Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - The Blue Castle

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

14 reviews

jerida's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

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helenafaustina's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book kept getting better and better, and I'm glad I picked it up.

The first thing I'd like to say is that this would be a great book to read for anyone who wants to get into creative writing. There is a lot of descriptive writing with beautiful similes, prose, and things like that that are not only enjoyable, but would be really good for students to pay attention to.

It's a cozy book, full of twists and turns. It gets rather crazy at some points, and there was a lot of shocking plot twists that I didn't expect, although I did predict one from the beginning that I'm proud of myself for. I'd like to reread this knowing all that happens. The writing, in true Montgomery fashion, is gorgeous. As a nature lover myself I absolutely relished those parts. Romantic tropes came up, but it wasn't cringy, and it was enjoyable and sweet.

The only think that made me take away a half star was that during Valancy's rebellion, her attitude towards swearing was weird. She was decent in every way, but she had become weirdly tolerant of it to the point of considering doing it herself. It was an odd point in her character development.

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town_scar's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious relaxing 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

4.75

Only knocking it down a peg because I was 50% through the audiobook before it could hold my attention. But the ending blew me away, so I'll have to buy a paperback of it someday to give it a reread. Unlike my beloved Anne novels, this one has one steady arc of plot rather than a slew of vignettes.

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spootilious's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Read: October 29, 2023
Title: The Blue Castle

Author: LM Montgomery

Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: 2.5 / 5
Review:

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this novel. I have never read Anne of Green Gables, then again from what I have heard, this book is nothing like those. So, I suppose that is a good thing. Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised by The Blue Castle. It is certainly quaint and adorable but feels far different from any other historical piece I’ve read.

The Blue Castle and may things about it that I do not care for of course. The representation of woman alone is enough to have me sighing (though it was expected, the cruelty of these women were not), the beauty standards as well were repetitively shoved in the readers’ face and the amount of time the main character was called ‘Not pretty’ to her face was quite annoying. The story line was extremely predictable and at points the author grew a bit longwinded on subject that weren’t relevant to the plot; and many of the characters were interchangeable to the point I couldn’t remember who was who.

All that being said, I enjoyed this book immensely. The writing was beautiful. Despite the lengthy bits, the story only seemed to drag in the first half of the novel but really picked up midway. The premise was adorable and I love the moral even if the ending was utterly unrealistic.

Quotes:
“Fear is the original sin. Almost all of the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that someone is afraid of something. It is a cold slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading.”

TW:
Body Shaming, Chronic Illness, Classism, Cursing, Emotional Abuse, Gaslighting, Religious Bigotry, Terminal Illness.

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kelleykamanda's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

3.0

Predictable and nothing particularly novel, but gentle, easy and nice nonetheless.

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lizzye33's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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eatingfiction's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-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

5.0

[24/8/22: Finished reading for the second time, barely longer than a week since I read it originally. I'm just. In love with this book. It has this soothing quality... however in other news I hated the ending this time, lol. It's too much, WAY too much.]

Oh my soul. The way L.M. Montgomery crafts her stories are wistfully melancholic and deeply joyful. Her descriptions of nature are stunning and could make me cry for how in love with the world, despite all tragedy, her characters are. Her classic children's novel, Anne of Green Gables, is one of my all time favourites and now, and now, and now...

I love The Blue Castle. I love it despite all the reasons I shouldn't. It's largely a romance novel, which is not something I typically enjoy -- but even more so it's the story of a young woman, Valancy, falling in love with life itself. She is searching for her "Blue Castle", in other words, her home -- her true home, her purpose. She lives a loveless life in a loveless family, all tradition and routine and rules and reputation. It's in the threat of losing her life -- a sudden diagnosis of a terminal illness -- that she discovers love can exist for her. She pursues life like she never had before, to the horror of her family. (she even dares to slide down the bannister!!!)

"I’ve been keeping up appearances all my life. Now I’m going in for realities. Appearances can go hang."

This novel is funny, with Valancy's family and their utterly ridiculous ways. It's tragic, in the ways books about terminal illness usually are and bittersweet in the way that L.M. Montgomery always is. It's also very circumstantial in ways that make little logical sense...but it doesn't matter much. The ending is the stuff of fairytales, and almost too cheesy to bear. But it doesn't matter. I don't care even a little. I love this story wholeheartedly. This book is my blue castle.

“Isn't it better to have your heart broken than to have it wither up? Before it could be broken it must have felt something splendid. That would be worth the pain.”

p.s. Banjo and Good Luck are the loves of my life

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