Review: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Title: Anne of Green Gables
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Publish Date 1908 originally (this version: 2017)
Source: Publisher

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "L. M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan mistakenly sent to a pair of siblings who intended to adopt a boy to help work on their farm in Prince Edward Island. Yet Anne's quirky personality and good-natured spirit causes the siblings to grow to love her anyway, and soon the entire town falls for the precocious little girl with bright red hair. 

Cherished by both children and adults, Anne of Green Gables is a celebration of fierce individualism, and the families we create, rather than the ones we are born into."

My Two Cents:

"Anne of Green Gables" is the classic childhood tale of Anne, the orphan girl who is mistakenly brought to Marilla and Matthew, two siblings who live on a farm together. It's one of my childhood books and I was looking forward to reading it again. I was interested to see how my perspective would change once I was an adult. The good news is that this book stands the test of time and was a great, comfortable re-read!

Anne is the patron saint of little girls who ask too many questions and have wild imaginations (this was me once upon a time on both accounts). It is easy to see why this book still remains extremely popular. Anne is good at getting herself into scrapes but she is so endearing that even as an adult, you just want to give her a hug. While I had (and still have!!!) a very wild imagination, it was mostly as a rich inner life for me. Anne tells you exactly what she is thinking. She is impulsive and doesn't think everything through but she has a good heart.

I still appreciated Anne very much but one thing I picked up in this re-read is how rich the secondary characters are. Marilla is tough on the outside but also has a very good heart. She goes through a transformation of sorts throughout the book, which was so fascinating. I loved Matthew in this book! He is such a gentle spirit and although he is quiet and Anne can talk circles around him, he really cares for her and tries to show her in his own way.

This was such a good reread for me! It made me smile to read through old favorite scenes as well as the scenes that I had forgotten about. With this snazzy new cover, now would be a great time to go back to Prince Edward Island!