You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by literaturejuggle
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
3.0
Hmm, I have mixed feelings about this one. Honestly, I read it because I had seen the TV show adaptation Anne With An E, and as horrifyingly wrong as it feels to say this, I really think that the adaptation is better than the book. I never think that! But I wouldn't have been half so interested in the book if I hadn't seen the show, I'm not sure I would have even read the book to the end.
It starts off really well. I like the subtly tragic backstory of the orphan who isn't wanted. However, once she is allowed to stay at Green Gables, there isn't much of a plot any more and almost no drama (practically everyone she meets adores her, but we never see her earn their respect, we're just told that she is great). Other than the on-going joke about the rivalry between Anne and Gilbert Blythe (and honestly it is ridiculous that she ignores someone for five years and he still likes her by the end), there isn't really anything stringing the story along, no reason to keep going. It is entirely anecdotal, skipping from scene to scene in which Anne gets into a mild scrape, often summarising entire seasons of her life, and never really dealing with any consequences or actually showing scenes that Anne has been obsessing over. Each chapter is pretty much a stand-alone story.
The one thing that really turns me off is that it is set over five or so years. That's a very long timescale for a novel. Anne is 11 at the start and sixteen going on seventeen by the end. We are forced to watch her grow up on fast-forward, never being allowed to stop and get to know anyone or watch relationships develop. It's kind of sad really. I had thought before I read it that Anne Of Green Gables was a series of books, then having read it and found it covered her entire childhood I thought I had been mistaken, then I found out that it IS an entire series but that each book covers multiple years of her life right into her 40s/70s. Why would I want to read about her entire life? This was supposed to be a children's book about a child. I don't want her entire future mapped out and ruined for me.
So, I dunno. It's all right. Well written and clever, although I don't much enjoy the endless description of scenery, but Anne would, and sometimes being faced with several pages of dialogue without a single paragraph break is a little daunting. However, my eagerness to read it was more to do with enjoying the adaptation and hoping to find something equally enjoyable in the book than actually enjoying the book which has not enough drama or plot or focus or character for my tastes. Also I guess the ending is a bit of a downer and I have no desire to read the further chronicles of Anne's entire life.
It starts off really well. I like the subtly tragic backstory of the orphan who isn't wanted. However, once she is allowed to stay at Green Gables, there isn't much of a plot any more and almost no drama (practically everyone she meets adores her, but we never see her earn their respect, we're just told that she is great). Other than the on-going joke about the rivalry between Anne and Gilbert Blythe (and honestly it is ridiculous that she ignores someone for five years and he still likes her by the end), there isn't really anything stringing the story along, no reason to keep going. It is entirely anecdotal, skipping from scene to scene in which Anne gets into a mild scrape, often summarising entire seasons of her life, and never really dealing with any consequences or actually showing scenes that Anne has been obsessing over. Each chapter is pretty much a stand-alone story.
The one thing that really turns me off is that it is set over five or so years. That's a very long timescale for a novel. Anne is 11 at the start and sixteen going on seventeen by the end. We are forced to watch her grow up on fast-forward, never being allowed to stop and get to know anyone or watch relationships develop. It's kind of sad really. I had thought before I read it that Anne Of Green Gables was a series of books, then having read it and found it covered her entire childhood I thought I had been mistaken, then I found out that it IS an entire series but that each book covers multiple years of her life right into her 40s/70s. Why would I want to read about her entire life? This was supposed to be a children's book about a child. I don't want her entire future mapped out and ruined for me.
So, I dunno. It's all right. Well written and clever, although I don't much enjoy the endless description of scenery, but Anne would, and sometimes being faced with several pages of dialogue without a single paragraph break is a little daunting. However, my eagerness to read it was more to do with enjoying the adaptation and hoping to find something equally enjoyable in the book than actually enjoying the book which has not enough drama or plot or focus or character for my tastes. Also I guess the ending is a bit of a downer and I have no desire to read the further chronicles of Anne's entire life.