Customer Reviews

Selected Journals of Lm Montgomery Volu

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Volume II is easily the best of Maud's journals; it is the one that I "dip" into whenever I have a few moments or need a bedtime book and consequently is starting to show some wear and tear. It covers the most dramatic points in her life--her marriage, birth of her sons, the discovery of her husband's mental illness, and the death of her best friend, as well as her most prolific years as a writer. She hasn't yet begun to hide as much in her journals, which makes the third and fourth volumes frustrating to read. Since anyone reading the second volume will probably go on to read them all, I should say here that third volume was rather tedious with the lawsuits and maid problems, and number four, though weirdly compelling, was painful to read as her imminent breakdown is all to evident--it is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I wonder if the journals of her last years will ever be published-- I understand that there are problems with people still living, etc.

This is a fabulous work. As a teenager, I read all the novels published by L.M. Montgomery and absolutely loved them. The journals, though, add another dimension to her writing. I have read all 4 volumes of the published journals (supposedly there is one more to come) multiple times. These books offer a fascinating look into the upper middle class life style from the late 1800s to the mid 1930s when the author passed away. Some of issues she covers:
-a powerful look at World War I from the view of Ontario resident
-childbirth in the days before pain killers (she said a toothache was worse)
-her awe at scientific advance (when vitamins were discovered she realized why she was always so lethargic all winter)
-her husband's mental illness in the days before drugs
-meeting the who's who of Canada at the time
Absolutely fascinating for anyone who loves history!

This book is fantastic! If you liked the previous "journals", you'll adore this one. It's more in-depth, full of emotion and a wonderful look at LM Montgomery's life at an incredibly interesting time in history. Can't wait to get to the next volume!

These journals put the writing of this rather amazing woman into a new light. It gives the joy she has given millions a new more brilliant glow. They are abridged, but the emotion of what was taken out is still present. It makes her prose inspirational by comparison to her experiences and her emotions.

The book I ordered came in a timely fashion and was in the condition described. It was a good experience worth repeating.

To me, Volume II of this famous children's author's diary was an extraordinarily disappointing revelation of her character. I had read Volume I, which depicts L.M. from a young girl to age 37, and basically, I enjoyed that - however, L.M.'s groans about, and growing martyrdom over, caring for elderly grandmother, did begin to wear on me.

Still, that was not nearly so bad as getting to know more about the deepening of L.M.'s possessive, frequently selfish and self-obsessed nature as is revealed in Volume II. For example, there's L.M.'s obsessive re-recounting of her relationships with old flames while copying out her old journals; the judgmental attitude toward persons in her household and many other people (except toward those who she favors with affection). Her obsession with HERSELF, and how circumstances affect HER, is something unpleasant to read.

She is also somewhat vain. Her journal entry on her 45th birthday notes that no one could take her for a woman above 30 years of age. Huh. Her photographs tell an entirely different story.

I felt that L.M.'s emphatic mourning of the death of her dearest woman friend and cousin, Frede, was unbalanced (and to give L.M. credit, she admits in the pages of this journal that she almost always carries most of her emotions a bit too far.) While I pitied her as she recounted dealing with her husband's mental breakdowns, the distaste she reveals for him during the first onset of his illness, and utter lack of sympathy for the man's sufferings was really quite cold, although she did always do her duty toward him.

I still admire L.M.'s journal writing when it has to do with the natural world and her wonder over it. (Her absorbing interest and understanding of the natural world must be why THE BLUE CASTLE is such a terrific book.) And her character depictions and various stories can still be crisply on point; amusing, or touching, or all of these. It's when she's describing her feelings about negative circumstances in her life and the people around her - her relatives and friends and even just acquaintances - that another, less charitable and more self-obsessed side is revealed and all that charm is utterly lost. I felt I'd learned sides of this author that I wish I'd left undiscovered. The editor(s) of these journals give wholehearted admiration to L.M. Montgomery both as an author and as a person, but I'm afraid I can't.