Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This should be rated higher than 5 stars!!!, July 18, 2003
L.M. Montgomery's works interested me at an early age. I first saw the Anne of Green Gables movies and years later read "Anne of Avonlea". I loved the atmosphere and the characters and wanted to know more of Anne. After reading the series, I knew I had to read more by this author. "The Blue Castle" caught my eye one day just because of the name. I read it right away and as soon as I was done I HAD to read it over again! I was completely enchanted, as I am DELIGHTED to see that others are too. Valancy's mother and aunt really got on my nerves and the entrance of Barney Snaith just driving by intrigued me to no end. Valancy in one of those enlighted spirits who is weighted down by her stodgy, judgemental relatives. She feels she is just doomed to waste away into old-maidenhood or maybe fall over dead. She has no hope of being married and considers herself plain with a "too-small nose". She dares not dress or do her hair as she wishes and can't even speak out of turn when twitted even though she is 29 years old! She hates the house, she hates her room, she hates her life, she hates the strict schedule she forced into as if she is still a child. She even is still called "Doss", her hated childhood nickname. A trip to an "unapproved" doctor turns all this around and she rebels against her family's oppression. After finding that a childhood schoolmate is dying, Valancy goes to nurse her where she becomes friends with the aforementioned Barney. Barney drives a beat-up rattle trap car "Lady Jane Grey" and mostly keeps to himself on his own little island, leading Valancy's nasty family to refer to him as "jailbird", criminal, drunk, etcetera. Valancy feels just the opposite. She buys a bright, stylish dress, takes trips "about the town" with Barney and is rescued by him from the rowdy Chidley Corners dance. Not wanting to go home after her friend dies and not wanting herself to die as an old maid, Valancy makes another wild decision. This decision will lead to a life better than her imaginings and the ending will surprise you completely! You don't see it coming so DO NOT spoil the surprise by reading ahead!!! It is delightful, heartwarming and creates a splitting smile across your face when the entire plot is revealed. I CANNOT reccommend this highly enough!!! It is TOPS on my list of single books. This is a book that teaches you to live for yourself and to try whatever you feel you are called to do. Be yourself, live your life to the fullest and don't let anyone tell you who to be or how to act! It is for a bit older audience though, late teens and up. It's a book you will read over and over again and NEVER be tired of! The Blue Castle is just proof of why L.M. Montgomery's books have been popular and celebrated for so long. They never go out of date or style, the stories are a timeless kind! You'll find, to use an "Anne" term, that you are "kindred spirits" with Montgomery and all her characters!
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
so good you'll wear it out!, December 19, 1999
Anyone who thinks L.M. Montgomery is just a children's author should read this book. Although it's appropriate for younger ages and its reading level may not be very demanding, I think adults would appreciate the wit and insights in this novel more than younger readers might. I discovered The Blue Castle at 25, at a time when I wasn't all that interested in adolescent literature. Reading it felt like discovering a long-lost friend. Montgomery's keen sense of human nature shapes characters so real that I'd swear I've met them. I've read this book so many times that I've worn out two copies of it. This is my favorite book by this author and one of my all-time favorites, period. As much as I like Anne of Green Gables, it pales in comparison to The Blue Castle. The story is so much better than the synopsis sounds, but it's hard to say much about the plot without giving away the best of it. This is also the only book Montgomery wrote which is *not* set in Prince Edward Island.
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46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
L.M. Montgomery's best work!, August 7, 2005
I have found very few perfect books in my life, but this is one of them. "The Blue Castle" is not only L.M. Montgomery's best novel, it may be one of the most charming books ever written by anyone.
As a long-time fan of the "Anne of Green Gables" series, I am always eager to read anything by Montgomery, but this one far exceeded my expectations. Never have I read anything like this sweet fairy tale of a novel. Valancy Stirling is an "old maid" who lives with an extremely oppressive mother, as part of a very prim-and-proper family. She's never done anything special or worthwhile, and she feels as though her spirit is stifled.
So when she receives a letter from her doctor informing her that she has a fatal disease and will only live another year, she decides to throw caution to the winds and do what SHE wants to do for the first time in her life.
She leaves her family, deciding to move in with Abel Gay --- not for his sake, but for the sake of Cecilia Gay, who is dying. As if that wasn't bad enough, in the process, she gets to know the notorious Barney Snaith, and she falls in love with him. When Cissy Gay dies, Valancy proposes marriage to this supposed criminal, and is denounced and shunned by her appalled family.
The story of Valancy's marriage is calm and sweet, full of the nicest kind of romance. Hopeless romantics everywhere will adore this novel. It's clean, it's charming, and it has such a perfect brew of comedy and drama.
This delightful tale made me laugh and cry numerous times. It's so brilliantly told, and so sweet in its romantic content. It's a story that immediately captured my heart and has since become a part of my soul. If you love classic romance, this is one you will enjoy. I rate this right up there with such brilliant works as "Pride and Prejudice."
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