sonnysnail 's review for:

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

2.0

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I just don't know... There's so many good things about these books, but then there's shit like this:

But Charlotta the Fourth thought them very beautiful, and after she had rustled into a white dress, so stiffly starched that it could stand alone, she surveyed herself in her glass with great satisfaction... a satisfaction which lasted until she went out in the hall and caught a glimpse through the spare room door of a tall girl in some softly clinging gown, pinning white, star-like flowers on the smooth ripples of her ruddy hair.

"Oh, I'll NEVER be able to look like Miss Shirley," thought poor Charlotta despairingly. "You just have to be born so, I guess... don't seem's if any amount of practice could give you that AIR."

This happens all the time in these books. If it were supposed to be a commentary on distorted self-image, or a depiction of the way envy can breed discontent, that'd be one thing, but nope: Anne's the best and you ought to envy her because if you weren't born perfect you have no hope. I adored the Anne novels when I was young; I'd finish Rilla of Ingleside and immediately pick up Anne of Green Gables again, but then the portrayal of Anne's perfectness started to grate, and eventually it rubbed me so raw I gave away my copies of the books.

Anne's like a straw-man misfit. She doesn't fit in because she's different, but she's only different because, in the author's view, she's so much better than everyone else. Montgomery wants me to like Diana, but if I happened to like Diana more than Anne I suspect L. M. would think I was crazy - or that I am not intelligent or "fine" enough to appreciate Anne's obvious superiority. As if it's impossible for people's tastes to differ.

I tried to read Anne of the Island again to see if maybe my distaste for the series was something I'd outgrown with my teenage years, but I found the portrayal of Anne as off-putting as ever. It's a shame.