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A review by moonlightcupofcocoa
The Blythes Are Quoted by L.M. Montgomery
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This review will have spoilers to Rilla of Ingleside.
I will admit that I'm a bit emotional writing this review. So much so that by the time I post it, it'll probably be a few days as I felt the need to sit with it. This is the last 'Anne' book available to me. I've read all others in the series (including the 'Further Chronicles from Avonlea' which I hated) and its bittersweet coming to an end.
What makes this even harder is the more I read about this book's publication history, the more I realized that L. M. Montgomery was suffering while writing it. At least parts of it. This book was supposed to help both the readers and the author to relive some of what made the Anne books so successful. And obviously to benefit from the series, financially.
This book was first released towards the end of the author's life. It was delivered to her publisher on the day of her death in 1942, but the publisher declined to issue it at the time. It's speculated that it's due to the darker tone of the book as well as anti-war messages in the poems and stories seeing that this was in the middle of the second world war.
Then, the book was published as 'The Road to Yesterday' in the 70s. Still, not in its entirety. It was shortened and reorganized (from what I saw anyways).
So, we actually didn't get it in its entirety until 2009 when Montgomery scholar, Benjamin Lefebvre, came across extended manuscripts giving us the full book.
The book is formatted differently in that it is split into two halves: Pre-WWI and Post-WW1/Beginning of WW2. In each half, we have stories with poems in the middle. All the poems are either by Anne or Walter (read after his death). While I liked the poems enough, I loved the commentary as Anne reads the poem out loud to her family.
The stories don't feature the Blythes, but they are mentioned over and over again in them. So much so, that sometimes it feels like fanservice and gets a tad annoying. They can do no wrong. They are either loved or are envied.
The book, also, stands out from the rest of the series in that it features a lot more explicitly darker themes like adultery, illegitimacy and revenge. Not talking about petty revenge here. Desperate, bitter and painful revenge.
But ultimately, I found myself enjoying the book and getting emotional all through it. Especially towards the end when you can feel Anne's pain and it really starts to feel like goodbye.
Like the other short story collections, I will be reviewing each of the short stories and using the average for the actual book. I won't be reviewing the poems, but I will name the two that especially spoke to me.
Some Fools and a Saint (4 stars): I enjoyed this story. It reads more like a horror story (with the caveat that to some extent you know the ending from the beginning, even if I have no idea how it could be true till the end).
An Afternoon with Mr. Jenkins (4 stars): It made me very uncomfortable, and I was so ready for things to go absolutely wrong (especially after Further Chronicles of Avonlea) but ultimately it ended up being bittersweet and almost (ALMOST) wholesome. It was still very dark when you stop and think about it.
Retribution (2.5 stars): This was painful to read which I believe is mostly intentional. This is a story about revenge and how it consumes one inside out.
The Twins Pretend (4 stars): It's cute. A bored wealthy man run into equally bored, opinionated twins. And they convince him to makeover an old, abandoned house.
Fancy's Fool (4 stars): This one was haunting, and I enjoyed it. Cute ending. I enjoyed the writing in it.
A Dream Comes True (4.5 stars): I honestly ended up laughing while reading this one. The main character is an idiot, and I enjoyed watching him learn an important lesson: Careful what you wish for.
Penelope Struts Her Theories (2 stars): It was an okay story. Ultimately, a happy ending but I think I didn't enjoy it as much as there were hints of misogynistic beliefs at the time regarding parenting.
The Reconciliation (3 stars): It was short and ... kinda silly. Ultimately leads nowhere.
The Cheated Child (3.5 stars): We revisit the themes of an orphan child finding his chosen family after living with many hateful, selfish relatives. Cute ending.
Fool's Errand (2 stars): Love at first sight, that should have been cute but honestly felt a bit ... too sentimental and illogical.
The Pot and the Kettle (3 stars): This felt a bit longer than it needed to be but was ultimately cute. A woman feeling terrible for lying about her identity ends up discovering other lies.
Brother Beware (1 star): It was supposed to be a romantic story, but honestly, it’s not. A man, intent on stopping his brother from marrying a woman, ends up kidnapping her and locking her at an island before they fell in love with each other instead.
I will admit that I'm a bit emotional writing this review. So much so that by the time I post it, it'll probably be a few days as I felt the need to sit with it. This is the last 'Anne' book available to me. I've read all others in the series (including the 'Further Chronicles from Avonlea' which I hated) and its bittersweet coming to an end.
What makes this even harder is the more I read about this book's publication history, the more I realized that L. M. Montgomery was suffering while writing it. At least parts of it. This book was supposed to help both the readers and the author to relive some of what made the Anne books so successful. And obviously to benefit from the series, financially.
This book was first released towards the end of the author's life. It was delivered to her publisher on the day of her death in 1942, but the publisher declined to issue it at the time. It's speculated that it's due to the darker tone of the book as well as anti-war messages in the poems and stories seeing that this was in the middle of the second world war.
Then, the book was published as 'The Road to Yesterday' in the 70s. Still, not in its entirety. It was shortened and reorganized (from what I saw anyways).
So, we actually didn't get it in its entirety until 2009 when Montgomery scholar, Benjamin Lefebvre, came across extended manuscripts giving us the full book.
The book is formatted differently in that it is split into two halves: Pre-WWI and Post-WW1/Beginning of WW2. In each half, we have stories with poems in the middle. All the poems are either by Anne or Walter (read after his death). While I liked the poems enough, I loved the commentary as Anne reads the poem out loud to her family.
The stories don't feature the Blythes, but they are mentioned over and over again in them. So much so, that sometimes it feels like fanservice and gets a tad annoying. They can do no wrong. They are either loved or are envied.
The book, also, stands out from the rest of the series in that it features a lot more explicitly darker themes like adultery, illegitimacy and revenge. Not talking about petty revenge here. Desperate, bitter and painful revenge.
But ultimately, I found myself enjoying the book and getting emotional all through it. Especially towards the end when you can feel Anne's pain and it really starts to feel like goodbye.
Like the other short story collections, I will be reviewing each of the short stories and using the average for the actual book. I won't be reviewing the poems, but I will name the two that especially spoke to me.
Some Fools and a Saint (4 stars): I enjoyed this story. It reads more like a horror story (with the caveat that to some extent you know the ending from the beginning, even if I have no idea how it could be true till the end).
An Afternoon with Mr. Jenkins (4 stars): It made me very uncomfortable, and I was so ready for things to go absolutely wrong (especially after Further Chronicles of Avonlea) but ultimately it ended up being bittersweet and almost (ALMOST) wholesome. It was still very dark when you stop and think about it.
Retribution (2.5 stars): This was painful to read which I believe is mostly intentional. This is a story about revenge and how it consumes one inside out.
The Twins Pretend (4 stars): It's cute. A bored wealthy man run into equally bored, opinionated twins. And they convince him to makeover an old, abandoned house.
Fancy's Fool (4 stars): This one was haunting, and I enjoyed it. Cute ending. I enjoyed the writing in it.
A Dream Comes True (4.5 stars): I honestly ended up laughing while reading this one. The main character is an idiot, and I enjoyed watching him learn an important lesson: Careful what you wish for.
Penelope Struts Her Theories (2 stars): It was an okay story. Ultimately, a happy ending but I think I didn't enjoy it as much as there were hints of misogynistic beliefs at the time regarding parenting.
The Reconciliation (3 stars): It was short and ... kinda silly. Ultimately leads nowhere.
The Cheated Child (3.5 stars): We revisit the themes of an orphan child finding his chosen family after living with many hateful, selfish relatives. Cute ending.
Fool's Errand (2 stars): Love at first sight, that should have been cute but honestly felt a bit ... too sentimental and illogical.
The Pot and the Kettle (3 stars): This felt a bit longer than it needed to be but was ultimately cute. A woman feeling terrible for lying about her identity ends up discovering other lies.
Brother Beware (1 star): It was supposed to be a romantic story, but honestly, it’s not. A man, intent on stopping his brother from marrying a woman, ends up kidnapping her and locking her at an island before they fell in love with each other instead.
Here Comes the Bride (4 stars): I can’t say that anything specific happened in this. A wedding is told through the eyes and thoughts of the guests. Most of the story was the housekeeper telling Susan how the wedding came to be and the truth behind a lot of the gossip going on. And yet, somehow, I ended up enjoying this. I think I liked that we got to see the progression between what the gossips were thinking during the ceremony and reception to finding out what really happened.
A Commonplace Woman (3 stars): This was a sad one. Almost everyone in this story is a jerk, except for the poor dying old lady. While they waited for her death so impatiently, the woman relived her life and the secrets she kept from all around her, proving that she did indeed live a full life they never knew about.
The Road to Yesterday (2 stars): As a woman revisits her old home, she runs into the boy that she used to hate growing up only to realize she’s falling for him. I think I would have enjoyed this more had it been longer. I do know that it all takes place over one day so there was little time for things to progress more naturally. The ending just seemed a bit abrupt and a little … too ‘plot-twisty’.
Favourite Poems: The Night, There is a House I Love, Farewell to an Old Room
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, War
Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol