Customer Reviews

Mistress Pat

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have loved and enjoyed many of L.M. Montgomery's books through the years--especially the Emily series, which I have read over and over again--but I had never read this book before. I read it without reading "Pat of Silver Bush" first. This was probably a mistake.

"Mistress Pat" contained many of the elements that I have loved in Montgomery's other books--the magical sense of place, the humor, the vividly described characters. The portentous "CHANGE IS COMING" theme seemed to overshadow all of those elements throughout the book; nevertheless, I enjoyed reading the novel... until the very end.

Until "The Eleventh Year", I had believed that Pat would someday realize what everyone around her and every reader had realized since page one: Hilary is the love of her life. Yes, she does realize this at the end, but only after almost everything else that matters to her has been swept away. For several days after finishing the book, I wondered why it bothered it me so much. I don't like to see beautiful places destroyed, even fictional beautiful places, but it was more than that. I think it was the disturbing thought that this horrendous Deus ex machina transformed Hilary into Pat's last resort.

One is quite sure at the end that Hilary and Pat will live happily ever after. But one wonders if Hilary will ever speculate, in his darker moments: "Would she still have loved and chosen me, if she HADN'T lost everything?"

This is a book that I hate to have end because the plot is about a woman clinging to a way of life that's slipping away from her and I don't want to see it go.

One of the most successful elements of the books is the characters and the sense of place. Judy, who we meet again from Pat of Silverbush, and Tillytuck, a new addition to the cast, are two of her most realistic and interesting characters. Silverbush itself is a character - I feel like I have tromped through the flower beds and maybe overnighted in the Poet's room. Despite this developed sense of place and person, some of Montgomery's formulas are still evident: I found Pat's sister Cuddles to be remarkably similar to Philippa Gordon from the Anne series. Pat has a streak of Murray pride and an older love interest a la Emily. Also, May Binnie, Pat's nemesis is a rather one dimensional character and we never understand what's motivating her.

Some people complained that there isn't enough of the male love interest in this book but I think they miss the point. This isn't a love story about a man and woman, it's a love story about a woman and her home. Besides, in most of Montgomery's other books the love interests are featured for only a few pages here and there. Anne and Gilbert didn't get together every weekend and neither did Emily and Teddy.

Another aspect of the story that I liked is that we see Pat get a little older before she figures who she loves and how she will spend her life. I'm only speculating but it felt more autobiographical. After all, Montgomery herself was in her thirties when Anne of Green Gables was published and wasn't married until she was in her late thirties.

I just finished rereading this book last night. I'll have to hold off a couple of years before rereading it again and I'm a little homesick right now for Silverbush and Pat and the Gardiner family.

I found that Pat was interesting surfacely, but lacked depth somewhat. She has a lot of room for developement through the approximate decade of the novel's span, yet does not seem to transform. She is somewhat predictable. Since the previous novel portrays Pat's charming childhood, I was hoping to read and find a real woman full of Valancy Stirling-like passion and Anne-like spirit, and Emily-like intellect---I found Pat was wanton of the emotions and qualities that separate Montgomery's characters from so many others. Also, I disliked the lack of Jingle in the book. When he is present in the few scenes he appears in he has a dominating effect. LM should have taken better advantage of this strength. David is a wonderful character with an eccentric Dean Priestish air to him. Try it--- but if you want a complicated read with a little more substance and something to think and devour over-- stick to the Blue Castle.

Although this is one of Montgomery's less-read works, it is nonetheless very charming. It is the sequel to Pat of Silver Bush. The story is of Pat, a young girl with dreams and ambitions. She is fiercefully proud of her home, Silver Bush. Now she is growing up, and she is experiencing the events and feelings that girls of Montgomery's time period experienced. As always, Montgomery portrays each and everyone of her characters in ingenius ways, letting the reader really get a feel for what each character is like.

Although the plot of the story is almost nonexistant in some ways, in others it's the best kind of plot there is - it's simply the story of Pat's life. It's not portrayed in biographical form, though; the book simply displays some of the quaint, funny, or particularly touching moments in Pat's life.

This book is a must-read for any L.M. Montgomery lover - if you liked Anne of Green Gables, you'd love Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat.

Pat Gardiner's dogged devotion to her home was natural and sort of cute in the first book, when she was a child. In this sequel it's a little bizarre; her hypersensitivity to even the slightest negative remark aimed at Silver Bush is just plain irrational. She seems to have no real goals in life other than to keep things unchanged as much as possible, which is not a terribly exciting or admirable ambition. There is a limit to how much landscape-gazing and nature appreciation one can find charming. Again, this was fine in the first book, where Pat aged from about seven to eighteen, but in this book she ages from twenty to thirty.

Why the author decided on such a long time span is beyond me, because nothing much happens in between. The most interesting complication is the marriage of Pat's brother to her arch-enemy May Binnie near the story's end, but it falls flat because May is portrayed as a static, one-dimensional villainess who can't do anything good, right down to her accidentally setting the house on fire.

Fortunately Pat's housekeeper Judy gets a lot of space, and provides some much-needed entertainment. Jingle is almost completely absent, and you'll need to have read the previous book to understand why they'd have any interest in each other now. The final scene between him and Pat is sweet, although a little anticlimactic; eleven years is a long wait.

This book also illustrates one of the risks of setting a story even a few years in the future. It was published in 1935, and calculating by dates mentioned in the first book, the story ends around 1944--with, obviously, not a single comment about World War II. I suppose even Montgomery, who had been so caught up in the first World War, couldn't be expected to predict the second, but it does give an interesting twist to Jingle's comment about the honeymoon they'll spend in the Austrian Tyrol. Now THAT would have made an interesting book!

Yes, Pat's devotion to Silver Bush can skirt awfully close to neurotic heights BUT this book is just so poignant. The fact of its spanning 11 years is one of its greatest strengths -- I think it lets us know how time can pass so quickly, unchanging in many ways, but interspersed with life-altering events. Characters in this book mature and change -- look at "Cuddles" into Rae. And the love she and Pat share is wonderful; most of LMM's heroines have that all-supportive best friend, but I think this portrayal of sisters is wonderful, and they fight like sisters would, too.

No heroic struggles to achieve fame are here, but Pat definitely has to endure things large and small. From the passage of time, of life, to everyday annoyances. To have May Binnie brought into your very own home, and try not to be awful to her for your brother's sake -- ! I think it would be very harrowing to live with someone so alien and unsympathetic, in your very own beloved house -- living with a thousand small pinpricks a day.

Finally, Judy's death -- so well-written. Grievously sad but not maudlin -- the touches of humor Judy displays, her courage in dying -- I just don't think you'd have seen anything like that in earlier LMM works.

I never bothered purchasing a copy of Pat of Silver Bush for my own -- not that it wasn't well worth a read. But my copy of Mistress Pat was so well-read the cover fell off.

This book moved me in so many ways. The romance, the laughter and the tears made it a story that just captivates you. Mrs. Mongomery did no wrong in writing this masterpiece. I love it and it's a joy to read over and over again. i totally could realte myself to being Pat and her struggles that she ebcountered throughout this book. I hope a movie is made one day about this book. It shall be cherished for many generations to come.

L.M. Montgomery's 1935 novel "Mistress Pat" is the sequel and conclusion to "Pat of Silver Bush". On display are Montgomery's superb skills in storytelling and character development, set against the lushly described background of her beloved Prince Edward Island, Canada.

At the conclusion of "Pat of Silver Bush", Patricia Gardiner had become, more or less by default, the mistress of her revered family home and farm of Silver Bush, but at the cost of a promising relationship with best friend Hilary Gordon. In "Mistress Pat", she strives to maintain the household and the family traditions against the inevitability of change. Hilary Gordon leaves for college and a career as an architect. Her favorite brother abruptly marries Pat's worst enemy, a vulgar, hateful woman who can't wait to turn her out of Silver Bush. Pat's beautiful younger sister will surprise her with an engagement that will take her away from PEI. An aging Judy Plum, Pat's surrogate mother and close friend, will consider a return to Ireland. A new close friend will also be taken away by marriage. Pat herself will be courted by a series of eligible and not so eligible bachelors, one of whom will win her consent, if not her love. At the end, a lonely Pat will face some tough choices.

Author L.M. Montgomery was undergoing a period of extended personal stress while writing this novel. The effects of that stress are visible in the darker tone of "Mistress Pat." Montgomery manages a good ending, but only after leading the reader to the very edge of Pat's personal abyss. "Mistress Pat" appears to be out of print, but is still highly recommended in used condition to fans of L.M. Montgomery, author of the "Anne of Green Gables" series.

I think this book is the most touching and affecting story by LMM I have read to date. After I finished "Pat of Silver Bush", I just had to know what happened to Pat Gardiner. I wasn't disappointed. I loved the story of Pat's years from age 20 to 30. Pat loved her home with great intensity, as much as she loved her family and their history and heirlooms. She is close to her little sister, Cuddles, now known as Rae (short for Rachel). Many everyday and momentous events occur, such as a Christmas family reunion that doesn't go as planned, the arrival of Tillytuck, the new hired man, the visit of a countess, and Rae's departure for Queen's College. Pat has many suitors, but she can never give up Silver Bush. Through the story runs the thread of her relationship with Hilary Gordon. As the years go by, there are departures and arrivals. Pat's feelings for Hilary are evident to the reader yet not to Pat herself, and it is only a cataclysmic event near the end of the book that brings Pat to the realization that Hilary and not Silver Bush was the reason she could never bring herself to accept another suitor. The end is sweetly satisfying and romantic and I read the last chapter again today after finishing the book last night just to savor it again.

In the first book, Pat was a homebody and that was cool, because I am one too. But I moved out eventually and have a full-time job. Pat seems content to just spend the rest of her days at home, even to the exclusion of getting married to a couple of good men. (not at the same time, of course). Her growing up and losing several beloved friends was realistic, but her insistence on staying at home just didn't sit right with me. Overall, it was a decent read, and if you read Pat of Silver Bush and wanted to know what happened to her, then read this.