9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for all L.M. Montgomery fans!!, June 9, 1999
By A Customer
This is one of the best romances I've ever read. It is about a mute girl, Kilmeny, who is very beautiful. Eric, the substituting schoolmaster, falls in love with her, but she won't marry him because she can't speak. Will Kilmeny's love for Eric overcome her muteness? You'll have to read the book to find out.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A True Romance, November 21, 2000
I couldn't believe the review one person wrote about "Kilmeny" entitled ho hum! This is no action adventure book, but it is not intended to be. Read Indiana Jones or Left Behind if you want action. This is one of Lucy's best novels. With a male main character, is is unique among her other full length works. This story tells a beautiful tale of true love. Eric truly loves this girl for her character, not for superficial reasons. He delights in her beauty because there is character behind it. Kilmeny is the one who truly displays sacrificial love. As Lucy Maud so eloquently puts it, her love was so strong that it would not allow her to do him (Eric) what she believed to be a wrong. That is a pure love which is too scarce in our world today. But I guess if you don't want to read about a beautiful love story, deep emotion, moving triumphs, and men treating the women they love as they deserve, with tenderness and respect, then this book really is ho-hum. ;)
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
and 1/2 stars for the book, but 5 stars for the language, March 15, 2002
KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD is one of Lucy Maud Montgomery's lesser known works.
This novel is about a rich man (Eric), just graduated from college, who goes to Lindsay, PEI, to be a substitute teacher for a good friend who has become ill. While there, he falls in love with a violinist who is deaf (Kilmeny) and furthermore stained at birth.
I will leave the plot at that. Other reviewers have given more detailed versions which are helpful, but if you are going to read the book, I don't want to tell you too much of the plot because I am afraid I will spoil it for you if I tell you anymore of it.
The reason why I gave the book only 2 1/2 stars isn't so much because of the plot itself (although a much used plotline by many writers, Montgomery does manage to make it feel like new) but because of the characters themselves. Eric is described as perfect, perfect, perfect. Kilmeny, despite or even because of her deafness and stained birth, is perfect, perfect, perfect. Everyone in town who sees Eric approves of him because OF HIS LOOKS ALONE. When Eric falls in love with Kilmeny, his main reason--and the only reason mentioned of his wanting to make her his wife--is BECAUSE OF HER LOOKS. There is even a line in the novel where it goes something like "Eric lied on ther ground so that he could he hear her play...
And to also be able to look at her." (That is almost exactly the sentence.)
Now, I know we as a society do base many of our views of people somewhat on their looks, but it does get carried away in this novel, and I am NOT trying to take away from Montgomery's talent as a writer by saying that.
But I can't finish this review leaving anyone with a bad impression of the novel, and it is not for nothing that Lucy Maud Montgomery is considered one of the all-time classic writers.
The language in this novel is exquisite! It is amazing to read her descriptions of fields and orchards and characters and their personalities. I have read many of Montgomery's novels and so am familiar with her use of descriptive language, and never have I seen it better than in this novel. Even though I don't considered this the best of her novels, I do consider it the best in terms of how she uses language. You will feel as though you have lived in Lindsay, and have known its citizens, by the time you finish this.
In short, don't avoid this novel. The beautiful language as well as the fact that Lucy Maud Montgomery is the author of this novel makes it well worth the read.
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