Customer Reviews

Along the Shore

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You'd laugh if you could see my current copy of this book - completely dogeared, about 2" larger than it should b/c it's gotten wet reading it in the bathtub. :) I pull it out and re-read it whenever I need a quick escape. My favorite story is "Young Si" an absolutely delightful romance. Just for this story alone, the book is worth it. Another wonderful short story offering my LM Montgomery.

If you love Anne of Greengables and the rest of LM Montgomery's book, you'll love this one too. It's a great book for when you're curled up in your bed and it's cold out. Get it.

A wonderful book, filled with wonderful stories.

The only story I didn't like was 'Helen's Awakening'. I added to the story on my computer, not wanting the story to end like it did.

But the rest of the stories were so good. I agree with another reviewer. 'Young Si' was the best story.

Enjoy!

Lucy Maud Montgomery, famed Canadian author of the "Anne of Green Gables" novels, was also a prolific writer of short stories, many about her native Prince Edward Island. This 1990 collection, "Along the Shore" gathers sixteen of her short stories with shoreline or nautical themes.

Montgomery often used short stories to work out themes that ended up in her novels. For example, "The Life Book of Uncle Jesse", about the memoires of an aging sea captain, became a main sub-plot of "Anne's House of Dreams." "A House Divided Against Itself", about two feuding roommates, became a sub-plot of the novel "A Tangled Web."

Some of the short stories are enjoyable romances, such as "The Magical Bond of the Sea", in which a young girl is tempted by urban attractions before discovering where her heart really lies. In "A Sandshore Wooing", a young woman and a young man must communicate by sign language to overcome her chaperones.

A few of the stories pose difficult challenges for their characters. In "Mackereling Out In the Gulf", a young fisherman loses his girl to a handsome newcomer, then faces the choice of rescuing his rival in a storm. In "The Waking of Helen", an older man inadvertently raises expectations in a young woman whom he is using as an art model, with unfortunate consequences.

"Along the Shore" is very highly recommended to fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who are likely to enjoy these samples of her humor and her gentle wisdom about the human condition.

This collection of short stories written by L.M. Montgomery share a common theme with their seaside settings. One of the most enjoyable aspects of these tales is their wonderful descriptions of the ocean and the sunrises and sunsets; I could close my eyes after reading one and almost imagine exactly how it would look.

Other than their common setting, this is a fairly diverse collection of stories. Some are romantic, some are a bit suspenseful, some are humorous, and some combine several elements. Those of you who have read Anne of Avonlea will recognize the Paul Irving-like character in "A Soul That Was Not At Home". "The Life-Book Of Uncle Jesse" will also be familiar to readers of Anne's House of Dreams. And the collection's final tale, "A House Divided Against Itself" is very nearly identical to the quarrel that takes place between two of the characters in the last chapter of A Tangled Web, even down to the jarring racial slur (the n-word) at the story's end.

One of the stories also contains a character with possible bipolar disorder ("Four Winds") and another includes a suicide. Not everything here is happiness and light, but if you are a fan of LMM's other short stories, I think you will like this collection as well.

I have to say that this collection was a bit better than 'The Doctor's Sweetheart' and 'Among the Shadows', though I didn't like two stories 'The Awakening of Helen' and 'A House Divided'. I know that most of these stories were written about a hundred years ago, but I was dismayed at the use of the 'n' word in the latter story I mentioned. But some of the other stories were good reads. If you're a LM Montgomery fan, then you should check out this collection. There's a few not-so-good stories, but some great ones. While Anne of Green Gables was a great kid's book, this collection and her other collections really are more for the young adult and older crowd.

If you love Lucy Maud Montgomery and you haven't read this book, what are you waiting for? It's another great collection of her wonderful uplifting short stories.