Review: Anne of Green Gables (novel)

Real life has been pretty bad lately, so I reread one of my favourite novels to cheer myself up. Of course I decided to review it when I finished it.

Anne of Green Gables was L. M. Montgomery's first novel, published in 1908. It's the first in a series of nine books. Over the years it's been adapted into films, anime, cartoons, musicals, and TV series.

I'm sure everyone knows the plot. Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew decide to adopt an orphan boy. Instead they get an orphan girl: Anne Shirley, who'd rather be called Cordelia, who really doesn't like her red hair, and whose imagination baffles everyone and gets her in trouble frequently.

Words cannot describe how much I love this book 😄 It's so sweet and comical, yet there are sad moments too. Matthew's death breaks my heart every time I read it 😭

Anne herself is the sort of character I wanted to be like when I was a child. Her imagination is my favourite thing about her, closely followed by the consequences of imagination colliding with reality. Her midnight walk through the Haunted Wood is painfully relatable. I've experienced the same thing late at night after reading ghost stories 😨 And the incident of the hair dye is one of those scenes I love so much I read again and again 😄

It's easy to see which parts of this book L. M. Montgomery reused in her later works. Marilla is rather like Aunt Elizabeth from Emily of New Moon, but she undergoes character development much earlier and becomes much nicer than Aunt Elizabeth ever did. Matthew is very like Cousin Jimmy, and Miss Stacey is a much less peppery Mr. Carpenter.

Other characters aren't as immediately recognisable. Diana is much sweeter than Ilse. Gilbert has much more personality than Teddy, and his friendship and growing romance with Anne are shown much better than Teddy's and Emily's. Then there's the inimitable Mrs. Rachel Lynde, who reminds me a great deal of Miss Pole from Cranford, and who very quickly learns never to mention "carrots" around Anne 😆

Enduring popularity isn't always a sign that a book is good. But in this case, Anne of Green Gables absolutely deserves all its renown. Like all really good children's books it's not aimed only at children. No matter how old you are, you'll find something to enjoy in this book.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Gutenberg.

Rating: 10/10.