuit of knowledge is exclusive to a career. Some people like school, some people intend to use the degree only to change their minds later, and some people just want a degree to have one. Whatever the reason as long as you want to do it that’s a totally valid decision to make. The problem is that Anne choosing to be a housewife does not exist within a vacuum so it’s not as empowering as this may seem at the outset. Sure, in the year 2020 we have the perspective and freedom to say that this is a perfectly acceptable, completely legitimate choice to make. In context, it’s a different story.
Speaking purely in the confines of the narrative, the more feminist thing to do would have been Anne continuing to work rather than forsaking it. You can argue that Anne did what she wanted, but that’s only true to a point when you take into account how strictly women were held to traditional gender roles - not that this is not still the case, but we have certainly come leaps and bounds in a variety of significant ways. Anne loves being a housewife, but on a macro scale we have to consider whether or not she would have chosen to be a teacher as well if there was not tacit as well as overt societal pressure to remain in the home.
And looking at real life, let's assume just for arguments sake that Lucy Maud Montgomery didn't want Anne to be a housewife, how much influence would her probably all male publishers have on the book? They surely would have had an investment in upholding a specific view of womanhood in a series with such far outreach to young women, thereby limiting story potential.
(I am aware that Lucy Maud Montgomery is a woman of her time and most likely viewed this decision as perfectly respectable of Anne. I only mean to point out, even if she did have misgivings there might have been little she could do.)
For example, anything regarding pregnancy is shrouded so deeply in mystery that for the majority of her first one I didn’t realize she was pregnant at all. I assumed that they were speaking only as a general desire for children because there is no tangible indication of said pregnancy practically until Anne gives birth. The second pregnancy actually alludes to a stork bringing the baby.
I have no way of knowing if this was a personal choice by Montgomery or if it was a mandatory convention of the time period.
This is an extremely long-winded way of saying that Anne should have remained a teacher or at the very least kept up her writing to balance out the Blythe in her.
Anne doesn’t have much to do in this one. I was being negative for emphasis earlier, but a solid amount really is just Anne seeing friends or friends coming to see her ad nauseum. As per usual there is a brief appearance by previous well known characters at the beginning then Anne trades them in for new ones. This time we have retired salty seadog Captain Jim, matronly man-hating Miss Cornelia Bryant, and the utterly tragical Leslie Moore. Despite being her husband Gilbert is not particularly present. When he is present, he’s flat. Anne’s marriage is irrepressibly happy, but you’ll have to trust her word since there isn’t a lot of interaction between the two to prove it.
A large part of this book is taken up by a horribly sad story that is so tonally dissonant I was caught completely off guard once it began to unfold. Reframing it as Lucy Maud Montgomery using the character to vent some personal feelings about her own marriage allowed me to understand a bit better though.
I am referring to Anne’s closest pal for now; Leslie Moore. Leslie not only was coerced into a marriage she did not want, after her husband suffered brain damage that resulted in massive mental regression leaving him in a childlike state, she has been forced to be his sole caretaker for more than ten years. The middle chunk of this book is Anne and Leslie’s friendship. Leslie has not let anyone get close to her in that decade outside of the queen Miss Cornelia Bryant - my absolute favorite secondary character in this whole series.
Leslie is a surprisingly realistic depiction of caretaker burnout. She is a sweet, intelligent young woman whose youth was already marred by tragedy due to the loss of an adored younger brother and beloved, doting though ultimately useless father. Being forced to marry Dick West only for him to have his horrible accident, a year after abandoning her to the sea, was the icing on the cake. Montgomery actually takes pains to delve somewhat into how this has affected Leslie. She often becomes cold to Anne, the only true friend she has, because she is angry at how her own life has played out. Anne even picks up on these feelings telling Gilbert how sometimes she can feel Leslie completely shift in mood even if previously the two were having a good time. When Anne shares her pregnancy with Leslie, Leslie actually throws a bit of a tantrum, and doesn’t talk to Anne for a few weeks before apologizing through a gift, unable to bring herself to voice the depth of her despair at another sign of Anne’s happiness. Leslie also has a whole monologue to Anne wherein she details how truly awful it has been having this burden all these years. Knowing a bit of Montgomery’s personal history, I imagine this was quite cathartic for her to write.
I actually appreciated having this bit of realism in the story. While the Anne series has its shares of ups and down it largely luxuriates in wish fulfillment. It’s not like that’s inherently a bad thing nor am I saying that it isn’t enjoyable, but Anne is a grown woman now and I liked that some of the situations are starting to better reflect that. I noticed it in Windy Poplars too except it doesn’t technically count in the same way since that was written after this one. I’m sure there were plenty of women similarly trapped as Leslie was that found comfort in seeing their own story in the mainstream. In fact, Montgomery herself was one of them.
Though, I will say that the resolution of Leslie’s story made me hate Gilbert. A travesty, I assure you, considering how deeply my love for him ran before. It’s actually pretty interesting so I’ll use spoiler tags. Massive spoiler for a big storyline, skip if you want to experience it real time.
Spoiler
So Dick West had a bad head injury. Gilbert is, of course, a doctor. Towards the latter half of the book he reveals to Anne that he’s been ruminating on informing Leslie he knows of a new procedure that probably could fix Dick West. Anne is distressed as Dick was a horrible brute who again, essentially forced Leslie into marrying him. If the procedure does work who knows what this will mean for Leslie’s future? This is the first fight Anne and Gilbert have in their marriage. Anne tries to rally others to her cause, but of course Captain Jim agrees with Gilbert. Gilbert has already made up his mind to tell anyways so it’s really a courtesy letting Anne know beforehand. Gilbert tells Leslie, placing an extraordinarily large weight, of whether or not to try the procedure entirely on her shoulders, all for the sake of fulfilling a duty he placed on himself. Leslie inevitably decides that as a ‘good wife’ she should pay for the operation. The surgery works. Dick is restored. Thankfully for her Dick is not actually Dick. It turns out Dick died at sea ten years ago from some disease and this is his almost identical twin cousin. Anne rejoices in Gilbert’s superior intelligence and promises never to cross him again. What joy.What makes me hate Gilbert is the nonchalant way he treats Leslie’s well being - a woman who is stated to be not just Anne’s good friend but his as well. Dick West was a drunk, verbally abusive cad. And Gilbert sees very little issue with potentially exposing her to an even worse situation than she already is in. Anne literally brings this up when begging him to let it go. He dismisses it entirely because they can just ‘deal with that when it comes’. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t even asked to give his medical opinion in the first place. He’s so concerned with being right, he doesn’t care at all if it’s actually the right thing to do. I’m not going to get into a whole ethical debate on whether or not Dick deserves the operation after what he’s done. But, I can’t get over Gilbert acting so cold as to ignore how dangerous a situation he was putting Leslie in. He was fine delivering her into the hands of her abuser all over again. He straight up turns into one of those ‘you’re being hysterical’ guys when Anne voices her fears. It’s immensely off-putting.
I hate Captain Jim. He tells a lot of old sea stories or stories about village history. I find these tales boring. The characters seem to think these are the pinnacle of storytelling for some reason. He even gets them published to widespread acclaim working in conjunction with young upstart Owen Ford as his ghost writer. As someone who hated his stories I found this mind-boggling. He’s also partially responsible for Leslie’s terrible life because he went looking for Dick of his own volition seriously for no reason? Most people assumed him to be lost at sea. And yet, Captain Jim decided to go look for him in the village near the port just because. And there’s a lot of casual period typical condescension in regards to women that annoys me.
He actually implies several times that women writers are lesser than their male counterparts. Anne has the perfect opportunity to prove him wrong by writing Captain Jim’s memoirs. I seriously thought that was where this was going and Anne not being a teacher at least would now return to writing. Nope. Anne declines implicitly agreeing with Captain that she’s not the right person for the job. Then Owen Ford comes out of nowhere. Excuse me, last time I checked this is your book Lucy Maud Montgomery Just make her a good enough writer to do it?
Anne’s dreams of being a writer have been so thoroughly buried I have no hope for the future. She has her first kid at the end of this book too meaning bye bye free time.
I’m five books in and if you’re reading this I’m thinking you’re five books in or at least a book in skimming ahead. I keep reiterating this, I don’t care, it bears repeating; if you’ve read one you’ve mostly read them all so it’s your own fault if you continue down this rabbit hole now if you’re not enjoying it. Admittedly, there is some variation. Just don’t expect too much.
mcfoster's review against another edition
4.0
An oldie but a goodie - this is about the only one of the Anne series that I don't own in paperback, so I was thrilled to find it as a freebie on Kindle.
Here, Anne and Gilbert begin their married life together - and it's good to read a book that shows the characters after marriage. It's not all roses for them, however - this book could be a bit gutting and triggering for anybody who has lost a baby through miscarriage or SIDS. However, despite the darker undertone in certain places, which makes you grateful to live in modern days, there's still the classic whimsy and cheerfulness. There are also some delightful characters - it's a pity some of them only turn up in this book.
From a modern perspective, it's interesting to see a portrait of a changing society and the effects of new inventions and medical techniques on everyday people. Anne's comments about this new-fangled telephone thing and how her university friends are heading around the globe strike an oddly modern chord, all the same. I think that's why they call these stories "timeless".
Here, Anne and Gilbert begin their married life together - and it's good to read a book that shows the characters after marriage. It's not all roses for them, however - this book could be a bit gutting and triggering for anybody who has lost a baby through miscarriage or SIDS. However, despite the darker undertone in certain places, which makes you grateful to live in modern days, there's still the classic whimsy and cheerfulness. There are also some delightful characters - it's a pity some of them only turn up in this book.
From a modern perspective, it's interesting to see a portrait of a changing society and the effects of new inventions and medical techniques on everyday people. Anne's comments about this new-fangled telephone thing and how her university friends are heading around the globe strike an oddly modern chord, all the same. I think that's why they call these stories "timeless".
caitlyn_baldwin's review against another edition
emotional
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
appaloosa05's review against another edition
5.0
Another Anne story. I love the slow pace of these books, like stepping back in time.
jessicastephenson's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Anne's story could not diverge more from my life path and goals by the time we reach this book, and usually reading about a very old fashioned life for a woman would be uninteresting to me. However, I deeply enjoyed this book and that's a testament to L. M. Montgomery's beautiful writing and storytelling.
I was disappointed with the previous book in this series because I felt like we never really got to know any of the new characters, but House of Dreams is the complete opposite. We settle into a cozy, wistful feeling at the House of Dreams cottage in Four Winds and meet a complex cast of characters that are each relatable and lovable in their own sense. There is lots of sadness in this story, but also lots of joy and it really shows the full range of human emotion. This book focused on love so much - romantic and platonic - and the many ways in which we care for people we love.
I adored the characters in this story and will really miss them in the next instalment in the series.
I was disappointed with the previous book in this series because I felt like we never really got to know any of the new characters, but House of Dreams is the complete opposite. We settle into a cozy, wistful feeling at the House of Dreams cottage in Four Winds and meet a complex cast of characters that are each relatable and lovable in their own sense. There is lots of sadness in this story, but also lots of joy and it really shows the full range of human emotion. This book focused on love so much - romantic and platonic - and the many ways in which we care for people we love.
I adored the characters in this story and will really miss them in the next instalment in the series.