Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Anne of Windy Poplars

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery

8 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

I was surprised that it was mainly epistolary in nature but I quite enjoyed it. Seeing the world through Anne's eyes is always a joy.

Content Warnings

kelly_e's review against another edition

3.5

hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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: Complicated

Title: Anne of Windy Poplars
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Series: Anne of Green Gables #4
Genre: Classic
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: June 28, 1936

T H R E E • W O R D S

Nostalgic • Uneven • Whimsical

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Anne Shirley has left Redmond College and Green Gables behind to begin a new chapter of her life in the "dreaming town" of Summerside. She's soon facing an unexpected challenge, however, in the form of the Pringles--also known as the royal family of Summerside. They quickly let Anne know that she's not the person they had wanted as principal of Summerside High School. But as she settles into her cozy tower room at Windy Poplars, Anne finds she also has great allies in two elderly widows, Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty, and their irrepressible housekeeper, Rebecca Dew. Slowly, she begins to unravel Summerside's strangest secrets--revealing everything in letters to Gilbert, who's away at medical school. And in the end, Anne's able to win the support of even the prickly Pringles, in what is only the first of many delicious triumphs.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I have slowly (one book a year) been making my way through the Anne of Green Gables series, and in 2024 it was time to pick up Anne of Windy Poplars. This is my first time reading this beloved series and I am trying to savour my time with Anne and her friends. Each book adds a little something and endears Anne to me even more.

This book follows Anne during her time in Summerside, while Gilbert is away at medical school. It's written in part narrative and part letter format, which really disrupted the pacing and made the plot come across as repetitive at times. I am not sure if it is the content or the structure, but this one gave off a very different vibe from the first three books.

Yes, we meet some new characters along the way and get to know them. However, I desperately missed Green Gables, some of the beloved characters from previous books, and Gilbert, of course. It seems odd to say (given she's the MC), but I in some sense there wasn't even enough Anne either.

Anne of Windy Poplars is my least favourite of the series thus far and felt like somewhat of a departure from the series I have come to know and love. I have since learned this one was added to the series much later, which makes total sense. And while some readers may suggest skipping it altogether, in my opinion, to get the full Anne experience it is a must read.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• epistolary novels
• the Anne of Green Gables series

⚠️ CW: bullying, sexism, misogyny, emotional abuse, child abuse, death, child death, body shaming, abandonment, cannibalism, racism, xenophobia

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Nobody is ever too old to dream. And dreams never grow old."

Content Warnings

bookish_leslie's review against another edition

2.5

lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

My rating scale, for reference:

1 Star: Hated it
1.5 Stars: Really didn't like it
2 Stars: Didn't like it
3 Stars: Meh
4 Stars: Liked it
4.5 Stars: Really liked it
5 Stars: Loved it

I liked Anne as a character in this book. I liked the way she viewed the world, and I liked her optimism, her refusal to give up on even the most prickly of people, and the gift she had for lifting and brightening the lives of those around her.

I liked the setting of this book: Anne’s cozy tower room, the garden gate through which she spoke with little Elizabeth, the graveyard she walked through when she needed to think, the groves of trees, the red ribbon of road with white houses, the blue hill Anne nicknamed the Storm King, the blustery storms…

And I liked Montgomery’s poetic writing style, as always.

But plot wise? It pains me to say that this book was not very interesting. Sure, I enjoyed watching Anne (spoiler)

win over the Pringles (even if it was mostly their fear that she would reveal their “cannibalistic family secret” that won them over vs. her natural charm)

. And I enjoyed reading about her relationships with some of the people in Summerside, particularly Elizabeth, Katherine, the Aunts and Rebecca Dew. But otherwise, it was mostly a lot of talk and gossip of random people, sometimes through the lens of their relatives and distant relatives. Take this sentence from page 276, for example:

“There is an attractive Palmer girl who is reported to be throwing herself at his head, and his sister is said to have said that his mother has said that her son has no need to dangle for years at any girl's apron-string.”

If I don’t know or care about the first person you’re mentioning, I’m for sure not going to care about who they’re related to or how their multiple-removed connections think or feel about a situation. And this is what the bulk of the book seemed to consist of: little stand-alone / incoherent vignettes of Anne interacting with the locals in gossipy ways that I honestly didn’t find very compelling. This makes me feel sad, because this is Anne of Green Gables we're talking about! There’s so much childhood nostalgia wrapped up in the Anne stories for me, but I've found that the further away I've gotten from the original book, the more these books have felt rambly and full of convoluted connections and talk of people who were introduced on one page and then disappeared a few pages later.

And, apart from a few key people (like little Elizabeth), these superficial connections or interactions seemed to happen at the expense of any real connections. When Anne went home for visits to Green Gables, for example, we hardly heard anything about the people she’s loved her whole life. Marilla, Diana Barry, and her adopted younger siblings barely got a mention. Even Gilbert! It was weird because most of the book was written as letters to him (oddly, with any lovey-dovey bits redacted), but we didn’t get anything from his point of view, nor did we get any scenes of Anne and Gilbert together. And then when Anne left Summerside after 3 years of living there, it was only the people she was leaving behind that seemed to feel sad at her departure; Anne herself didn't really seem to care all that much. So the book was chalk-full of superficial connections but lacked the magic and depth of Anne's prior connections and friendships.

Content Warnings

annelihghh's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

soph22's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Oh, Anne. I love you with all my heart, you are my happy place and you didn’t disappoint in this fourth book. I can’t wait to read the other four!

Content Warnings

kindred_reader's review against another edition

3.75

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad

Just as always, Anne is a delight to spend time with. I missed seeing her interact with some of our favorites (Marilla, Davy, Gilbert, etc.) but watching her charm a whole town with her lighthearted spirt and kind heart was a treat. I loved the drama with the Pringles and the young people Anne listened to that had problems similar to her own or at least with just as must enthusiasm. The Aunts and Rebecca Dew were darling and amusing. Little Elizabeth stole my heart from the minute she arrived, and I'm so glad Anne meddled when she did.

It sometimes felt a little tedious to read because I just can't wait for her and Gilbert to be married and live in their house of dreams, but this book isn't worth skimming because the people she met and the experience she had really shaped her. And her letters to Gilbert are something I'm sure formed their relationship for the long three years they were apart.

Content Warnings

carys_ene's review against another edition

5.0

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing 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: Complicated

Content Warnings

ghostly_monstera's review against another edition

3.75

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad slow-paced

Content Warnings

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