You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Pat is one of the best heroines. She’s the sweetest and sees so much in the beauty around her. Loved this story and want to read the sequel “Mistress Pat” to see what happens further.
Reread 8/11/23
Read this in preparation for my next conference presentation, and I still love Pat so much. I think so many people read this book thinking of the second or reading Montgomery's life situation into it and miss some of the richness of this quiet heroine.
______________________________
Reread 4/24/20
Love this one. I definitely feel like there is a lot of Pat in me. I am appreciating it even more reading it again.
______________________________
Re-read #? 7/2019 - I connect so much with Pat's desire for things not to change. I enjoyed this so much more than last time, apparently (looking at my review below). And though there are some distinct differences between this and other Montgomery novels, there are so many similarities that I'm not sure how I missed them last time.
__________
I really didn't remember anything about this book. I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it. I find it interesting how different it is from so many of Montgomery's novels. Really want to read the second one now.
Read this in preparation for my next conference presentation, and I still love Pat so much. I think so many people read this book thinking of the second or reading Montgomery's life situation into it and miss some of the richness of this quiet heroine.
______________________________
Reread 4/24/20
Love this one. I definitely feel like there is a lot of Pat in me. I am appreciating it even more reading it again.
______________________________
Re-read #? 7/2019 - I connect so much with Pat's desire for things not to change. I enjoyed this so much more than last time, apparently (looking at my review below). And though there are some distinct differences between this and other Montgomery novels, there are so many similarities that I'm not sure how I missed them last time.
__________
I really didn't remember anything about this book. I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it. I find it interesting how different it is from so many of Montgomery's novels. Really want to read the second one now.
I tried really hard to make allowances for how old this is. It's hard to forget though that it is the romantic, rose-coloured view of really negative feminitities and compulsory heterosexuality that I absorbed through books like this when I was a kid and that made me so damn unhappy for so long. So I would advise that no one give this to a child to read.
Pat in the book hates the word "quaint" but it is hard to know what other word to use for the knowing, precious voice of this book. As well as the gendered stuff I have referred to there is a very problematic view of class with the servant Judy portrayed as happy to spend her whole life nurturing someone else's family, working too hard to ever develop any independent thoughts or dreams, sinking into gossip as all she has. Pat the "good woman" is obsessed with home and domestic skills while "mother" who is a non-event for most of the book with Judy doing all the housework and raising the children is extolled late in the book for working a lot harder than people realise.
There is a lot of judgement in the book for all sorts of women for being too educated or not domestic enough, too fashionable or ugly, too stingy....etc, etc, etc. Men get let off more lightly. The Jingle/Pat dynamic is extremely problematic and not at all as "cute" as the reader is supposed to think but I trust most 2018 or beyond readers would see that?
All in all this did not even have the good points of Anne. I'd like to deconstruct Pat's relationship with Bets from my queer feminist perspective but this is probably not doing justice to the book and I am probably too dirty minded. Anyway thank God that is over
Pat in the book hates the word "quaint" but it is hard to know what other word to use for the knowing, precious voice of this book. As well as the gendered stuff I have referred to there is a very problematic view of class with the servant Judy portrayed as happy to spend her whole life nurturing someone else's family, working too hard to ever develop any independent thoughts or dreams, sinking into gossip as all she has. Pat the "good woman" is obsessed with home and domestic skills while "mother" who is a non-event for most of the book with Judy doing all the housework and raising the children is extolled late in the book for working a lot harder than people realise.
There is a lot of judgement in the book for all sorts of women for being too educated or not domestic enough, too fashionable or ugly, too stingy....etc, etc, etc. Men get let off more lightly. The Jingle/Pat dynamic is extremely problematic and not at all as "cute" as the reader is supposed to think but I trust most 2018 or beyond readers would see that?
All in all this did not even have the good points of Anne. I'd like to deconstruct Pat's relationship with Bets from my queer feminist perspective but this is probably not doing justice to the book and I am probably too dirty minded. Anyway thank God that is over
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-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:
Complicated
When I was entering my teens I fell in love with L. M. Montgomery's heroines. I started with Emily of [b:New Moon|49041|New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)|Stephenie Meyer|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414jgcy2FAL._SL75_.jpg|3203964] and then moved on to Anne of Green Gables. While those two series still hold special places in my heart, I must say that I am baffled by Pat of Silver Bush.
Most of Montgomery's stories are about young women, usually pre-teen through late twenties, tacking adverse situations with grace and brains. Pat, though, comes from a fairly well to do family. She has a comfortable life and wants to keep it that way, no matter what. She has no desire to change or grow or even to leave her family home. In fact, in the end, she chooses Silver Bush over her long time boyfriend.
There is a long narrative tradition of stories ending almost where they started with the protagonist having grown or learned from the events of the story. Pat's resolute desire to avoid change would baffle even Tzvetan Todorov. Pat grows older over the course of the book but she doesn't grow as a character. She is the most boring and depressing heroine in a Montgomery book I've read.
Pat as a character is apparently redeemed in the last chapter of a follow up novel, Mistress Pat (1935). I however have no desire to spend any more time with Pat and her beloved home.
Most of Montgomery's stories are about young women, usually pre-teen through late twenties, tacking adverse situations with grace and brains. Pat, though, comes from a fairly well to do family. She has a comfortable life and wants to keep it that way, no matter what. She has no desire to change or grow or even to leave her family home. In fact, in the end, she chooses Silver Bush over her long time boyfriend.
There is a long narrative tradition of stories ending almost where they started with the protagonist having grown or learned from the events of the story. Pat's resolute desire to avoid change would baffle even Tzvetan Todorov. Pat grows older over the course of the book but she doesn't grow as a character. She is the most boring and depressing heroine in a Montgomery book I've read.
Pat as a character is apparently redeemed in the last chapter of a follow up novel, Mistress Pat (1935). I however have no desire to spend any more time with Pat and her beloved home.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Another good read for L.M. Montgomery fans, even if the dialogue gets a little precious in places.
emotional
lighthearted
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
slow-paced
This was lovely and homey—such a comfort read. I haven’t read this series before, and although Valancy and Emily and Anne will always be at the top of my list of L.M. Montgomery heroines, Pat is still a dear little soul, enamored with beauty and the delights of home and family. And during these days where there is so much uncertainty and change, Pat’s almost obsessive desire for everything in her little idyllic world to stay exactly the same felt very attractive and relatable! Well, it would be nice to have an idyllic world where I want everything to stay the same. If I lived in the homey Silver Bush farm, with the Hill of the Mist out the window, adorable kittens in the barn, and a cozy kitchen with Judy Plum preparing me a “liddle bite” before bed, I wouldn’t want anything to change, either!