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crystalisreading's review
4.0
This book is a little unexpected coming from LM Montgomery, the author of sweet books like the Anne series. This book tells the twisted story of 2 interrelated families, the Darks and the Penhallows, and their strange, strange interractions. It's a bit odd, a bit twisted--shades of Gosford Park without a murder, maybe. It kept me interested through to the end, despite, or maybe especially because it didn't seem like typical LM Mongtomery. give it a read sometime--I think you'll enjoy it.
sathyasekar's review
3.0
"A Tangled Web" is one of the very very few "adult" novels penned by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The Canadian author is primarily renowned for her creation of Anne shirley. perhaps the most beautiful creation of a child in all fiction. She also created many other works of children fiction - Emily of Silver Moon, Pat of Silver Busy, Jane of Lantern Hill and more. She achieved immense success as a writer of fiction based on children. But her adult books did not receive as much success. "Blue Castle" was a ver yinteresting book indeed - a woman is pronounced to be suffering from an incurable disease with a limited time to live. The book is about how she tries to achieve all her dreams in the time remaining. The theme is beautiful but Montgomery couldnt make it a gripping account. She meandered and tried to make it as pleasing an affair as the child stories. The well-written story hence fell flat.
"A tangled web" has a good theme. An elderly aunt prepares for her death and as one of her last actions, bequathes her precious heirloom, an old jug, to an unnamed relative to be announded after a year. There is a big family, each one of whose members expects the jug to be their gift. The book is almost completely abou tthe lives of these members and how things change over the course of the year. The theme of the book is very interesting as I said. Being part of a big family myself with strong senior ladies, I could relate to a lot of action early in the book. To me, the book very quickly became a very confusing affair. There are just way too many characters and keeping track of each one of their stories in parallel was too difficult a task for me. By the time you got familiar with the people and relate to their stories, the book was almost over. Due to the number of stories being spawned, I felt a certain shallowness to the characters. I could connect with none. I had the same experience as watching one of the Harry Potter movies - just a quick assembly of different images with no emotinal connect anywhere. This from Ms Montgomery was a huge disappointment. For the most essential win about her "child" books are about the emotional connect you feel with the chief characters. Anne, Mathew and Marila for instance. Ms Montgomery appears to have rather a limited view of what an adult book means. To her, it appears it must means more swearing and more kissing. Otherwise, the adults just seem to be the simpletons they appear in her child books.
Despite all of this, the book is still not a bad read. The disappointment is high only because of the expectations going with the author. Its a typically gay, light read marks Ms Montgomery's books. Once you know to recognize the characters by their name, the chances are you may actually start liking them - at least some. So it may not be a complete waste of time. But dont go into it expecting a brilliance you may (justifiably) expect from the author who wrote "Anne of Green Gables". There is no such flair here. But the prose is lovely as ever and you dont feel bored. Just confused.
"A tangled web" has a good theme. An elderly aunt prepares for her death and as one of her last actions, bequathes her precious heirloom, an old jug, to an unnamed relative to be announded after a year. There is a big family, each one of whose members expects the jug to be their gift. The book is almost completely abou tthe lives of these members and how things change over the course of the year. The theme of the book is very interesting as I said. Being part of a big family myself with strong senior ladies, I could relate to a lot of action early in the book. To me, the book very quickly became a very confusing affair. There are just way too many characters and keeping track of each one of their stories in parallel was too difficult a task for me. By the time you got familiar with the people and relate to their stories, the book was almost over. Due to the number of stories being spawned, I felt a certain shallowness to the characters. I could connect with none. I had the same experience as watching one of the Harry Potter movies - just a quick assembly of different images with no emotinal connect anywhere. This from Ms Montgomery was a huge disappointment. For the most essential win about her "child" books are about the emotional connect you feel with the chief characters. Anne, Mathew and Marila for instance. Ms Montgomery appears to have rather a limited view of what an adult book means. To her, it appears it must means more swearing and more kissing. Otherwise, the adults just seem to be the simpletons they appear in her child books.
Despite all of this, the book is still not a bad read. The disappointment is high only because of the expectations going with the author. Its a typically gay, light read marks Ms Montgomery's books. Once you know to recognize the characters by their name, the chances are you may actually start liking them - at least some. So it may not be a complete waste of time. But dont go into it expecting a brilliance you may (justifiably) expect from the author who wrote "Anne of Green Gables". There is no such flair here. But the prose is lovely as ever and you dont feel bored. Just confused.
sarahpopham's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs
sonshinelibrarian's review
4.5
Reread 2021
I definitely enjoy this, but I sort of wish the Sam story wasn't part of it. The ending not only is very problematic but it also doesn't really end the story nicely. My favorite storyline is Margaret's 100%.
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What a marvelously tangled mess of family drama. It is amazing to me that so many threads could all be pulled together so masterfully, dancing in and out of each story, picking up a thread you'd almost forgotten about and tying it to another in unexpected ways.
I definitely enjoy this, but I sort of wish the Sam story wasn't part of it. The ending not only is very problematic but it also doesn't really end the story nicely. My favorite storyline is Margaret's 100%.
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What a marvelously tangled mess of family drama. It is amazing to me that so many threads could all be pulled together so masterfully, dancing in and out of each story, picking up a thread you'd almost forgotten about and tying it to another in unexpected ways.
the_literarylinguist's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
azryek's review
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
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
4.0
sepideh_dsamani's review
Missing l. M. Montgomery's humour and beautiful prince Edwards Island? Read this!
P.s. my favourite place/ dream/ part of the book was "whispering winds"...
P.s. my favourite place/ dream/ part of the book was "whispering winds"...
wilde_book_garden's review against another edition
3.0
Some cute and charming bits, rather too many nature descriptions, and a couple of horribly offensive slurs.
Oh. And someone strangles a kitten. Serves no purpose in the story, but let’s throw in some animal abuse.
My least favorite L. M. Montgomery novel so far. The lovely writing and a couple of intriguing characters (out of a huge cast) were all that saved it from a 2 star rating.
Oh. And someone strangles a kitten. Serves no purpose in the story, but let’s throw in some animal abuse.
My least favorite L. M. Montgomery novel so far. The lovely writing and a couple of intriguing characters (out of a huge cast) were all that saved it from a 2 star rating.
melanie_page's review
1.0
She leads readers down a predictable path and then sweeps the rug out from under us (to switch metaphors).
Once the rug was yanked, I didn’t care about anybody. They fall in love after a chaste kiss on the cheek; fall out of love when they notice someone has the smallest physical imperfection — a mole, for instance. Can you imagine upending your entire life when your live-long housemate keeps a statue that you hate? Or wasting a decade on the memory of a stranger only to find out he’s gained weight and is losing a bit of hair and decide so he’s a piece of crap instead of getting to know him? A Tangled Web is so teeth-grindingly petty. I kept reading because I wanted to know who ended up with whom, but once I hit a string of grumbles that really demonstrated what a shallow pool Montgomery could be, I just quit — at 79%. You really have to shit the bed for me to DNF that late in the game.
But I was curious. So I headed to Goodreads and looked for reviews that spoiled the ending. Apparently, nothing gets resolved, but A Tangled Web does conclude with a huge racist joke that evokes the n-word. . .
Full review at Grab the Lapels.
Once the rug was yanked, I didn’t care about anybody. They fall in love after a chaste kiss on the cheek; fall out of love when they notice someone has the smallest physical imperfection — a mole, for instance. Can you imagine upending your entire life when your live-long housemate keeps a statue that you hate? Or wasting a decade on the memory of a stranger only to find out he’s gained weight and is losing a bit of hair and decide so he’s a piece of crap instead of getting to know him? A Tangled Web is so teeth-grindingly petty. I kept reading because I wanted to know who ended up with whom, but once I hit a string of grumbles that really demonstrated what a shallow pool Montgomery could be, I just quit — at 79%. You really have to shit the bed for me to DNF that late in the game.
But I was curious. So I headed to Goodreads and looked for reviews that spoiled the ending. Apparently, nothing gets resolved, but A Tangled Web does conclude with a huge racist joke that evokes the n-word. . .
Full review at Grab the Lapels.