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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
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
I enjoyed this one quite a lot, more than some of the previous ones. I really liked the characters and the story for the most part, as it reminded me of the first book even though it was set far from Avonlea. I do have to agree that Anne really has settled down since the beginning and she isn't as interesting since she doesn't show her temper and doesn't get into scrapes, but even so I do still like her character.
It surprised me to see how much time has already passed in the series. It's only book 5 and yet in the beginning Anne is already 25. It's been 14 years since her arrival at Green Gables and about 10 years since Matthew died. The twins are 15 already, and Paul Irving is grown up at 19. By the time the book ends, the twins are 17, meaning Anne is 27. I guess it does make sense because each book covers at least several years, but it amazes me how quickly Anne has grown up.
Cornelia's constant remarks of things like "So like a man" were interesting at first but I found I tired of it pretty quickly. I don't deny she makes some good points about men and their role in society but the constant jabs and man-hating started to get annoying, especially since she kept bringing it up almost every time she opened her mouth.
I know it was supposed to be endearing, but Gilbert calling Anne Anne-girl also rubbed me the wrong way. Anne is 25-27, she is a woman, not a girl, and we don't see her calling him Gilbert-boy. It feels like it plays into the infantilization of young women, something I've become more conscious of since learning about it from one of my professors. It creates an unequal relationship between Anne and Gilbert because by calling her girl, he is reducing her to a child, as someone not equal to himself in his role as a man.
Spoilers
While I felt the sadness of Anne losing her first child, I was enraged by some of how the aftermath was described. Marilla tells Anne to be brave for Gilbert's sake and essentially pull herself back together for him, and this upset me because she is saying the Anne needs to put it together and go back to taking care of her home and husband. It seems to me that he should be there trying to help her through the loss. It felt like this was just reinforcing the traditional gender roles and stereotypes. And then Anne describes herself as having been selfish for staying in bed for so long afterwards, even though she is a mother grieving the loss of her child and the motherhood she should have had. I don't think it's selfish at all, and she was also probably experiencing depression. But to see Anne describe herself as being selfish because she didn't get back up right away and go back to serving her husband and making a happy home upset me. In this part we also don't see much of Gilbert and him helping Anne through her loss, especially since it's also his loss. I'm sure being a doctor that he has seen children die before, but I would think it would also affect him, since it was also his child. Maybe it would weigh more on Anne than on him, since she carried the baby for nine months, but it's still a shared loss and we don't really see that here.
I also disagreed with Captain Jim's assertion that Anne hadn't had any tragedy in her life and that's why she couldn't completely connect with Leslie. There was tragedy in her life in the form of her parents dying and her living the life of an unwanted orphan and then with Matthew dying and Anne having to put her own dreams on hold to help save Green Gables. Maybe Leslie had more than her fair share of tragedies, but that doesn't mean Anne didn't have them too. The difference between Anne and Leslie is that Anne is a dreamer and has always been more optimistic and kept up hope even in the face of tragedy, while Leslie has become pessimistic and lost all hope. I don't see how Captain Jim could accurately judge Anne's life as having been free from tragedy given the fact he has only known her for a few months when he says this. He doesn't know what her childhood was like, having not seen it himself and only knowing what she tells him of it.
When Gilbert and Anne disagree and it turns out Gilbert was right (well, kind of), Anne says that she will never again disagree with him which incensed me as well. Even though Gilbert tells her it's okay to disagree it felt like gender roles were being reinforced in that a husband is always right and also because he has more education than her and she should always agree with what he says. Even though Gilbert's plan turned out right in the end, I disagree with the idea that the truth will always set a person free. It doesn't. I agreed with Anne that Gilbert should not tell Leslie her husband could be cured through an operation because of the toll it could have on her. She was miserable enough already, and she acknowledged that her husband getting better would not have made her life happier.
Overall I liked the plot and the characters, especially Leslie, because she was complex. I also liked Captain Jim even though I didn't always agree with everything he said.
It surprised me to see how much time has already passed in the series. It's only book 5 and yet in the beginning Anne is already 25. It's been 14 years since her arrival at Green Gables and about 10 years since Matthew died. The twins are 15 already, and Paul Irving is grown up at 19. By the time the book ends, the twins are 17, meaning Anne is 27. I guess it does make sense because each book covers at least several years, but it amazes me how quickly Anne has grown up.
Cornelia's constant remarks of things like "So like a man" were interesting at first but I found I tired of it pretty quickly. I don't deny she makes some good points about men and their role in society but the constant jabs and man-hating started to get annoying, especially since she kept bringing it up almost every time she opened her mouth.
I know it was supposed to be endearing, but Gilbert calling Anne Anne-girl also rubbed me the wrong way. Anne is 25-27, she is a woman, not a girl, and we don't see her calling him Gilbert-boy. It feels like it plays into the infantilization of young women, something I've become more conscious of since learning about it from one of my professors. It creates an unequal relationship between Anne and Gilbert because by calling her girl, he is reducing her to a child, as someone not equal to himself in his role as a man.
Spoilers
While I felt the sadness of Anne losing her first child, I was enraged by some of how the aftermath was described. Marilla tells Anne to be brave for Gilbert's sake and essentially pull herself back together for him, and this upset me because she is saying the Anne needs to put it together and go back to taking care of her home and husband. It seems to me that he should be there trying to help her through the loss. It felt like this was just reinforcing the traditional gender roles and stereotypes. And then Anne describes herself as having been selfish for staying in bed for so long afterwards, even though she is a mother grieving the loss of her child and the motherhood she should have had. I don't think it's selfish at all, and she was also probably experiencing depression. But to see Anne describe herself as being selfish because she didn't get back up right away and go back to serving her husband and making a happy home upset me. In this part we also don't see much of Gilbert and him helping Anne through her loss, especially since it's also his loss. I'm sure being a doctor that he has seen children die before, but I would think it would also affect him, since it was also his child. Maybe it would weigh more on Anne than on him, since she carried the baby for nine months, but it's still a shared loss and we don't really see that here.
I also disagreed with Captain Jim's assertion that Anne hadn't had any tragedy in her life and that's why she couldn't completely connect with Leslie. There was tragedy in her life in the form of her parents dying and her living the life of an unwanted orphan and then with Matthew dying and Anne having to put her own dreams on hold to help save Green Gables. Maybe Leslie had more than her fair share of tragedies, but that doesn't mean Anne didn't have them too. The difference between Anne and Leslie is that Anne is a dreamer and has always been more optimistic and kept up hope even in the face of tragedy, while Leslie has become pessimistic and lost all hope. I don't see how Captain Jim could accurately judge Anne's life as having been free from tragedy given the fact he has only known her for a few months when he says this. He doesn't know what her childhood was like, having not seen it himself and only knowing what she tells him of it.
When Gilbert and Anne disagree and it turns out Gilbert was right (well, kind of), Anne says that she will never again disagree with him which incensed me as well. Even though Gilbert tells her it's okay to disagree it felt like gender roles were being reinforced in that a husband is always right and also because he has more education than her and she should always agree with what he says. Even though Gilbert's plan turned out right in the end, I disagree with the idea that the truth will always set a person free. It doesn't. I agreed with Anne that Gilbert should not tell Leslie her husband could be cured through an operation because of the toll it could have on her. She was miserable enough already, and she acknowledged that her husband getting better would not have made her life happier.
Overall I liked the plot and the characters, especially Leslie, because she was complex. I also liked Captain Jim even though I didn't always agree with everything he said.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
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:
N/A
One of my favourite books in the Anne of Green Gables series. <3
Just reread this and loved every word. Except the boring discussions about Methodists vs Presbyterians, which I skipped.
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent
Previously read on 29 April 2008, and countless times before that!
Although I love Anne in general, and I adore Montgomery's writing, in this particular book, I started missing other characters. I fell in love with most of the characters introduced here but there was a lack of info on previous ones that left me wanting and disappointed. And here, I felt a different element in the storytelling that didn't seem as strung out of golden fancies as before. But I still enjoyed it. It's the hand of a dreamer and a master storyteller at work.
Anne's still awesome and the new characters are funny and loveable. And there are strings of romance all over and wanton happiness.
Anne's still awesome and the new characters are funny and loveable. And there are strings of romance all over and wanton happiness.
I read the first book in this series, 'Anne of Green Gables' a long time ago, and found it very dated, and, to my eight year old mind, really boring. However, reading them (all the books this time) again, aged sixteen, I found them to be actually quite fun, if a little shallow and old fashioned. The first three books in the series, anyway.
For the last three, Anne grows up. Like Peter Pan, the whole point of Anne Shirley is that she is a child who doesn't know any better, and once she grows up and becomes sensible, the books seem to lose their heart a little. I would definitely recommend the first three, but I would stop after that if I were you.
For the last three, Anne grows up. Like Peter Pan, the whole point of Anne Shirley is that she is a child who doesn't know any better, and once she grows up and becomes sensible, the books seem to lose their heart a little. I would definitely recommend the first three, but I would stop after that if I were you.