Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The imaginative Anne Shirley comes to live at Green Gables, May 1, 2005
In 1985 when I stumbled upon Kevin Sullivan's wonderful production of "Anne of Green Gables" with Megan Follows as Anne, Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla, and Richard Farnsworth as Mathew, it was my introduction to the Lucy Maud Montgomery's red-headed orphan. Like millions of others, I fell in love with the production and then proceeded to read this novel, the other seven books in the Anne Series, and then "The Chronicles of Avonlea," "The Story Girl," the "Jane of Lantern Hill" books, and every other thing written by Montgomery that I could get my hands on (and this was before all of those paperback collections of Montgomery's short stories were published).
In 1904 Montgomery had written down an idea for a story in her notebook: "Elderly couple apply to orphan asylum for a boy. By mistake a girl is sent them." In what must be heartening for many would be authors, Montgomery's manuscript for "Anne of Green Gables" was rejected repeated by publishers before it was finally accepted. The book was a bestseller from the moment it was published in June 1908 (I have a 19th impression printed in September 1910), although a critic in "The New York Times" complained that, "there is no real difference between the girl at the end of the story and the one at the beginning of it." Readers of the book would quite happy with that fact, because the reason we love this story is not that the talkative, red-haired orphan girl with her big green-grey eyes changes during the story, but that Marilla and Mathew Cuthbert, the elderly sister and brother who wanted to adopt a boy and got a girl instead, have changed profoundly.
Mark Twain described Anne Shirley as "The dearest and most moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice," and nobody has been able to top that statement. Supposedly Montgomery's description of her famous literary creation was based on a photography of Evelyn Nesbit, the notorious American beauty who was the mistress whose husband, Harry K. Thaw, shot and killed her love, Stanford White, in the first scandalous murder trial of the 20th century. I suppose there is something archetypal about stories about orphans, that allows young readers to identify with such characters and explains why generations of children have responded to such stories. But what sets Montgomery's creation apart is her ability to provide of laughter and tears, what with her vivid imagination and her great desire to be loved. You laugh over Anne's over wrought apology to Mrs. Rachel Lynde and how her introduction to Gilbert Blythe ends with her breaking a slate over his head. But then there are the wonderfully touching scenes when Marilla apologizes for refusing to believe Anne about her broach, when Mathew goes to town to get Anne a dress with puffed sleeves, and when the Reaper whose name is Death comes to visit Green Gables. There are just so many wonderful moments in this novel, which is the best in the series. When you read the rest of the books in the series, this is the one you will keep coming back to again and again to read once more your favorite parts (I just did).
I have two daughters and despite my best intentions I have never been able to persuade them to read "Anne of Green Gables." But given how long it took me to get around to them they still have at least a decade to beat me to the punch in relative terms, and I have the Sullivan productions on DVD so that I can use the same hook that worked so well one me. Once they do I am sure they will be just as captivated by all of the others who love the Anne-Girl and who have traveled to Prince Edward Island to see all of the sites that Montgomery translated into the world of Anne Shirley.
My favorite memory is when we went to "Green Gables." You go in through the front door and follow the way around the first floor and then up the stairs to the second floor. As I was at the bottom of those stairs the young woman watching the door had momentarily stopped the line entering the site. In this case that person who had to wait was a young Japanese girl, who looked to be about eight years old, and who was shivering in delight at the fact that she was standing on the threshold of Anne Shirley's Green Gables. That is how beloved Lucy Maud Montgomery's creation is almost a century after she was first set down on paper.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The classic is great, but the editing mistakes are annoying, April 20, 2008
I love Anne of Green Gables but found myself being pulled out of this book by all the editing mistakes (misspelled words, etc.). I definitely recommend the story, but not this edition of it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a very endearing character, August 5, 2008
My 7 year old daughter is just getting into chapter books; hearing the buzz about the centenary anniversary of _Anne of Green Gables_, I had to give it a read before I pass it on to her. Anne is tremendously endearing and sweet character, although some of the book shows its age.
Anne is an orphan who has been adopted by an elderly brother and sister who had originally sought a young boy; meeting the irrepressible Anne, they decide to keep her on in any event. I found the constant moralizing by Anne's adoptive mother Marilla tedious, with her constant recriminations that the exuberant and imaginitive Anne be "nice", "good", "respectful", "reverant", "polite and well-behaved." Certainly these are lessons all children need learn, but I thought Marilla a bit heavy-handed, and is one example of the story showing its age.
Anne, for her part is a sensative spirit who literally overflows with energy and chatter - Montgomery, in writing Anne's dialogue certainly captured her ebullience. As she writes late in the book, "pleasures and pains of life came to her [Anne] in trebled intensity." While it has been a long, long time since I was 11, I do well remember the burning intensity of youth, which is elegantly captured in Anne. The wonder and urgency of living that the young share is the real gem of the story, I found.
I did like the book, in spite of my misgivings about the relations between Marilla and Anne. It certainly reflects the attitudes and values of the early 20th century, especially as Marilla grows to love Anne, but cannot articulate her feelings. This was reminiscent of my Grandparents and Great-Grandparents who similarly could not (or would not) openly show their emotions. Maybe it is my parenting style or my personality, but I am much more permissive than Marilla in raising my child, and much more willing to share my thoughts and feelings with her (if I am no less strict.)
Will I share it with my daughter? Certainly - perhaps in a year or two.
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