Lucy Maud Montgomery: More Than Just AoGG

[Nighteyes]

So I know that over at TWoP, there was a thread for LMM and all things Anne, and I thought that PTV should have one too. What are everyone's favourite books (either in the Anne series, or Emily, or otherwise)?

 

My favourite book in the Anne series is Anne of the Island, mainly because she *finally* realizes that she loves Gilbert (shut up! 8 year old me thought that the idea of realizing that you are in love with your best friend, and that despite you having rejected him earlier on, he'd still kept loving you was the most romantic thing ever!). 

 

Part of what draws me back to LMM's writing is her talent with describing nature. When she has a chance to describe PEI, her love for the island shines through, but even in novels that are set elsewhere (like in Blue Castle), you can envision yourself in the book, seeing everything that the characters are describing. In fact, The Blue Castle is probably one of my favourites because of that virtue. The story itself is fairy-tale, and almost formulaic, but her descriptions of the Muskoka region, and Mistawis take my breath away. I actually have the book at my bedside, and will flip to passages where she describes the passages of the seasons. Scenery porn, indeed! Jane of Lantern Hill is similar, but not so lavish. Although don't get me started on the travesty of the adaptation, even despite my love of Sam Waterston from his L&O days.

[BkWurm1]

The Emily trilogy remains my favorite and most reread series.  I loved Anne but I found Emily far more relatable plus the slight touch of the mystical made elevated it in ways I wasn't expecting.  More than that though, I think the reason that I kept reading the Emily books over and over was that she never gave up on her dreams.  Anne eventually was lost in her children to the point where she no longer stared in her own books.  (Yes, Anne of the Island was my fav too.)

 

Emily had a temper and held grudges and was so very lost and made mistakes and she while not as adorkable as Anne, is the character that seemed more real to me and is the one I couldn't forget.  (Along with Isle, Teddy and Perry - side note, I chose Isle as my name in German class.  I was rather surprised I had been mispronouncing it the whole time   I thought Aisle not Il-sa)

 

I've read recently that LL Montgomery put a great deal of herself into Emily.  I wish the books and character got more attention.  So many great side character's too.  No, I wasn't a fan of the TV show. 

 

I enjoyed Pat of Silver Bush a lot too.  I enjoyed that by holding on to what she loved most, her home, she almost lost out on what was really most important (a case of home is where the heart is)  I like Kilemy of the Orchard (I know I'm misspelling it) but this is the one I see as a fairy tail rather than Blue Castle.  I LOVE Blue Castle.  I read it when I was a few years younger than she was but Valancy was easy to root for.  Watching her change as she shook off all the weight of conventions was fascinating.  I love that she really went for everything she wanted. 

 

I think I need to dust off a copy and catch up all over again. 

[Anna Yolei]

I read somewhere that both Anne and Emily were written to be somewhat biographically....Anne represented the home wife LMM wanted to be, and Emily the writer she was.

As an UO, my favorite Anne book next to the original is.....none other than "Rilla of Ingleside." This one gets shit for the lack of Anne and the pro-war sentiments that ran through Canada at the time (which LMM seems to have changed her mind on by the time she wrote "The Blythes are Quoted"), but no other book in the series besides "Avonlea" comes close to capturing the spirit of that original book and Rilla getting into scrapes.

On that vein, I also don't hate Rainbow Valley, it's biggest sin being that it got lumped into the AoGG series instead of being its own thing...and I have the sneaking suspicion that was written as the set up to "Rilla."

Jane of Lantern Hill is my fave non-Anne book, but I could not find this book on Amazon. No Kindle version, and the last time I looked, the only copy was a first edition hardback...which would've been cool if I had 200 spare bucks lying around. LOL!

[stillshimpy]

I read somewhere that both Anne and Emily were written to be somewhat biographically....Anne represented the home wife LMM wanted to be, and Emily the writer she was.

 

Just as an aside, I read all of LMM's journals, which she kept from the time she was fifteen to the end of her life.  She edited them a great deal, as LMM was sort of obsessed with the idea of how she would appear to later generations and people in general.  It wasn't uncommon to be obsessed with public appearances at the time, but LMM did sort of take it to a new level.  Then I also read The Gift of Wings (dreadful title, but a good biography) and that was written by one of the editors for LMM's journals, Mary Rubio. LMM left them to her good son -- because she had a very bad son indeed -- so she left them to her younger son with the intention that they would be published, LMM had been very unkind to Stuart's first love in her journals and so he waited until his long ago love had died to allow the journals to be published, which I thought was sweet as could be.  

 

Anyway, there are four BIG volumes of these journals (and that's still as published as "The selected journals" so things were edited out) and throughout them LMM maintained that she did not actually draw from real life and claimed that Anne had been inspired by a drawing/advertisement she saw in magazine (for how she looked) and a newspaper piece about a couple who received the wrong gender of orphan (that last part is true, the advertisement thing is less....likely to be true).  

 

Anyway, I don't know if LMM just thought it would mean she was less imaginative or talented if people believed she had written semi-autobiographical tales, but she clearly truly had whether or not she was aware of it.  Gilbert bears a striking resemblance (as described) to the first man she was engaged to (and dumped...and seemed to really dislike for the rest of his life, for almost no good reason) and has a lot in common with the man LMM purported to be in love with in her journals Herman Leard.  

 

Here's where it gets sort of interesting: LMM studiously never mentions in her journals -- although she brought him up for the rest of her life in her journals -- that Leard had been engaged the entire time she knew him.  She claimed the affection was mutual, but it likely wasn't.  It actually caused a minor scandal among his surviving relatives when LMM's journals were published, because if he had really behaved the way LMM claimed then he would have been a thoroughly awful human being and creep extraordinaire, but even worse if he was engaged.  In LMM's journals she wrote that he would come into her room (she was boarding with his family while she taught in the area) and pressured her to have sex with him on multiple occasions (all very romantically framed in the journals).  I don't think LMM meant to harm a soul with those stories, but his sisters survived him and LMM became very famous, so the family legends about the big crush LMM had had on their brother survived the test of time. They claimed Leard never noticed LMM and it was a big joke within the family how clearly smitten she was.   Leard died young, of the flu, before he could marry his fiancee and I think LMM just wanted to have had a grand love, that it was part of the picture she wished to present of herself in the journals.  I think that's part of the reason she never mentioned that he was engaged, she had no wish to make him out to be a creep.  

 

But Mario Rubio edited the journals and ended up writing  biography that cleared up the intentional gaps in LMM's journals, including revealing Leard's long ago engagement to a vivacious young woman with red hair, named Lettie.  Lettie's picture is in the Rubio biography and there's almost no doubt that LMM actually based Anne's looks on Lettie, as well as some of her personality.  

 

So LMM didn't want it to be known that some of her work was semi-autobiographical and despite that strange business with Herman Leard, my heart broke a little bit for her when I saw Lettie's picture and read Rubio's (very restrained and non-judgmental) remark that it was hard to escape how much Anne resembled Lettie.   Weirdly. whereas LMM never mentioned Lettie, LMM was actually engaged at the time to Edwin Simpson which she didn't even attempt to conceal in the journals.   So it seems as if Anne lived the life LMM thought she might have had with Leard, but I don't think LMM was aware of that, whereas Emily lived a life that was far closer to what LMM actually lived out. 

 

She did draw a lot from real life, but she really didn't wish for it to be known and even went out of her way to include the story of the advertisement, etc.  to explain Anne's appearance (and kept a clipping of it).  

 

The other thing is that some of the Anne series , which was really written out of order (Rainbow Valley was not a set up for Rilla, Rainbow Valley was written after Rilla) was often inspired by the need for money.  LMM did exceptionally well, but she was cheated by her first publisher and loaned money to her extended family (seemingly as way of being approved of by them) and then the Depression hit and crushed everyone's finances.  So sometimes she revisted Anne series (to write Rainbow Valley and Anne of Windy Poplars, for instance) because she needed to make money.  

 

She was a really complicated woman in a lot of ways, but one of the nicest things about her journals -- which become increasingly grim affairs as her son Chester really settled into his full on horror, that again, LMM concealed most of the things he really did in her journals and would pretend she was terribly upset about Chester's grades, rather than   molesting the maid's daughter --  is in the first volume, it sounds almost entirely like something written by Anne.  She dashes around escaping "mad cows" and having rather funny thoughts and encounters.   So that first journal is really pretty delightful.  

 

However, over the course of time they became less and less fun, because LMM's husband was pretty troubled, plagued by mental illness (which was likely garden variety depression , made much worse by the way they tried to treat it, giving him horrible hallucinations and all sorts of problems -- LMM didn't know it was the treatments that were causing the ever worsening symptoms, that's again something Rubio sorts out) , her son Chester who was beyond description awful and then the thing that was the fate of a lot of people at the time who were treated for a huge variety of maladies:  by the time she died, the poor woman was completely addicted to opiates that had been prescribed by her doctor.  Her last journal entry literally talks about "How will I ever escape this hellish existence?"  

 

LMM's granddaughter revealed a few years ago that LMM killed herself, but anyone who read the journals could figure that out.  Rubio, interestingly, remained convinced that she did not, and that her overdose was unintentional.  

 

Moral of the story?  If you want a good biography, The Gift of Wings by Mary Rubio is very good.  I can't say I'd recommend the journals necessarily.  In the end I felt like I found out more about LMM than I wished to, for instance that she claimed she was against women getting the vote and not at all a feminist, and then reading Rubio's biography was often a bit sad when it was revealed how much LMM tried to conceal in them, primarily about Chester.  

 

My favorite book was Anne of Windy Poplars (as an adult) because it has such dark humor in it.  It's still my favorite, but Rubio's biography revealed when it was being written -- strangely LMM's journals rarely did reveal much about what she was writing when -- and it was in a terribly grim period of her life.  

 

tl/dr version:  LMM turned out to be a different sort of person than I thought she would be, but I loved her fictional creations. 

Edited July 25, 2014 by stillshimpy

[Anna Yolei]

Holy insanity, Batman! I knew some of thst stuff, like that her marriage was more out of convenience than love, but not the stuff about her son. When reading "The Blythes are Quoted," there was a mention in the foreword about her turning in the manuscript for that book the day she died....hardly seems a coincidence, given all of that.

I looked up the order the books were published, and Rainbow Valley was, in fact, published two years before Rilla. Books 4 and 6 came out in '36 and '39 respectively...and having reread those books as an adult,the difference in tone from the others is stricking. A quote from Windy Poplars went along the lines of Anne thinking the only good Pringles were dead ones. Damn, that's pretty dark stuff for Anne Shirley.

Then book 6 had a vignette about a funeral the Blythes attended where the sister-in-law of the decease airs the dirty laundry about how he treated her sister. Another dark moment.

[stillshimpy]

I'm so sorry, Anna Yolei, I could have sworn she wrote Rainbow Valley second to last, but I think I was swapping that around with Anne of Ingleside (my least favorite book).

One thing that is interesting about Rilla, is that in her journal LMM chronicles several dreams (LMM thought she was prone to prophetic dreams) that were clearly the inspiration for teacher's dreams in Rilla.

I didn't know most of the stuff about Chester and how bad it really was until I read Rubio's biography, and I'd read the journals cover to cover. I just thought LMM was prone to over-reaction when it came to Chester. Instead, she had a habit of covering for him even in her journals (she did intend them to be published and edited them a great deal) , but in one instance it was incredibly see-through: she claimed that she was horribly distressed because it turned out Chester had been secretly married, without anyone knowing and in the journal she was very upset because the newspaper announcement of his marriage had the date wrong. It was all a bad cover-story to conceal the fact that he'd knocked up his girlfriend and had to marry her so she was desperate to have it believed that he'd married earlier than he did. That struck me as amusing in the journal, but then LMM's husband was a minister and it made sense that she made up the "secretly married the entire time!" stuff.

Of course he hadn't been, but again, Rubio's biography revealed a lot of things, including that he gave that poor woman an STD in the course of their marriage, which is why she left him. Chester was awful and eventually arrested for fraud after LMM died, but for once in his life didn't tell anyone that he was LMM's son so at least it didn't make the papers at the time. For as bad as Chester really was (creepy, pervy, dishonest), at least her other son, Stuart, was a truly good man and human being.

I didn't know about "The Blythes are Quoted" being turned in the day before she died, by the way.

LMM really didn't seem to love her husband, Ewan, but she did at least like him a great deal at the start of their marriage. She clearly edited out a lot about their courtship and again, Rubio filled in things. I think LMM blamed her husband for his illnesses, even though she didn't want to.

Honestly, reading all the journals and biographies eventually made me appreciate even more how charming so many of the books and stories LMM wrote were. She was so wildly unhappy at points (and often with good reason) and she too struggled with depression. Oddly, by editing her journals so ferociously to try and present the right sort of image, she inadvertently made herself look worse at points, because she left in her emotional reactions, but took out the reasons for them. So there would be entries where she was just beside herself, completely distraught and bemoaning her fate. Doing things like wondering why she had such a horrible life, and how could she ever bear any more? The details she left in would make it seem like it was about Chester's grades or something equally "well, that's just life" .

Instead it turned out to be about things that would make any parents hair nearly fall out. I'd lost some affection for LMM by the time I finished the journals, but Rubio's book help restore a lot of compassion for her

Edited July 27, 2014 by stillshimpy

[Stine]

Based on your recommendation, stillshimpy, I went out to the library and picked up the Rubio biography. 600+ pages later, here I am with a much fuller picture of LMM than I'd ever had before.

 

Actually, I haven't read all that many of her books. I grew up watching Road to Avonlea and the Megan Follows Anne miniseries, all of which I loved (except the dreaded third mini, of course) and when my family visited PEI, I figured there could be no better souvenir than a couple of Maud's books, so I picked up The Story Girl and The Golden Road, which were the basis for Road to Avonlea. I thoroughly enjoyed both them, partly for the fun of seeing which incidents described in the books ended up in the TV series and for all the new stuff that didn't. 

 

At some point I read Anne of the Island and I remember really liking it, but for some reason I never got into any of the other Anne books, including the original. It might have been the writing style that didn't draw me in when I was younger for whatever reason. But finally Anne of Green Gables was one of the books assigned in a children's lit course that I took, and I absolutely adored it. Having lost my grandfather the previous year, I cried when I read about Matthew's death, even though I knew it was coming the whole time I was reading the book. After that I tried again to pick up Anne of Avonlea but it just wasn't the same to me. I should probably give it another go at some point, and I've been meaning to try Rilla as well. 

 

But in spite of my unfamiliarity with most of Maud's other works, I was fascinated by her life story as described by Rubio. She was such a complex person, and despite the fact that she left 10 volumes of journals, her editing of them and shaping them to fit the story she wanted to tell means that we still don't have the full picture of her life. One thing I found interesting was that although she wrote extensively about the depressive/psychotic (?) episodes that Ewan suffered, nobody else who knew the family seemed to suspect any mental health problems at all, including the maids who lived right in the house with him! It's incredible that it was all kept so secret, because of how shameful it was considered then. And boy, that Chester was a real piece of work, wasn't he?

[sgittinger]

"The Story Girl", hands down. LMM was a genius.

[stillshimpy]

Oh I'm so glad you read the Rubio biography, Beulah, I found it really worthwhile.  It is hard to know who LMM truly was, she was so obsessed with appearances. 

 

One thing I found interesting was that although she wrote extensively about the depressive/psychotic (?) episodes that Ewan suffered, nobody else who knew the family seemed to suspect any mental health problems at all, including the maids who lived right in the house with him! It's incredible that it was all kept so secret, because of how shameful it was considered then. And boy, that Chester was a real piece of work, wasn't he?

 

That's one thing that the Rubio bioraphy really does, it gives a sense of Ewan as a person.  In the journals it is positively bizarre, first of all, LMM left almost nothing about her courtship with Ewan in the journals and he very seldom says anything that she quotes.  She simply starts writing about having accepted his proposal and accept for references to is depression and later bouts with delusions, he is not often mentioned in the journals either.  In the journals he just seems to exist to be a problem LMM outlines.  Rubio at least gave a sense of the person he was.  

 

The entire situation with Chester is mystifying as hell in the journals.  LMM appears to be talking about a cataclysmic event and then claiming it had to do with bad grades.  It wasn't until I read Rubio's book that anything started to make sense and then I had a lot more sympathy for LMM, what a nightmare they had in Chester.  

Before the publication of those journals, most biographies of LMM seemed to portray her as a near saint.  The journals actually caused a bit of a scandal because the woman on those pages has so little resemblance to the public image LMM presented.  So it seems as she wanted to let it be known there was more, but she was obsessed with controlling the scope of that "more".   I'll tell you what, I was so grateful to live in a time when we are far less likely to be caught up in "but what will the neighbors think?" because it clearly defined a great deal of LMM's life, those journals and her legacy. Rubio did LMM a tremendous favor in fleshing out some of the stories behind those journals.  It helped render LMM more human and easier to relate to.  

 

I'm so glad you read it.  

[juneday]

I love Rilla of Ingleside as well as Anne of Ingleside. Just looking at my series of AOGB books, those two are the most creased down the spines from being read so much.

I love how LMM was able to create such vivid pictures of the world, nature, and her characters. It really did make them feel like they were real people. She was a great writer imo.

I like the first two movies, and Megan Follows portrayed Anne wonderfully, but what's up with the third movie? I could never figure that one out.

I'll have to make a little confession here and say that as a book-loving, slightly nerdy ten year old, Gilbert and Almonzo Wilder from LHOTP were my first book crushes. LOL.

Edited for typos.

Edited October 8, 2014 by heckyeahheartland

[CherryAmes]

Aside from Anne of Green Gables my favourite Anne book is Rilla of Ingleside.  For the non-Anne books I guess if I had to choose it would be The Blue Castle but I'm also partial to The Story Girl and Jane of Lantern Hill.

 

I too loved the first two Anne movies but I couldn't even watch the third one!  Who came up with that horrible idea??  I'd have disliked it anyway based on the premise but when I consider what a wonderful "on the home front" book Rilla of Ingleside is then I have to wonder why the powers that be couldn't have filmed that book instead.

[Constant Viewer]

Rilla is wonderful, I also liked Rainbow Valley, The Story Girl, The Golden Road and Jane of Lantern Hill.  I also liked the Emily books, but the Dean Priest creep factor gets to me.

[Stine]

Not sure where else to post this sad news: 
 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/jonathan-crombie-anne-of-green-gables-actor-dead-at-48-1.3038948

 

By all accounts, he was a great guy; this is so sad for his family.

 

I think everyone who watched the Anne miniseries were a little bit in love with Gil. Rewatching in the light of this news will be very poignant. 

[hendersonrocks]

When I saw the sad news about Jonathan Crombie yesterday, all I could think of were carrots and a chalkboard slate and my first literary crush. He IS Gilbert Blythe to me, and I'll have to do a re-watch in his memory. (Of the first two programs. The third I just pretend never existed--never seen it, never will.)

 

It's also been a few years since I re-read A Tangled Web, which is my favorite non-Anne book--I'll have to dust that off again soon.

 

And if you ever get a chance to visit Prince Edward Island, I can't recommend it enough. It's an absolutely beautiful little corner of the world.

[raezen]

I read a statement on another board talking about Jonathan Crombie's death that I thought would be appropriate here; the poster was pointing out that Gilbert Blythe was sort of a prototype of the YA perfect boyfriend that we see so much today. He was strong, handsome, sensitive, smart and he loved the girl who always a little different and respected her own intellect. I know it's far reaching to say he's the first, people tend to reserve that spot for Mr. Darcy, but he is definitely a more working class, every-man version of Mr. D.

 

It kind of makes me smile to think that maybe without L.M. Montgomery's Gilbert Blythe and Jonathan Crombie's portrayal we wouldn't have our Edward Cullen's/Peeta Mellark's/Four. I know that might be a little extreme, and I'm not in the position to seriously study this as a theory, but it still makes me smile a bit through this sad event.

Edited April 19, 2015 by raezen

[methodwriter85]

Is it wrong that when I found out the news, I thought to myself, "Damn, I was really hoping that we were going to see a middle-aged Anne and Gilbert Blythe movie, to get out the bad tasted of Anne of Green Gables 3?" Such as shame about Jonathan Crombie- 48 is far too young.

[ulkis]

The Emily trilogy remains my favorite and most reread series.  I loved Anne but I found Emily far more relatable plus the slight touch of the mystical made elevated it in ways I wasn't expecting.  More than that though, I think the reason that I kept reading the Emily books over and over was that she never gave up on her dreams.  Anne eventually was lost in her children to the point where she no longer stared in her own books.  (Yes, Anne of the Island was my fav too.)

 

The more I re-read Anne, the more I find her pretty human and relatable. She's definitely twee but there are a lot of moments of human foibles, imo

 

I never really saw her giving up on her dreams either, so that never bothered me about her. I dunno. She was never as passionate about writing like Emily was, and giving up writing wasn't something she felt forced or pressured into doing. There's a moment I really like in "Anne's House of Dreams" where Anne talks about how someone needs to write Captain Jim's book, and Gilbert suggests why not her? I liked that moment. It showed that Anne not going on to be a writer wasn't something that she felt she had sacrificed, imo. Her life just went another way. And we know in "Rilla" that she wanted all her daughters to have an education, no matter what they went on to do (or not do) later.

 

I don't think she was lost in the other books per se . . . they weren't really "Anne" books. At least, "Rainbow Valley" and "Rilla" weren't. I am pretty convinced that Montgomery wanted to write a book about the war and just decided to have the main character be Anne's daughter to make sure it would be read more widely. 

 

"Anne of Ingleside" is pretty awful though and I never re-read it, or "Anne of Windy Poplars" either.

 

I like Gilbert but I don't really feel like he's actually much of a character until "Anne's House of Dreams". 

 

I loved Philipa in "Island" and wish there had been more of her. I feel for Leslie but she's definitely my least favorite of Anne's friends.

 

Out of Montgomery's other books (which I really only started reading once I got my kindle) probably "The Story Girl" and "The blue Castle" are my favorites. I actually really liked the Pat books too, although I haven't really felt the urge to go back and read them. I was not a fan of "Jane of Lantern Hill". Too many ellipses. (Which seem to plague "Anne of Avonlea" as well.)

At some point I read Anne of the Island and I remember really liking it, but for some reason I never got into any of the other Anne books, including the original. It might have been the writing style that didn't draw me in when I was younger for whatever reason. But finally Anne of Green Gables was one of the books assigned in a children's lit course that I took, and I absolutely adored it. Having lost my grandfather the previous year, I cried when I read about Matthew's death, even though I knew it was coming the whole time I was reading the book. After that I tried again to pick up Anne of Avonlea but it just wasn't the same to me. I should probably give it another go at some point, and I've been meaning to try Rilla as well.

 

Honestly, out of the original Anne books that focus on her (Anne of Green Gables, Avonlea, Island, and House of Dreams) "Avonlea" is probably my least favorite. I would recommend reading "Island" instead of "Avonlea". (I realize this is a year later so you might have already read it, but I figure since I'm here might as well drop my two cents in :) )

[BatmanBeatles]

The thing I liked least about Avonlea is Miss Lavender and Paul. I think Zooey Deschanel would have told them to tone down the quirkiness.

Edited May 4, 2015 by BatmanBeatles

[Anna Yolei]

Aside from Anne of Green Gables my favourite Anne book is Rilla of Ingleside. For the non-Anne books I guess if I had to choose it would be The Blue Castle but I'm also partial to The Story Girl and Jane of Lantern Hill.

I too loved the first two Anne movies but I couldn't even watch the third one! Who came up with that horrible idea?? I'd have disliked it anyway based on the premise but when I consider what a wonderful "on the home front" book Rilla of Ingleside is then I have to wonder why the powers that be couldn't have filmed that book instead.

When I looked this up, evidently there was a dispute between Kevin Sullivan and the MacDonald family (LMM's decendants) over the way he wrote the last movie or something along those lines. The short version is that Sullivan had to do the "loosely based on" version of the third film which....just no.

It's unfortunate about Jonathan's death. 48 is way too young to go.

[Anna Yolei]

I am pretty convinced that Montgomery wanted to write a book about the war and just decided to have the main character be Anne's daughter to make sure it would be read more widely. 

I think that was a good decision on her part. Showing how much a generally happy family as the Blythes change so suddenly with the war sucked me in. WWI gets glossed over in our history classes since the United States fought maybe a year at most in the conflict, so I also learned quite a bit on that score.

Oddly,the one complaint I've read about the book on Amazon was that the book was too much pro-war. It's easy to have 20/20 hindsight a hundred years after the conflict and when less than five percent of our population has ever been on a battlefield, but this book was published in 1921. There wasn't social media like there is today to tell folks that this was one of the most absurdly wasteful conflicts of the 20th Century so it's just ridiculous to see people harp on that,IMO.

As for Anne of the Island, the one thing that stuck out was the fact that Anne and her friends have not one scene in class in the entirebook. :p But then,the point of the book was for Anne to accept that romantic ideals and romantic compatability are two different things so she can realize that Gilbert was who she's meant for.

[ulkis]

I think that was a good decision on her part. Showing how much a generally happy family as the Blythes change so suddenly with the war sucked me in. WWI gets glossed over in our history classes since the United States fought maybe a year at most in the conflict, so I also learned quite a bit on that score.

Oddly,the one complaint I've read about the book on Amazon was that the book was too much pro-war. It's easy to have 20/20 hindsight a hundred years after the conflict and when less than five percent of our population has ever been on a battlefield, but this book was published in 1921. There wasn't social media like there is today to tell folks that this was one of the most absurdly wasteful conflicts of the 20th Century so it's just ridiculous to see people harp on that,IMO.

 

I mean, I guess I could see how people could think that, but if anything it's more about how they thought they had to fight in the war; no one in the book wants to go to war (except Jem and Jerry, and they are quickly disabused of the notion that it'll be a fun romp). The whole book is how it takes a toll on everybody. 

 

I see a lot of criticism of how the book treats Whiskers-on-the-moon (I forget his real name) but I never got the impression he was an actual pacifist; more like he was just against the war for the sake of being contrary. 

[hendersonrocks]

I loved Rilla of Ingleside, and might never have read it without the Anne connection. Kenneth Ford was such a dreamboat, even to me as a teenager in the early 90s! That ending scene, and Rilla-my-Rilla? SHIVERS! Beyond that, though, I always thought it was a good window into the horrors of war and how it changed the lives of those at home, too. 

[Anna Yolei]

I found Rill herself to be one of Montgomery's more well rounded characters,a girl who was a sweet but spoiled by her family like many younger siblings are. And even when the rest of her brothers and sisters are off getting degrees, she's like "Naw, I'm good, thanks."

And the not liking babies thing...I'm not entirely familiar with early 20th century social norms, but I have a hard time believing many women would express such a sentiment to anyone (although, she does have a son named Gilbert that's mentioned in passing in The Blythes are Quoted).

Also, am I the only one that was curious as to how Susan came to work for the Blythes? Every other character gets an intro except for her, who just shows up midway in book five as a temporary help for Joyce's delivery. I feel as though a chapter or two got edited out of the book somehow, and that if there isn't a fanfic out there that takes a stab at this, there should be.

[SmithW6079]

I read "The Blue Castle" on my phone when I was in the hospital a few years ago (it was free), and I really enjoyed it. It was the first time I'd read a book on a phone. 

 

I tried the "Emily" books, but I couldn't get through them.

[Stine]

I don't think there's anywhere else this would fit, so here it is: 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/ID/2668731348/

 

I'm not sure if this can be viewed outside of Canada or not, but basically there is a new production of Anne of Green Gables going forward, with the involvement of LM Montgomery's family this time, and they're introducing the girl they've chosen to play Anne. They also mention that this version will include elements from a prequel book that was written (which I haven't read - anyone here? Is it the same one that the TV movie Before Green Gables - which I also never got around to watching - was based on?), so there will be flashbacks to Anne's time before arriving at Green Gables. 

 

I'm interested to see a new production, but I do think that it's going to have a heck of a lot to live up to from the Megan Follows version. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

I don't think there's anywhere else this would fit, so here it is: 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/ID/2668731348/

 

I'm not sure if this can be viewed outside of Canada or not, but basically there is a new production of Anne of Green Gables going forward, with the involvement of LM Montgomery's family this time, and they're introducing the girl they've chosen to play Anne. They also mention that this version will include elements from a prequel book that was written (which I haven't read - anyone here? Is it the same one that the TV movie Before Green Gables - which I also never got around to watching - was based on?), so there will be flashbacks to Anne's time before arriving at Green Gables. 

 

 

 

I remember reading about the prequel book by Budge Wilson, but was it adapted for television? The Kevin Sullivan "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning" had some ludicrous flashback material in which Walter Shirley had not died when Anne was an infant but was running around with only one arm for some reason. I think perhaps anything I read about Before Green Gables being made into a TV movie could have been in reference to this new movie with Ella Ballentine.

 

I'm interested to see a new production, but I do think that it's going to have a heck of a lot to live up to from the Megan Follows version.

 

 

I was disappointed in even the first Megan Follows adaptation (for which I place all the blame on Kevin Sullivan, not the actors), so I am looking forward to the new one and am trying not to let my expectations build up to an unreasonable level. However the idea of a script by Susan Coyne (of Slings and Arrows) does excite me. I trust her to have a better feeling for the source material. I have never gotten over reading an interview in which Kevin Sullivan explained that he had bought the rights without having read any of the books just because he knew how popular and lucrative they would be, and then didn't like the books after he read them.

 

I was reading a completely unrelated book recently in which one of the characters is bitter because an author he respected told him that his manuscript was terrible, so he destroyed all the copies of the manuscript and then later decided that it had been a masterpiece so obviously he should seek revenge by murdering the author. Obviously this reminded me of Emily, and I was thinking that if anyone wanted to make an Emily movie I would prefer it to focus on Emily's Quest with just enough of Emily of New Moon and Emily Climbs to set up the background.

 

Edited to correct Anne's father's surname.

Edited June 6, 2015 by SomeTameGazelle

[ulkis]

I remember reading about the prequel book by Budge Wilson, but was it adapted for television? The Kevin Sullivan "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning" had some ludicrous flashback material in which Walter Blythe had not died when Anne was an infant but was running around with only one arm for some reason. I think perhaps anything I read about Before Green Gables being made into a TV movie could have been in reference to this new movie with Ella Ballentine.

 

I saw that movie. I think if they changed the names of the characters, it would have been a good movie. I found myself getting into the story. However, the changes they made were ridiculous. Not only was Anne's father alive, he sent letters and Marilla hid them and never told Anne. As if Marilla would ever, ever do that.

 

I was disappointed in even the first Megan Follows adaptation (for which I place all the blame on Kevin Sullivan, not the actors)

 

 

Me too! I mean, it was good, and the second one was fine too, but I don't get why the third gets excoriated for not being true to the books when the second one barely follows it at all either. And the proposal scene is a rip off of the scene in Little Women where Laurie proposes to Jo. I get Sullivan wanting to skip "Anne of Avonlea" but I don't know why he barely used any of "Anne of the Island". 

 

There's a 1975 BBC series of "Anne of Avonlea/Island" on DVD that a lot of people don't like because of the production values, dodgy accents, etc, but I enjoy the actors, and seeing all of the characters, especially Phillipa. Here's a clip:

 

 

However the idea of a script by Susan Coyne (of Slings and Arrows)

 

 

Oh, cool! Glad to hear that.

[SomeTameGazelle]

I saw that movie. I think if they changed the names of the characters, it would have been a good movie. I found myself getting into the story. However, the changes they made were ridiculous. Not only was Anne's father alive, he sent letters and Marilla hid them and never told Anne. As if Marilla would ever, ever do that.

 

That's unthinkable. I can't believe Kevin Sullivan dared criticize LMM's writing. His idea of plot and characterization appears to be pathetic.

 

There's a 1975 BBC series of "Anne of Avonlea/Island" on DVD that a lot of people don't like because of the production values, dodgy accents, etc, but I enjoy the actors, and seeing all of the characters, especially Phillipa. Here's a clip:

 

 

Wow! I had heard of it but never seen it, and I had no idea that Barbara Hamilton played Marilla. I will have to look for the DVD. I am surprised that the local library doesn't have it.

[ulkis]

Wow! I had heard of it but never seen it, and I had no idea that Barbara Hamilton played Marilla. I will have to look for the DVD. I am surprised that the local library doesn't have it.

 

I saw a lot of criticisms that physically, she wasn't right for Marilla, which I agree with, but I think she plays Marilla's no-nonsense-ness well.

 

ETA: I found more over here

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwiirg_anne-of-avonlea-1975-episode-1_shortfilms

Edited June 7, 2015 by ulkis

[SomeTameGazelle]

I saw a lot of criticisms that physically, she wasn't right for Marilla, which I agree with, but I think she plays Marilla's no-nonsense-ness well.

 

 

I thought Colleen Dewhurst was sturdier than I expected Marilla to look. Schuyler Grant was much too tall and slim for Diana. And neither version's Rachel Lynde appears to be what anyone would call fat.

 

 

ETA: I found more over here

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwiirg_anne-of-avonlea-1975-episode-1_shortfilms

 

Thanks! I have ordered a copy of the DVD online as well. It's funny because I have apparently forgotten most of the plot of Avonlea -- it's not one I tend to go back to much. But I am looking forward to the Island years.

 

The accents are quite jarring. Some people sound more Irish or Scottish at times. Anne slips into something much too hickish quite regularly. Visually I can't reliably distinguish Gilbert from any of the other young men in the AVIS, although I may be starting to be able to pick Fred out. And Davy (who is really too old) grew up to be Only Fools and Horses!

[hendersonrocks]

One of the recommended reads for summer from my local (big city) paper is Ana of California, a re-telling of Anne of Green Gables set in present day Northern California. Ana is from East LA and ends up at a training program in Northern California with siblings Emmett & Abbie. 

 

I can't help it...I'm sucker for most things AoGG. It's now on my library list.

[SomeTameGazelle]

I just saw this on Twitter: Martin Sheen as Matthew. Sara Botsford is Marilla. There are other cast names listed as well but not their roles; the only name I recognise is Linda Kash. Could she be Mrs Lynde?

 

I am curious to see whether Martin Sheen will come across as shy enough.

[SomeTameGazelle]

One of the recommended reads for summer from my local (big city) paper is Ana of California, a re-telling of Anne of Green Gables set in present day Northern California. Ana is from East LA and ends up at a training program in Northern California with siblings Emmett & Abbie. 

 

I can't help it...I'm sucker for most things AoGG. It's now on my library list.

 

The advance promotional material makes it sound really good. There's not much out there that is inspired by Anne (not compared to Austen and the Brontes), although maybe that's a question of public domain. I did read Arranged (which I don't necessarily recommend) after I heard it promoted on CBC radio, but it wasn't really inspired by AoGG, it was just that the main character had been named after Anne.

[stlbf]

Summer rereading is in full swing for me. Jane of Lantern Hill done. A Tangled Web is next. Two of my favorite books. Really do wish that LMM had been able to add to the Jane story. It just screams trilogy. Like the Emily and Pat series were made into.

A Tangled Web is so much fun for me. Nan being a true bitch. Gay being a naive goody two shoes. Margaret being an overlooked and poorly treated wallflower. Eventually, getting her dream house and a child she never expected to love. Hugh's and Joscelyn's almost tragic marriage. Peter and Donna. Aunt Becky being herself. Damn near everyone at the levee being unhappy with their inheritance. Drowned John. Big Sam and Little Sam. Even Oswald was entertaining. Wish there was even more.

After A Tangled Web, I'm thinking Emily, or Pat. Blue Castle will also need to make an appearance, I think.

[Crs97]

Blue Castle is my favorite after AoGG!

[ulkis]

I just finished reading "The Golden Road" for the first time. It was okay, but it was no where near as good as "The Story Girl". I skipped one of the "Our Newspaper" chapters and only read the last one cause I realized it was the last one. 

 

I think "Tangled Web" is the only LMM book I haven't got to yet. Well that and Kilmeny but the consensus seems to be it isn't that good so I dunno if I'll ever get around to it.

[hendersonrocks]

I think "Tangled Web" is the only LMM book I haven't got to yet.

 

 

It is sooooooo good. I read it again every few years and it totally stands the test of time (it has aged with me from my teenage years to...well, many years later). I love all the the family dramaz...it really is a tangled web, and Montgomery wrote it well. And you can tell it's one of her few "adult" novels - there's nothing NC-17 about it, of course, but I think the themes are different than her other works.

[stlbf]

A Tangled Web is well worth a read. Gay/Noel/Nan triangle, Hugh and Joscelyn's fairly sad and maddening story, all of the little crumbs of the other Dark's and Penhallows' lives and LMM gets to write out some fairly dark stuff. I always thought that A Tangled Web would've made a great mini series.

[ulkis]

oh, I forgot, I actually haven't read "Magic for Marigold" either but that one doesn't really interest me much.

[stlbf]

Love my nook. I bought a e-book with most, if not all of the non Anne books for under $10. Somewhere in a box, I have a ton of the actual books. But it was a small price to pay to not have to search for them.

[CherryAmes]

oh, I forgot, I actually haven't read "Magic for Marigold" either but that one doesn't really interest me much.

 

I know I've read this because I've read all of LMM's books but for the life of me I can't remember what it was about.  Obviously it did not make much of an impression on me!

[dargosmydaddy]

The parts of MfM that focus on the adult characters are kind of fun. The Marigold parts are more meh.

[stlbf]

I feel the need to read the Emily books again. But damn pedophile will forever have me creeped out.

[Miss Dee]

I didn't really see him as a pedophile. He had no real interest in child Emily but recognized an adult Emily would be a woman he did want, so he waited for her.

That said, I think you could use a lot of illustrations from that storyline to explain the notion of "grooming" in a teaching situation.

[Crs97]

I try to think about the times she wrote in, but several of her short stories are about young girls growing up and falling in love with their guardians or another adult. I am thinking of "The Doctor's Sweetheart" (I think that is the title). The usual theme of the short stories is that the man is uncomfortable or thinks his love for her is unrequited because she should be with someone young, but she is determined until love wins out.

[stlbf]

Just started on Emily of New Moon. Emily really did start out as a more reserved, dark haired version of Anne. Only Emily inherited family and had 2 boys to grow up with. Isle is much more fleshed out when compared to Diana Berry. Which is a fantastic thing.

Poor Emily did have her poor sweet little heart just trampled on by that social climber brat, Rhoda Stuart. Being locked in the spare bedroom. And then the terrible trick of Lofty John on her!

Been awhile since I've read this one!

Edited October 28, 2015 by stlbf

[stlbf]

I didn't really see him as a pedophile. He had no real interest in child Emily but recognized an adult Emily would be a woman he did want, so he waited for her.

That said, I think you could use a lot of illustrations from that storyline to explain the notion of "grooming" in a teaching situation.

Just finished the first Emily book. About 10 chapters into the 2nd. And yep, Dean is a pedophile to me. He saves her at 13 and he is instantly waaaaaay too interested in her. He goes on about how her father was the only friendly student he met while at Queens. And he was insanely jealous of Perry and especially Teddy. Once again, 13 year old kids. Dean wanted her all to himself. He moved to his sister's home in Blair Water to be around a 13 year old girl. There was a part of the book from Dean's perspective about how he( a 35-36 year old man) was feeling towards a barely teenage Emily. The gossips of Blair Water talked about how he was just waiting for Emily to reach a proper courtship age. And poor Emily not wanting to believe that of him. That Dean was just an adult who kind of understood her and knew her beloved late father. Edited November 2, 2015 by stlbf

[Miss Dee]

As I said, absolutely a perfect illustration of "grooming" and definitely creepy to our modern ears. But as you stated yourself, he waited until she was of proper courtship age - in other words, an adult. If he'd been a pedophile, Emily as an adult would have held no interest for him.

I have no doubt that if Dean was based on behaviour LMM witnessed between young girls and older men, then in real life the girls were molested. But in her story, Dean doesn't molest Emily.

I don't think there's even subtext to indicate Emily was molested at any point. She does state once in Emily Climbs that for a "crazy moment" she thought Dean might kiss her; she would have been 15 or 16 at the time. But he didn't.

[stlbf]

Yeah, in my mind,any 30+ year old adult who falls in lust with a 13 year old has some major emotional issues.

Dean never appeared to have any real friends or ever mentions even courting another age appropriate female. Everyone has used his back defect as an excuse for his trust issues. Sure he was stunted emotionally and had a physical defect. But he had plenty of money to attract a bride. Dean never seemed to be interested in anyone outside of the young daughter of a kind college roommate/pal. He was controlling and passive aggressive with Emily. He wanted to be her whole world. He even comes to resent her writing. Because it takes her attention away from him. Dean wants a doll to control and make him happy. Sounds like a pedophile to me.

Honestly, Dean reminds me of these creeps who want child brides. If he could have; he would've sought the hand of a 13 year old Emily. He saw a female whom he could make his wife. He didn't care what age she was. The younger, the better for him.

Nobody said that Emily was ever molested. Dean would never defile his trophy before their wedding. He still had plenty of impure thoughts of a barely teenage girl. I'm sure that in the 19th century(and well before then), plenty of older men made plays for teen brides. Girls and women were property. And they were there to have babies and make their husbands happy. So the younger the bride, the more children she can birth and the more work she can do. But even the gossips in Blair Water didn't like or approve of Dean's obsession with a young Emily. He was that creepy "old" guy who likes to hang out with girls waaaaaay too young for him. Not a guy well liked in LMM's time either it seems.

Dean seems like the controlling psycho who would kidnap his object of his "affection" if he thought he was better for her/him. Really. He seemed to be ok with all of Murray family rules. Purely due to the fact that it severely limited Emily' s access to outside companionships. Less time with Teddy, Perry and any other male suitors in competition with Dean.

[Miss Dee]

*shrugs* To each their own. I don't think a modern read of the Emily series can separate what we know psychologically today from the story; Dean in particular is always going to stand out as ringing major alarm bells. But I stand by my assertion that I don't think it's what the author intended at the time she wrote it.