A review by margueritestjust
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-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

5.0

A classic for a reason.  This book is a coming-of-age story that is often as whimsical as its protagonist, but not necessarily naive in its outlook.  Many of the great clashes in this book is Anne's idealistic and sometimes vain wishes versus the practicalities and nature of reality, often provided by her adoptive guardian Marilla Cuthbert.  I remember at one point I was reading an argument that Marilla and Anne were having, and thinking that my mother and I had had an argument exactly like it at one point.  I couldn't even remember which argument in the book it was, but I had the overwhelming sense of how true-to-life it was.  Their relationship is the key dynamic of this book, and like many, I was familiar with the 1980s miniseries and Anne with an E adaptations of this before reading the novel properly.  (I had read a condensed and edited version for children when I was very young, but that is not the same thing.)  One thing that I had never really gotten from the 1980s adaptation was how much Marilla cared for Anne, but the benefits to written novels versus dialogue in films and series as that you get more of an internal glimpse into the characters.  Of course, it may also have just been that I've gotten older now, too, and can better appreciate and understand Marilla's point of view.

One of the other things that struck me about this book was just how funny it was.  Even from the very beginning, when it describes how not even the river running by Rachel Lynde's house could get away with mischief under her watchful eye, there's an undercurrent of warmth and humor that suffuses throughout.  Anne, for all of her whimsy, treats everything with the utmost gravity, such as the playing at Elaine, which makes the ensuing disaster where the flat sinks and she must cling to an old tree trunk in the middle of the river all the more amusing.  Such vignettes are common, but cohesive enough that the story's threads are all neatly connected together.

And of course, the Uncle Ben/Beth March of Anne of Green Gables, Matthew's passing near the end of the book is deeply sad and sobering.  I believe that Matthew's death was the first time that I had really encountered the idea of death as a child, and in that way, I think it's instructional in a sense, and comforting as well.  It's no replacement for the actual experience, which I think is always going to be more difficult than a fictional one, but in terms of preparing a child emotionally for the concepts of grief and loss, this story is a very admirable gift.

Another notable key highlights are the marvelous cast of supporting characters (Gilbert, Diana, the other Avonlea scholars, etc.) and the descriptions of the nature on the island.  Both Anne and L.M. Montgomery have a clear reverence and wonder when it comes to the beauty that existed in the world around them.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death