A review by emilybartonspinks
A Tangled Web by L.M. Montgomery

1.0

This book was the unfortunate beginning to my eventual disenchantment with L.M. Montgomery. As someone who has read, and loved the Anne books, Story Girl, and Emily of New Moon, I was honestly surprised by the degree to which I detest this pathetic novel, and how the book led me to like all of her books less. For starters, there is nothing new in this story. I felt like I'd met all the characters before, and had heard all the subplots. It's rather a compilation of all of Montgomery's sappy and predictable romances neatly compiled into one easy to swallow volume. Maybe that wouldn't bother someone who hadn't already read a lot of Montgomery's work, but it's enough that I wouldn't recommend it to someone who had read her before. But this wasn't the real reason I dislike this book. The story (SPOILER ALERT, but honestly, this spoiler doesn't really give away the story, and is a helpful warning) ends with one of the most profoundly sexist and racist paragraphs that I've found in this genre of literature. It was a vivid reminder that white imperialism is thing. And the character who delivers the profoundly offensive statement is one the heroes. The reader is meant to laugh and close the book with satisfaction after this closing statement, but I can assure that this wasn't my reaction, nor would I hope it would be yours. With the removal of the final two paragraphs, this book honestly would of been fine. Not a favorite, or one I'll read again, but tolerable. In fact, I improved my copy by tearing out the last two paragraphs, and burning them. If after all this anyone still feels as if reading this book would be a good use of their limited time on this earth, be my guest. But you can't that you weren't warned.