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A review by jadziadax
A Tangled Web by L.M. Montgomery
"Tee-hee--how very romantic" tittered Mrs Toynbee Dark, who had been standing for ten minutes at the corner of the old house watching them with sinister little black eyes.
"Ho, ho, my pet weasel, so you're there," said Peter.
Probably not my favorite of Maude's books, but nevertheless good. I'd go for rating it a 4, yet there are some aspects of it that make me bring it down to a 3 (which we'll get to later).
This is also one of Maude's few books intended for adult audiences. First of all, it is an overall delightful and amusing look into a messy clan living on P.E.I, probably about 10 years after WWI. The Penhallow-Dark clan seems to make up a large portion of P.E.I (not the part near Avonlea-- the towns mentioned are Bay Silver, Rose River, and a few others. None of these towns, FYI, are real though I imagine they are based on real ones? Or possible communities that no longer exist). The Darks almost always marry Penhallows and Penhallows almost always make marry Darks, which is incredibly inbred. One character even compares it to the Royal family.
Also, a small piece of trivia for anyone interested -- if you watched the Sullivan TV show, Road to Avonlea, the character of Romney Penhallow was taken from a short story (in Chronicles of Avonlea) about the Penhallows. He's not mentioned in this book, but there you go.
remember when these two broke 11 yr old me's heart? I do
The crux of the book is that Aunt Becky dies and makes everyone wait a year to find out who will inherit a family heirloom from her, which is a jug. Everyone wants it, yet Becky has guidelines for what kind of person she will and won't allow to have it. Shennagins ensure and Aunt Becky, judging from our brief glimpse of her while she's alive at the beginning of the book, is probably cackling happily from above.
My favorite storyline is probably that of Margaret, a spinster who doesn't really want marriage but does want a nice little house and a child. My second favorite was probably Peter and Donna's romance, partly because Peter amused me and Donna is one of the characters I liked the best.
What lowered my rating (these are slight spoilers, but not huge)
- there is, at the very end, like literally the last page, an instance of racism that just startled me. basically, the n slur is used (about painting a statue). and like I get, it's "the times" and the men that are having this conversation are two middle-aged fishermen that don't have the best manners/morals. but still. yikes, yikes. YIKES.
- *screaming about Gay and Roger, but not in a happy way* Gay, no! like, please, Noel is absolutely a prat but go off and visit a friend off the island or go to Queens, please don't marry Roger. I get he is like, nice and all but he is 32, you're 18 and I am kind of worried he has known you for quite a while, which makes it all weirder. Anyway, thanks to Peter for expressing my feelings on the matter."At least the book is somewhat self-aware? At least Roger isn't Dean Priest-- although Dean doesn't marry Emily and everyone things/concludes he's a creepy possessive jerk. But I digress, since that's entirely different book. The basic thing is that a romance between an 18 yr old and a 32-year-old relative of hers skeeved me out.
Overall, I did enjoy this book, but it's not without its faults. Maude has her usual gift of offering you glimpses into many character's lives that seem realistic and she captures their voices well. Despite there being a boatload of characters, I usually wasn't lost on who they were. The details of small-town life and family in-fighting are superb -- fights over pigs, over pews, never letting each other forget stealing jam, things like that. It's like seating on the shoulder of the town gossip that knows everything.
"Ho, ho, my pet weasel, so you're there," said Peter.
Probably not my favorite of Maude's books, but nevertheless good. I'd go for rating it a 4, yet there are some aspects of it that make me bring it down to a 3 (which we'll get to later).
This is also one of Maude's few books intended for adult audiences. First of all, it is an overall delightful and amusing look into a messy clan living on P.E.I, probably about 10 years after WWI. The Penhallow-Dark clan seems to make up a large portion of P.E.I (not the part near Avonlea-- the towns mentioned are Bay Silver, Rose River, and a few others. None of these towns, FYI, are real though I imagine they are based on real ones? Or possible communities that no longer exist). The Darks almost always marry Penhallows and Penhallows almost always make marry Darks, which is incredibly inbred. One character even compares it to the Royal family.
Also, a small piece of trivia for anyone interested -- if you watched the Sullivan TV show, Road to Avonlea, the character of Romney Penhallow was taken from a short story (in Chronicles of Avonlea) about the Penhallows. He's not mentioned in this book, but there you go.
remember when these two broke 11 yr old me's heart? I do
The crux of the book is that Aunt Becky dies and makes everyone wait a year to find out who will inherit a family heirloom from her, which is a jug. Everyone wants it, yet Becky has guidelines for what kind of person she will and won't allow to have it. Shennagins ensure and Aunt Becky, judging from our brief glimpse of her while she's alive at the beginning of the book, is probably cackling happily from above.
My favorite storyline is probably that of Margaret, a spinster who doesn't really want marriage but does want a nice little house and a child. My second favorite was probably Peter and Donna's romance, partly because Peter amused me and Donna is one of the characters I liked the best.
What lowered my rating (these are slight spoilers, but not huge)
- there is, at the very end, like literally the last page, an instance of racism that just startled me. basically, the n slur is used (about painting a statue). and like I get, it's "the times" and the men that are having this conversation are two middle-aged fishermen that don't have the best manners/morals. but still. yikes, yikes. YIKES.
- *screaming about Gay and Roger, but not in a happy way* Gay, no! like, please, Noel is absolutely a prat but go off and visit a friend off the island or go to Queens, please don't marry Roger. I get he is like, nice and all but he is 32, you're 18 and I am kind of worried he has known you for quite a while, which makes it all weirder. Anyway, thanks to Peter for expressing my feelings on the matter.
Spoiler
""Oh, you like them buxom, I suppose," sneered Peter, "like Sally William Y.--or just out of the cradle-like Gay Penhallow."Overall, I did enjoy this book, but it's not without its faults. Maude has her usual gift of offering you glimpses into many character's lives that seem realistic and she captures their voices well. Despite there being a boatload of characters, I usually wasn't lost on who they were. The details of small-town life and family in-fighting are superb -- fights over pigs, over pews, never letting each other forget stealing jam, things like that. It's like seating on the shoulder of the town gossip that knows everything.