Flight into Fantasy

Title: Anne of Green Gables
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Genre: classic lit, young adult
Reason for Reading: It’s a children’s classic I hadn’t read. I’m not sure what made me pick it up. Possibly because the books I’d finished prior to this one had been kind of depressing.
Synopsis: Realizing that they’re getting up in years, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert decide they want to take in an orphan boy to help with chores on the farm. But a mistake is made, and what they find is Anne Shirley, a waif of a girl with a wild imagination, a penchant for constant chatter, and a unique way of looking at the world. Matthew is charmed in spite of himself, but Marilla takes a while to warm up to her. Eventually, of course, Anne stays with the Cuthberts and begins a series of adventures as she grows up on Prince Edward Island.
Other Opinions:

• Jessica

• Bookfool

My thoughts: So, apparently, I am one of the last people on the planet to have ever read this book. I don’t know why. I’d always meant to, and I’ve seen the movie, but it was only recently that I ended up picking up the book. And after I did, I was lost.

I have a soft spot for the kind of girls that showed up in literature of the time. If I’d read this book as a kid, I’m sure I’d have fallen hard for Anne the way I did Jo March, though they are quite different characters. There was just something about Anne’s cheerfulness, her vivid imagination, and her loneliness and struggle for love that resonated with me and made her charming, the way, say, characters like Heidi (from the children’s book of the same title by Johanna Spiry) don’t manage.

I think the best part about books like this is that they work just as well for adults as they do for kids. In fact, I caught some nuances that I’m sure would have gone over my head as a kid. I totally understood Marilla, for example, whereas I’m certain that if I’d read this book when I was growing up, I would have found her horribly mean and unfair.

All the characters, though, are nuanced, and what’s more, I felt they were relatable. I always worry about that when I read books written in a time so very different from my own, but people like Mrs. Rachel still exist, and the struggles that Anne goes through, figuring out who she is, trying to balance a dreamy disposition with the practicalities of life, loneliness and homesickness, they’re all things that young people still have to deal with, even in these days.

I’m not sure if I’m going to pick up the rest of the series. I like the place where the story ended, and that’s good enough for me, but since the books are in the public domain, if I do decide to keep reading, I can always do so for free, which is a nice incentive.

Final Thoughts: I’m really glad that I finally picked this book up. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Anne grow up, and now I want to visit Prince Edward Island for myself. My grade: An A-.