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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
This one snuck up on me, and possibly because of the skill of the audiobooks' reader. After finishing, I watched the Disney film, and I much prefer this Pollyanna, the original one.
Pollyanna is one of the rare characters that has entered our vocabulary (Scrooge is another one), so I knew what I was getting, roughly, but didn't know I'd enjoy it so much. At first it's the typical (for the period) young orphan copes with life in an uncaring environment, but it so swiftly moves past that. It's almost as if Porter is mocking those similar-but-different books, much like Gibbons in Cold Comfort Farm took a swipe at the tragedy-laden rural novels popular in the early 20th century. Where most literary orphans thrust in a gloomy attic bedroom would bemoan their fate, Pollyanna instead could delight in the privacy, the view, the joy of ownership, and so on. Punished with a horrible dinner? Why, that's just the thing she actually likes to eat best.
And (perhaps it helps that I'm a bit of a Pollyanna myself) I fell for her, hook, line, and sinker.
The Glad Game is something I've learned to play myself (I invented it on my own, as I suppose many of us optimists do, without knowing it is famously represented here). Although I'm normally cheerful, I learned to play the game during Hurrican Sandy. My flight was cancelled, the highways were closed, and I was trapped in an airport Holiday Inn with nothing to do but read, watch TV, and surf the internet ... if only I'd been in Manhattan I could have gone to restaurants, visited museums, seen Broadway shows! And then the hurricane hit, and we lost power, and I realised what I wouldn't have given to be able to read (can't read in the dark), watch TV, get on the web ... or have a hot shower, or phone my parents (can't recharge the phone), or eat (no restaurant in the hotel) ... so now, instead of complaining about my circumstances, I do realise it could always be much worse, and I am genuinely grateful it isn't. It's easy to play, and it really does help.
So others can be derogatory about Pollyanna, but not me. I feel like I've met her, and she's lovely and reminds me of me. And there's a sequel, it turns out! So I'm glad of that.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
Pollyanna is one of the rare characters that has entered our vocabulary (Scrooge is another one), so I knew what I was getting, roughly, but didn't know I'd enjoy it so much. At first it's the typical (for the period) young orphan copes with life in an uncaring environment, but it so swiftly moves past that. It's almost as if Porter is mocking those similar-but-different books, much like Gibbons in Cold Comfort Farm took a swipe at the tragedy-laden rural novels popular in the early 20th century. Where most literary orphans thrust in a gloomy attic bedroom would bemoan their fate, Pollyanna instead could delight in the privacy, the view, the joy of ownership, and so on. Punished with a horrible dinner? Why, that's just the thing she actually likes to eat best.
And (perhaps it helps that I'm a bit of a Pollyanna myself) I fell for her, hook, line, and sinker.
The Glad Game is something I've learned to play myself (I invented it on my own, as I suppose many of us optimists do, without knowing it is famously represented here). Although I'm normally cheerful, I learned to play the game during Hurrican Sandy. My flight was cancelled, the highways were closed, and I was trapped in an airport Holiday Inn with nothing to do but read, watch TV, and surf the internet ... if only I'd been in Manhattan I could have gone to restaurants, visited museums, seen Broadway shows! And then the hurricane hit, and we lost power, and I realised what I wouldn't have given to be able to read (can't read in the dark), watch TV, get on the web ... or have a hot shower, or phone my parents (can't recharge the phone), or eat (no restaurant in the hotel) ... so now, instead of complaining about my circumstances, I do realise it could always be much worse, and I am genuinely grateful it isn't. It's easy to play, and it really does help.
So others can be derogatory about Pollyanna, but not me. I feel like I've met her, and she's lovely and reminds me of me. And there's a sequel, it turns out! So I'm glad of that.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
I loved this book. Pollyanna isn't a little girl who goes through life oblivious, and thinking everything is wonderful, as she's often portrayed. But is a little girl who was given lemons by life, and not only made lemonade, but shared it with everybody around her.
challenging
emotional
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:
Yes
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
So this grown-a** man comes up to me at a party and asks me what I'm reading lately, and I list off a bunch of books, and ask him in return and he says this is what he's reading. Pollyanna? Yes. The full BBC cast audio recording. So I whipped out my libby app and added it and it's a short-short-short listen.
And you know what? It's kind of delightful. Twee, but it's for kids and it's of the age of twee. So there you have it.
And you know what? It's kind of delightful. Twee, but it's for kids and it's of the age of twee. So there you have it.
Got this 110 year old book as my Christmas gift, and it was someone's Christmas gift 98 years ago based on the inscription. How delightful.
Learn to play the "just being glad" game like Pollyanna because when you're hunting for the glad things, you'll sort of forget the things you actually wanted and be grateful for what you have.
Pollyanna, so cheerful, so friendly, and so genuine in all her expressions. I love all the character developments, and the clever dialogues. There was sadness but not overpowering. I remember that A Little Princess by Fransces Hodgson Burnett made me cry, this one made me smile. It's a feel-good, fast and easy classic to read, suitable for a young beginner too.
Learn to play the "just being glad" game like Pollyanna because when you're hunting for the glad things, you'll sort of forget the things you actually wanted and be grateful for what you have.
Pollyanna, so cheerful, so friendly, and so genuine in all her expressions. I love all the character developments, and the clever dialogues. There was sadness but not overpowering. I remember that A Little Princess by Fransces Hodgson Burnett made me cry, this one made me smile. It's a feel-good, fast and easy classic to read, suitable for a young beginner too.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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:
No
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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:
No
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
"I wish I could prescribe her--and buy her--as I would a box of pills;--though if there gets to be many of her in the world, you and I might as well go to ribbon-selling and ditch-digging for all the money we'd get out of nursing and doctoring."
Pollyanna is a delight of a character with her always trying to be glad about everything. Her supreme optimism in the face of her life's hardships is endearing and inspiring, and sometimes slightly grating. Haha! It's the side characters in this though that I love just as much as Pollyanna: Nancy and Aunt Polly and Old Tom and Dr. Chilten and John Pendleton and Jimmy Bean and Mrs. Snow. All wonderful! All changed by one little girl touching their lives with her gladness.
I know the Hayley Mills film almost by heart and the differences from the book to the film are very interesting. There are some things where the book is better and some things where the film is better. But each is precious in their own way simply for the character of Pollyanna herself.
Pollyanna is a delight of a character with her always trying to be glad about everything. Her supreme optimism in the face of her life's hardships is endearing and inspiring, and sometimes slightly grating. Haha! It's the side characters in this though that I love just as much as Pollyanna: Nancy and Aunt Polly and Old Tom and Dr. Chilten and John Pendleton and Jimmy Bean and Mrs. Snow. All wonderful! All changed by one little girl touching their lives with her gladness.
I know the Hayley Mills film almost by heart and the differences from the book to the film are very interesting. There are some things where the book is better and some things where the film is better. But each is precious in their own way simply for the character of Pollyanna herself.