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sherwoodreads's review
Warning: spoilery talk ahead for this book that is nearly a century old.
I've heard this book disparaged as second-rate Montgomery, even as outright trash. And I can see the problematical aspects--the "bucket list" plot was already pretty worn out by the time LMM hung this story on it (protag is told they have only X time to live, which turns out to be a mistake, of course), and I could definitely do without the thread of the hapless young woman who has to die of Didn't Remain A Virgin Until Marriage disease, whom Valancy takes pity on first. LMM found it difficult to let go of a lot of tried-and-true Victorian plot devices, and it shows.
But those things aside, this is wish-fulfillment at its finest. It's one of my insomnia books--if my eyelids open with a spang! at 1:30 a.m. and I know it will be hours before I get back to sleep, if at all, this is one of the books I take off the shelf.
Montgomery had two strengths in my readerly view: a wonderful sensitivity to nature, which makes her descriptions of gardens, forests, etc, utterly delightful, and she came from a small town on an island, born of very strong-minded people. Quirky strong-minded people, as one discovers in her published diaries. So her creation of characters, especially distinctive, oddball relatives, is sheer delight. We know a lot of those relatives, like the cousin everyone holds up as a paragon of virtue, but who is a meanie when the adults aren't looking. And the uncle whose threadbare jokes were never funny the first 182 times he told them, especially when you're the target.
Valancy, the heroine (with that name, you just know that she thinks she's homely but she'll turn out to be secretly beautiful--to those with the right eyes to see her. Like the hero), lives under the thumb of as obnoxious a set of relatives as LMM ever invented. Oh boy is she downtrodden. There is not the tiniest detail of her miserable life that some relative or other isn't minding for her own good, and lecturing her endlessly about from the pinnacle of Mt. Moral Superiority.
Once Valancy gets her misdiagnosis and decides to cut loose, the fun really gets going. When she doesn't give a hoot about What People Think, she does it big time. It's sheer bliss watching her at her first horrible family dinner as a free woman.
Of course she ends up married to the man of her dreams, and is wildly wealthy to boot (back of the hand to the Mean Cousin) but how she gets there is a ton of fun.
I've heard this book disparaged as second-rate Montgomery, even as outright trash. And I can see the problematical aspects--the "bucket list" plot was already pretty worn out by the time LMM hung this story on it (protag is told they have only X time to live, which turns out to be a mistake, of course), and I could definitely do without the thread of the hapless young woman who has to die of Didn't Remain A Virgin Until Marriage disease, whom Valancy takes pity on first. LMM found it difficult to let go of a lot of tried-and-true Victorian plot devices, and it shows.
But those things aside, this is wish-fulfillment at its finest. It's one of my insomnia books--if my eyelids open with a spang! at 1:30 a.m. and I know it will be hours before I get back to sleep, if at all, this is one of the books I take off the shelf.
Montgomery had two strengths in my readerly view: a wonderful sensitivity to nature, which makes her descriptions of gardens, forests, etc, utterly delightful, and she came from a small town on an island, born of very strong-minded people. Quirky strong-minded people, as one discovers in her published diaries. So her creation of characters, especially distinctive, oddball relatives, is sheer delight. We know a lot of those relatives, like the cousin everyone holds up as a paragon of virtue, but who is a meanie when the adults aren't looking. And the uncle whose threadbare jokes were never funny the first 182 times he told them, especially when you're the target.
Valancy, the heroine (with that name, you just know that she thinks she's homely but she'll turn out to be secretly beautiful--to those with the right eyes to see her. Like the hero), lives under the thumb of as obnoxious a set of relatives as LMM ever invented. Oh boy is she downtrodden. There is not the tiniest detail of her miserable life that some relative or other isn't minding for her own good, and lecturing her endlessly about from the pinnacle of Mt. Moral Superiority.
Once Valancy gets her misdiagnosis and decides to cut loose, the fun really gets going. When she doesn't give a hoot about What People Think, she does it big time. It's sheer bliss watching her at her first horrible family dinner as a free woman.
Of course she ends up married to the man of her dreams, and is wildly wealthy to boot (back of the hand to the Mean Cousin) but how she gets there is a ton of fun.
sheofthemoon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
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
3.0
mario_qb's review
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? Yes
2.5
emmatarswell's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? No
5.0
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I really loved this, for the most part. I have mixed feelings about the last few chapters. It was enough to take my rating from 5 to a 4 because it felt like it undid a lot of the things that I liked about the book.
abjeo123's review against another edition
4.5
the imagery of the landscapes and nature where phenomenal, especially when they talked about the different seasons. it was beautiful. I loved the main character and the ridiculous antics that she got up to after the news from the heart doctor. It was really fun and reminded me of that scene from you deserve each other. I also found her to be very relatable, especially at the beginning. I didn’t expect to like her relationship with barney so much but it definitely grew on me and I love how her Blue Castle changed from her fictional castle to their house. I took off a bit of stars because I thought that wile it was really nice to see her speak her mind, sometimes her comments just felt cruel and also the slightly racist comments made in the book.
tashaaabrooks's review
5.0
This was my third time reading this book and it never fails to make me feel so many emotions! You can’t help but love Valency Stirling’s character and it’s a joy to watch her come into her own throughout the story. It’s such a humorous book and I love seeing Montgomery’s criticisms of social classes come through. Another favourite part is the beautiful descriptions of Canada and the fun surprises and twists. Truly, I think it might be my favourite book of all time.
henpower's review
emotional
funny
reflective
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
4.25
yolanda_h's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Moderate: Alcoholism and Death