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lachesisreads 's review for:
Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel
by Mariah Marsden
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I grew up with Anne, and have read the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery many dozens of times. It's fair to say that this is among one of my favourite books of all time.
But this graphic novel did... nothing for me.
Let's start with what I did like, which is the green-blue colour scheme of the book. I thought that captures the essence of the book extremely well.
When turning a novel into a graphic novel, it's inevitable that some passages must be shortened or cut, but in this case so much was cut and deleted that the book became nearly impossible to understand unless one has read the original or seen one of the adaptations (speaking of, Meghan Follows all the way). I know the book nearly by heart and had no trouble filling in the gaps, but I wonder if someone who has neither read nor seen Anne before would even be able to follow the story in this one.
My next gripe is the language... which was modernised, because apparently we're now too dumb to understand long words. Only a handful of particularly beloved quites ("I am so glad to live in a world where there are October") were kept; the rest was cut, rephrased, dumbed down. In the process, the book lost much of its original charm, which after all stems from Montgomery's beautiful, descriptive (and yes, sometimes a bit purple) prose.
The last item I will chalk down to personal taste, but I did not enjoy the drawing style at all - abstract, modern, purposefully "ugly" - to me, this is not a good match for the essence of this bittersweet book at all. Please note that I don't mean to say that the artist isn't gifted or didn't do a good job, I merely think that style and book did not go well together.
All in all, a disappointment for me.
But this graphic novel did... nothing for me.
Let's start with what I did like, which is the green-blue colour scheme of the book. I thought that captures the essence of the book extremely well.
When turning a novel into a graphic novel, it's inevitable that some passages must be shortened or cut, but in this case so much was cut and deleted that the book became nearly impossible to understand unless one has read the original or seen one of the adaptations (speaking of, Meghan Follows all the way). I know the book nearly by heart and had no trouble filling in the gaps, but I wonder if someone who has neither read nor seen Anne before would even be able to follow the story in this one.
My next gripe is the language... which was modernised, because apparently we're now too dumb to understand long words. Only a handful of particularly beloved quites ("I am so glad to live in a world where there are October") were kept; the rest was cut, rephrased, dumbed down. In the process, the book lost much of its original charm, which after all stems from Montgomery's beautiful, descriptive (and yes, sometimes a bit purple) prose.
The last item I will chalk down to personal taste, but I did not enjoy the drawing style at all - abstract, modern, purposefully "ugly" - to me, this is not a good match for the essence of this bittersweet book at all. Please note that I don't mean to say that the artist isn't gifted or didn't do a good job, I merely think that style and book did not go well together.
All in all, a disappointment for me.