One Classic Book I Would Change the Ending To: Anne of Green Gables (Spoilers!)

WHAT IS CLASSIC REMARKS?

Classic Remarks is a meme hosted here at Pages Unbound that poses questions each Friday about classic literature and asks participants to engage in ongoing discussions surrounding not only themes in the novels but also questions about canon formation, the “timelessness” of literature, and modes of interpretation.

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?

Leave your link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. And feel free to comment with your thoughts even if you are not officially participating with a full post!

You can find more information and the list of weekly prompts here.

(Readers who like past prompts but missed them have also answered them on their blog later and linked back to us at Pages Unbound, so feel free to do that, too!)

THIS WEEK’S PROMPT:

 If you could change the ending of one classic book, what would it be and why?

Spoilers for the end of Anne of Green Gables!

Anne of Green Gables is one of my very, very favorite books, and I generally think it’s perfection. I’ve read it at least 20 times, and each time I think it was better than the last.

So why would I change something about the ending? If you’ve read the book, you’ve probably guess: I would stop Matthew from dying!

Matthew is really a shining star of a character. He’s quiet and incredibly awkward around women, but that makes his staunch support of Anne and her imagination and her talkative nature all the more heartwarming. I love seeing Marilla gently chide him for “encouraging” Anne by listening to her ridiculous stories. I love his faith in Anne, and how he knows she’s smart and an excellent student. I love when he gathers up his courage to finally get Anne a more stylish dress (and his painfully awkward scene at the store trying to order the materials, only to end up leaving with an absurd amount of brown sugar is one of my favorite in the book!).

Matthew, basically, is just what Anne needs. Or what she needs to balance out Marilla, who has stricter ideas about how to raise a child (and she’s right some of the time if not all of the time). You can tell how much Matthew loves Anne and how much she loves Matthew, so when he dies at the end of the book, it’s simply heartbreaking. I want to keep him around!

And L. M. Montgomery is on my side here. I think she and I both recognize that he had to die at some point. That just kind of feels right to the story, and the heartbreak is something that does add to the book, even while it saddens readers. But Montgomery implies she would have at least delayed his death (I believe if she’d known how well the book would sell and that she’d have the chance to write Anne a whole series):

“Many people have told me that they regretted Matthew’s death in Green Gables. I regret it myself,” wrote Lucy Maud Montgomery in her autobiography, The Alpine Path. “If I had the book to write over again, I would spare Matthew for several years. But when I wrote it, I thought he must die, that there might be a necessity for self-sacrifice on Anne’s part, so poor Matthew joined the long procession of ghosts that haunt my literary past.”

anneofgreengables.com

So, yes, I would love to seen an end of Anne of Green Gables where Matthew gets several more happy years to watch Anne grow up.

Why Anne of Green Gables Speaks to Contemporary Readers (Classic Remarks)

WHAT IS CLASSIC REMARKS?

Classic Remarks is a meme hosted here at Pages Unbound that poses questions each Friday about classic literature and asks participants to engage in ongoing discussions surrounding not only themes in the novels but also questions about canon formation, the “timelessness” of literature, and modes of interpretation.

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?

Leave your link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. And feel free to comment with your thoughts even if you are not officially participating with a full post!

You can find more information and the list of weekly prompts here.

(Readers who like past prompts but missed them have also answered them on their blog later and linked back to us at Pages Unbound, so feel free to do that, too!)

THIS WEEK’S PROMPT:

Why do you think Anne of Green Gables still speaks to contemporary readers?

Although L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables is set in the late 1800s on Prince Edward Island, I believe it speaks to readers today, readers from around the world and all walks of life, because many of the themes and Anne’s life experiences are, at their core, universal. While readers may never be an orphan or live on a farm or attend a one-room school or do half the things Anne does, her childhood struggles to make sense of world, fit in with others, and navigate relationships with others are things that readers can continue to understand and empathize with.

I’ve always thought Montgomery as a writer has a keen understanding of how it feels to be a child, and that understanding is what helps her characters come alive. One of the earlier scenes in Anne of Green Gables, for instance, involves Mrs. Rachel Lynde looking at Anne and calling her, straight to her face, homely. Mrs. Lynde hits on a particularly touchy point when she mentions Anne’s red hair, which Anne has never liked (and who can’t relate to having something about one’s appearance that one wishes to change?), but the heart of the matter — which Anne points out — is that these are cruel things Mrs. Lynde would never have said to another adult. Adults are worthy of respect; one might comment on a lady’s ugliness behind closed doors, but would never walk up to and tell her point blank that she isn’t pretty. Because Anne is a child, however, Mrs. Lynde, and initially Marilla, think they can say and do what they like to her; she’s not human enough to deserve the kindness and tact that adults do. THESE are the kinds of scenes that I think continue to speak to readers today, as readers can reflect on the times they were treated as less than simply because they were child and not adults.

Montgomery also skillfully conveys “little” issues that loom large to children. For instance, Anne has always hankered after the “puffed sleeves” that are in fashion in her day, but Marilla insists in dressing her in plain, sensible clothes. Anne is fairly good-natured about this and mostly limits herself to wistfully wishing for a more fashionable dress, but the feeling of wanting trendier clothing that one’s family can’t afford or one’s parents simply will not buy is relatable. (And Montgomery takes the theme even farther in Emily of New Moon, when Emily’s aunts force her to wear out-of-date and overly formal clothing to school, which makes her stand out and get mocked, prompting her to attempt to switch out the garments for something else on the way to school. I don’t know about other people, but I have vivid memories of being forced to wear ridiculous clothing by my parents because they thought it was the correct thing for the occasion, when it certainly was NOT. I can never read this scene without having flashbacks to some of the horrid, ridicule-inviting things I was forced to wear.)

These are the moments I think speak to readers today, Anne’s experience as a child and how that’s filled with innocence and wonder and possibility but also mistakes and punishments and bullying and disdain from some adults. I always say the book isn’t really about anything; it’s just about Anne’s life. But that’s what makes it inviting and timeless, what lets us see the little moments of our own lives in the little moments of Anne’s.

A Classic Book I Love for The Prose: Anne of Green Gables (Classic Remarks)

WHAT IS CLASSIC REMARKS?

Classic Remarks is a meme hosted here at Pages Unbound that poses questions each Friday about classic literature and asks participants to engage in ongoing discussions surrounding not only themes in the novels but also questions about canon formation, the “timelessness” of literature, and modes of interpretation.

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?

Leave your link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. And feel free to comment with your thoughts even if you are not officially participating with a full post!

You can find more information and the list of weekly prompts here.

(Readers who like past prompts but missed them have also answered them on their blog later and linked back to us at Pages Unbound, so feel free to do that, too!)

THIS WEEK’S PROMPT:

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE AUSTEN HEROINE? OR HERO?

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

L. M. Montgomery is one of my favorite authors for many reasons, from her vision to her characters to her keen social observations, but I have also always been in love with her prose. When readers complain about overblown descriptions in novels, I always think about Montgomery’s writing and how she can describe anything and catch my interest– and also convince me she’s seen exactly what it is is she’s describing.

If I were to describe a tree or a flower, for instance, I’d probably end up rather hand-wavy and say it was tall or vibrant and maybe bother to specifically say it was a poplar or a daffodil. It turns out I don’t really know all that much about trees or flowers besides I think they’re nice. L. M. Montgomery, however, makes me believe she knows all about nature and truly loves it, and she makes me wish I were the same.

Here, for instance, is the beginning of a simple description of a garden. The prose is beautiful — I have always loved the phrase “old-fashioned flowers ran riot” — and I come away thinking Montgomery has seen a garden like this and truly enjoys it, not that she’s writing some throwaway description of some plants because she feels she has to:

The Barry garden was a bowery wilderness of flowers which would have delighted Anne’s heart at any time less fraught with destiny. It was encircled by huge old willows and tall firs, beneath which flourished flowers that loved the shade. Prim, right-angled paths neatly bordered with clamshells, intersected it like moist red ribbons and in the beds between old-fashioned flowers ran riot.

And here is another example, where Montgomery beautifully describes Anne, nature, and the effect that nature has on Anne:

Its beauty seemed to strike the child dumb. She leaned back in the buggy, her thin hands clasped before her, her face lifted rapturously to the white splendor above. Even when they had passed out and were driving down the long slope to Newbridge she never moved or spoke. Still with rapt face she gazed afar into the sunset west, with eyes that saw visions trooping splendidly across that glowing background. Through Newbridge, a bustling little village where dogs barked at them and small boys hooted and curious faces peered from the windows, they drove, still in silence. When three more miles had dropped away behind them the child had not spoken. She could keep silence, it was evident, as energetically as she could talk.

However, Montgomery’s prose is not all flowers and beauty and making me want to fall in love with the world as she sees it. Montgomery also has a remarkable talent for capturing different voices for each of her characters. For instance, here is the no-nonsense Mrs. Rachel Lynde:

“Well, of all things that ever were or will be!” ejaculated Mrs. Rachel when she was safely out in the lane. “It does really seem as if I must be dreaming. Well, I’m sorry for that poor young one and no mistake. Matthew and Marilla don’t know anything about children and they’ll expect him to be wiser and steadier that his own grandfather, if so be’s he ever had a grandfather, which is doubtful. It seems uncanny to think of a child at Green Gables somehow; there’s never been one there, for Matthew and Marilla were grown up when the new house was built—if they ever were children, which is hard to believe when one looks at them. I wouldn’t be in that orphan’s shoes for anything. My, but I pity him, that’s what.”

Compared to Anne gushing over her new dress with puffed sleeves:

“I don’t see how I’m going to eat breakfast,” said Anne rapturously. “Breakfast seems so commonplace at such an exciting moment. I’d rather feast my eyes on that dress. I’m so glad that puffed sleeves are still fashionable. It did seem to me that I’d never get over it if they went out before I had a dress with them. I’d never have felt quite satisfied, you see. It was lovely of Mrs. Lynde to give me the ribbon too. I feel that I ought to be a very good girl indeed. It’s at times like this I’m sorry I’m not a model little girl; and I always resolve that I will be in future. But somehow it’s hard to carry out your resolutions when irresistible temptations come. Still, I really will make an extra effort after this.”

Montgomery’s writing is so versatile. Often flowing and gorgeous, but sharp and biting when it needs to be. I can only aspire to one day write like her!

Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy

Information

Goodreads: Marilla of Green Gables
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: October 23, 2018

Official Summary

A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables . . . before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and moving historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century, that imagines the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert, and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak—and unimaginable greatness

Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother has dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh.

In Avonlea—a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island—life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth “Izzy” Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world.

Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness—Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. She soon finds herself caught up in the dangerous work of politics, and abolition—jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest John Blythe. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.

Review

It’s always difficult for an author to try to work in the world of a beloved author, particularly one with such a recognizable and complex style of L. M. Montgomery, and I admit I’m not always the type of reader who gives them the chance. I haven’t read Before Green Gables, for instance, because I simply wasn’t interested in some random person’s take on Anne Shirley’s life before arriving on Prince Edward Island.  However, the idea of finding out Marilla’s story (even if not officially from Montgomery herself) was beguiling, and McCoy seems to have put a lot of thought and research into her work, so I was willing to give Marilla of Green Gables a try.  The novel isn’t perfect, but it did feel surprisingly like home, like Avonlea, to me, and I think I can recommend it to Anne fans in good conscience.

Marilla’s character was actually a bit of sticking point for me.  Writing characters as both children and adults is always a bit tricky (although Montgomery herself does an amazingly skillful job of bringing Anne herself from 11 to adulthood in her 8 book series), and I could see McCoy struggling with trying to write a Marilla who sounds like the sensible no-nonsense woman we know from canon but who also sounds lighthearted enough to be a young teen.  (She’s a teen for most of the book, though the novel does jump a large number of years near the end.)  I found the execution a bit choppy, particularly near the beginning, and it felt as though Marilla would switch kind of randomly from having fanciful ideas to spouting sensible statements one can imaging her making in middle-age.

However, I think some of the other characterizations were stronger and helped balance this out. I particularly liked Rachel White (not yet Lynde) whom McCoy imagines as a vivacious girl who does share her opinions indiscriminately but also is sociable and kind and has a sense of humor. You can actually see why she and Marilla might be good friends. I also thought the depiction of Matthew as reliable and introverted but not quite as shy as he is in Anne of Green Gables was fair.

The other point I’m a bit torn on is the plot.  There are moments that really seem to bring Montgomery’s Avonlea to life–picnics, walks into town, minor confrontations with disgruntled teachers.  But there is also the sense that McCoy felt the need to make things more “interesting” than apparently small town life is.  (And she’s not alone. The recent crop of Anne adaptations keep adding “dramatic” scenes with people nearly drowning or with Anne accidentally being sent back to the orphanage, etc.)  To this end, McCoy add a number of subplots focused on political rebelling, the question of women’s rights, and the Underground Railroad.

Now, Montgomery herself was no stranger to wild plot points, but I associate her with things like crazy proposals, people dangling precariously off cliffs, and possibly supernatural events (and, actually, these all occur in the Emily books, not in Anne.) McCoy’s plot points all seem very topical.  Certainly they’re interesting. I’m not sure they’re in line with something Montgomery would write.  And even though readers know that Marilla has a kind heart and strong spirit, I find it hard to imagine her acting as a conductor on the Underground Railroad or getting into political debates with the local men.

Yet the things I liked outweigh he things I was scratching my head at, and I do think McCoy largely got the spirit of the story right.  It was nice seeing this vision of Avonlea before Anne got there, and I did learn some things about the existence of Black inhabitants of PEI (who are completely glossed over in Montgomery), which I’m interested into looking into further.  So, no, of course this isn’t the Marilla story that Montgomery herself would have written, but it’s pretty good.

 

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

Information

Goodreads: The Blue Castle
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: 1926

Summary

Valancy Stirling is twenty-nine and she has never lived.  Her mother and her cousin control what she does, where she goes, and whom she speaks to.  But then Valancy learns that she has a fatal heart condition and only one year before she dies.  Determined to enjoy life before it is too late, Valancy moves out and suddenly happiness does not seem so far away.

Review

“Fear is the original sin.  Almost all of the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something.  It is a cold slimy serpent coiling about you.  It is horrible to live with fear, and it is of all things degrading.”–John Foster

The Blue Castle is one of only two adult novels written by L. M. Montgomery (the other being A Tangled Web) and thus of particular interest to her fans. It focuses on a twenty-nine-year-old “old maid” who is repressed by her family and afraid to speak back to her nasty relatives.  The content is innocent enough that you can find this volume shelved with the children’s books (The adult content might be considered to be a few curses and a girl who had a baby outside of marriage.), but the story itself is a mature one, one that focuses on bitterness and time lost.  It is a story that the old will respond to more fully than the young.

L. M. Montgomery is often associated with idyllic childhoods–an association that overlooks the pain and suffering her heroines must overcome.  The Blue Castle, however, contains a darkness that is harder for readers to overlook.  It begins with Valancy waking up on her birthday and facing a life of loneliness and stifled feelings, a prospect that seems intolerable.  Even as Valancy begins to find the courage to be herself, she remains on the fringes of a small-minded society that would rather see a young woman die alone in poverty before they associate themselves with her shame.  Valancy ultimately attempts to escape the pettiness around her by retreating into the wilderness.  But there are suggestions that no retreat can be permanent.  Duty will always call a person back.

The story, however, still feels uplifting because it suggests that anyone can find the courage to live and that that courage can make all the difference.  Valancy gives of herself to others and does the right thing, even when the right thing will socially stigmatize her.  She becomes the bright beacon of her world, the promise that everything is not as bad as it seems.  And she is rewarded.  Beauty comes to those who seek it.  Montgomery’s love of the Canadian wilderness shines here as she lingers over trees, birds, and waters.

Of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention that The Blue Castle also contains an unlikely but utterly romantic love story.  Barney Snaith possesses neither the name nor the appearance of a typical romantic lead, but his kindness, integrity, and thoughtfulness all make him the perfect hero.  Valancy and Barney seem to be living in a fairy tale and, even when it seems too good to be true, readers just want to believe.

If you are a Montgomery fan, The Blue Castle provides all the sharp characterization, ironic wit, and beautiful landscape descriptions that your heart could desire.  If you are not a Montgomery fan, The Blue Castle might just make you one.

Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery

Information

Goodreads: Rilla of Ingleside
Series: Anne of  Green Gables #8
Source: Gift
Published: 1921

Summary

Fourteen-year-old Rilla Blythe is looking forward to her very first dance–and the handsome Kenneth Ford.  But when Canada enters WWI, her world quickly changes.  With her brothers off to war and her mother volunteering, Rilla is left feeling alone and useless.  But as she starts a junior Red Cross and rescues a war baby by carrying it home in a soup tureen, Rilla discovers she is stronger than she knew.

Review

Rilla of Ingleside tells the story of the women who struggled on the Canadian homefront to support the men and boys they sent to World War I.  The sorrow of parting, the agony of waiting for news, the keen grief of losing a loved one–Anne Blythe’s family and friends suffer through it all, always hoping that the end of the war will show them that their sacrifices were worth something.  Anne of Green Gables has given many readers the impression that Montgomery writes cheerful children’s stories, but the final book in the Anne series reveals clearly Montgomery’s sensitivity to pain and suffering, and her dedication to writing realistically of the dark years she can never forget.

Stories of women on the WWI homefront are not particularly common, so Rilla of Ingleside feels like a special inside look at the sacrifices made by so many brave men and women.  Montgomery gives readers almost want amounts to a play-by-play of the war, depicting the excitement and despair of the Blythe household as they follow the news, plotting out the progress of the war on their maps and following the involvement of various countries.  Meanwhile, letters come to them from overseas, sometimes sharing news to be thankful for and sometimes bringing the news no mother wants to hear.  Rilla of Ingleside is the kind of book that makes you weep.  These are, after all, characters readers have grown to know and love.  And now they are facing death on the battlefield and heartbreak and loneliness on the homefront.

Montgomery, however, like her characters, holds out a glimmer of hope.  For Rilla, the war is tranformative.  She grows from a self-absorbed girl concerned with dances and beaux to a woman who give of herself to others and swallow her pride when it will benefit the community.  Suffering makes her strong and it is her strength, and the strength of all the women left behind, that suggests to the characters that they can build something new and beautiful out of their destruction.

Rilla of Ingleside is a beautiful, heartbreaking book that depicts a wide range of women as they respond to the circumstances life has placed them in.  It is not the type of story that fans of Anne Shirley would have hoped she would find herself in.  It is, however, raw and real.  And it will make you cry.

Looking for more Montgomery?  We recommend Montgomery books based on your Hogwarts House.

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Today I’m joining in with the Anne of Green Gables series read-along hosted by Jane @ Greenish Bookshelf and Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku.  You can find the details here if you would like to read along, catch up with reading along, or join in with some of the bonus posts!

Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery

Information

Goodreads: Rainbow Valley
Series: Anne of Green Gables #7
Source: Library
Published: 1919

Summary

A new minister and his family have moved into the manse.  The Meredith children, however, are motherless and their antics are scandalizing the neighborhood.  From playing in the Methodist graveyard to showing up to church without stockings, nothing seems beyond them.  The Blythe children, however, are always ready to play and Mrs. Dr. Blythe remains their staunch defender.

Review

Rainbow Valley is classic Montgomery and everything enchanting.  The focus moves from Anne and her family to the Meredith children who, like Anne herself, tend to act first and think later.  Their innocent revelries are the cause of much consternation in the congregation.  Poor Miss Cornelia is not sure she will ever be able to face the Methodists again!  The combination of childhood joys, heartbreaks, and fancies, along with the gossip of the locals provides a perceptive look at life in a small town where nothing is ever dull and the tragedies of old maids are as great as the tragedies of queens.

Readers who miss the Anne of Green Gables days will delight in Rainbow Valley.  The manse children, though well-meaning, get up to all kinds of humorous high jinks.  Their desire to do good always seems to go awry in a way that is very reminiscent of our favorite redhead.  However, they distinguish themselves from Anne because their mishaps are often intentional–they simply do not understand the social mores of Glen St. Mary.  They go at life with vim and are confused when the staid old maids gossip as a result.

The gossip is, as always, both riveting and the target of Montgomery’s wit.  Montgomery makes small town trials and tragedies come alive, showing that passion is not confined to only higher segments of society.  But the gossip often centers around trivial matters when little else is happening.  Thus, the ladies of Glen St. Mary unconsciously couple stories of jilted lovers and vengeful wives with shocked whispers about the doings of the manse children, as if a childhood prank exists on the level of seriousness.  The ladies become a little humorous themselves even as they tell the silly doings of the children.

Rainbow Valley is sure to please any fan of L. M. Montgomery.  However, it also has much to recommend it to any casual reader.  It enters sympathetically into the world of childhood and brings readers back to the innocence of imagination.  But it also contains a keen wit and perceptive characterization as it charts the deaths, births, marriages, and courtings of Glen St. Mary.  The characters seem real, so real that leaving them feels like leaving friends.

Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery

Information

Goodreads: Anne of Ingleside
Series: Anne #6
Source: Library
Published: 1939

Summary

Now married with five (and soon to be six) children, Anne Blythe finds that life never has a dull moment. Nan and Di struggle to make friends in school, Jem desperately wants a dog who will love him, and Walter dreams and writes poetry.  And whenever they need advice?  It’s Mummy who understands best.  Anne may no longer live in her House of Dreams, but she’s more than contented where she is.

Review

Anne of Ingleside is a treat because, well, any book that brings us more of Anne, her family, and P.E.I. cannot help but be.  Still, even I, as an avid L. M. Montgomery fan, must admit that the book feels a little uneven.  It moves between focusing on Anne, her dreams, and her worries about her relationship with Gilbert to focusing the fancies and tragedies of her children.  Is it a book about a midlife crisis or a book about childhood?  It’s a little hard to tell.

If I am honest with myself, I did not fully enjoy the chapters focusing on Anne’s brood.  Rainbow Valley is the book for that.  The children’s struggles with making friends or keeping a pet alive felt out of place when juxtaposed with Anne’s struggle to remove Gilbert’s overbearing aunt from their household and her worries that her husband might not find her interesting or attractive anymore.  I wanted this to be Anne’s book.  I wanted to see how she would navigate middle-age.  If the chapters on her children had focused more on Anne’s response to them, I might have enjoyed them more and I might have felt the narrative less uneven.

Many reviewers have criticized the book for depicting Anne as a happy housewife. I have no problem with this.  To say that the book deserves a low rating because Anne only writes sometimes and prefers to take care of her family is to rate it 1) based on modern ideals of what a woman’s life “should” look like and 2) based on a personal feeling that having a career is more important than having a family.  To me, feminism means respecting the choices of women when they say they are doing what makes them happy and fulfilled.  If Anne is happy and fulfilled as a housewife, we should support her, not criticize her as not being feminist enough.  (And, if you want a Montgomery heroine who does put her writing career first, there is always the Emily of New Moon trilogy.)

Anne of Ingleside may, unfortunately, be the most lackluster of the Anne series.  It feels a little as if Montgomery’s heart were not in it.  Even a chapter in which the Ladies Aid gossips about the townsfolk feels somehow less ironic and witty than is Montgomery’s wont.  Still, any glimpse of Anne’s life is welcome to me.  I’m glad we get to see a little bit of it, even if the execution does not seem up to Montgomery’s usual standards.

Need more Montgomery?  Check out our infographic featuring some of her other books.

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Today I’m joining in with the Anne of Green Gables series read-along hosted by Jane @ Greenish Bookshelf and Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku.  You can find the details here if you would like to read along, catch up with reading along, or join in with some of the bonus posts!

Top 5 Things I Wish I Could Change About the Anne Series

Anne of Windy Poplars

Today I’m joining in (belatedly) with the Anne of Green Gables series read-along hosted by Jane @ Greenish Bookshelf and Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku.  You can find the details here if you would like to read along, catch up with reading along, or join in with some of the bonus posts!

(Spoilers Ahead for All Eight Books!)

The Treatment of Dora

I have written about this before, but I do not understand why Anne does not like Dora because–gasp!–Dora is a well-behaved child.  Apparently Dora is boring as a result and we do not need to hear much about her after Anne leaves Green Gables.  Poor Dora.

The End of Anne of Green Gables

You know the end.  The part where Matthew dies.  I cry every time.  This is potentially the worst death in all of literary history.

Rilla of Ingleside

Don’t get me wrong.  I love this book.  And I love Rilla and the way she grows when put to the test.  But watching Anne Blythe age and lose her spirit while her boys are off to war is the last thing I ever wanted.  Anne deserves better.  Her family deserves better.  It doesn’t help that my favorite character, Walter Blythe, dies.  Or that Una is left facing a lifetime alone.

The Fate of Jane Andrews

Why does everyone feel bad for Jane because she marries an old wealthy guy?  Maybe she wanted to marry him.  Maybe she loves him.  It does not seem right that Anne and Jane’s old acquaintances judge her for taking an opportunity Jane clearly wanted to take–for whatever reasons.

Anne’s Refusal to Apologize

Anne, think of all the years you could have had with Gilbert if you weren’t so stubborn!  You’re breaking my heart!

Not sure what to read after finishing Anne’s series?  Check out our flow chart with recommendations for L. M. Montgomery’s other works.

Which L. M. Montgomery Book Should You Read Based on Your Hogwarts House?

L. M. Montgomery’s most popular heroine is the red-headed Anne Shirley, but Montgomery wrote far more than Anne of Green Gables.  Below we recommend a few of Montgomery’s titles we think you might like based on your Hogwarts House!  We’ve even included a few of her lesser-known short story collections edited by Rea Wilmhsurst.